Not at all unusual. Man was not meant to fly or dive beneath the water...he
can do so only with training and equipment. Your reaction was simply your
body's response to a situation it was not built for. Everyone fears that
which he does not understand, and you have the understanding part well in
hand. Keep at it.

BTW, a 30-degree climb without jet power is really quite steep, so I have
trouble with 50 degrees...even the airlines keep deck angles at 15 degrees
or less.

Bob Gardner

"minoad" wrote in message
oups.com...
I originally wrote this for a psychology group, therefore I have
written it for that crowd. However, I may have more luck with a
response in this group.

I noticed a strange thing today about myself. I am at least a
relativly intellegent and capable adult. Since a young age I have had
an interest in flying. I have finally gotten job that affords me the
income to pursue this interest. Because of this, last week I signed up

at a local flight school.

In the last week I have spent in excess of 20 hours on the simulators
and have completed more than half of my total required ground school.
Because of this I have a good understanding of the theory behind
aeronautics along with the do's and dont's.


The strange thing that I noticed is this. While on my first flight
today I expiereinced significant 'Fear' while in a climb of almost 50
degrees. This was my mistake as I had tried to trim before using the
yoke and had trimmed the wrong direction. My instructor smiled at me
and simply asked me to fix it.
I knew all was well. The readings were all fine. I had plenty of
altitude. I also had an instructor next to me with more than 8,000
hours flying expierience. Based on all this I knew I was fine.


I am curious why I was feeling fear givin all the above factors. Does
this mean I am simply not cut out for flying? Is thier a way to
short-circut this mecanism? Will this disappear with time? And most
importantly, why was my brain unable to overide my fear? I am
concerned that this may indicate a problem with me personally.


My only expierience with Psychology is through the course work that was

required in school. Any ideas would truly be appreciated and I thank
you in advance.


Micah A. Norman