RickInOz

Also known as aerophobia, aviatophobia or aviophobia. I thought I’d share one of my (many) weaknesses - an aversion to flying. This may come as a surprise to some of you, but I am one of the many people who suffer this affliction.

So far I have managed to get by simply by avoiding air travel as much as possible. Of course this creates difficulties as everything is so far from Adelaide, so I either have to grit and bear it or risk becoming tied to this city. I haven’t always been afraid of flying and, if anything, enjoyed it when younger. Nor have I had an unpleasant experience on a plane or been involved in anything other than entirely routine trips.

I am also well aware of the illogical nature of this phobia, and the statistical safety record of air travel, especially when compared to that of the roads. Despite knowing that planes are designed to stay in the air, and can glide safely even if all the engines fail, I still go white-knuckled at every quiver of turbulence. On smooth long-hauls I can mentally block out the concept of being on a plane, but it only takes the slightest bump to put my anxiety levels through the stratophere.

Now you may be asking why I recently signed up for the Mediflight retrieval service when this involves a significant amount of flying. Strangely on the flight to and from Port Augusta I was actually very relaxed. On the way there I got to sit in the co-pilot’s seat and being able to see where we were going helped a lot. Perhaps my phobia is based on “loss of control”, and being able to see and talk to the pilot gave me a sense of reassurance. On the way back my attentions were on our patient and this distraction made me almost oblivious of being in the air.

Tomorrow I am flying to Melbourne for an ECMO Symposium - more about that later - and hopefully, after my pleasant experience with the RFDS, won’t find it so bad.