How do you get passengers over the fear of flying?

I recently got my PPL and find that most people are scared sh*tless to
go up. One friend came along and was just blown away and had a ton
of fun. Just about everyone else is "oh my god, I am so scared
of airplanes." This weekend I was going to go with my CFI to celebrate
my passing my checkride in a brand new SR-20 and people are still
shaking in their boots scared to hell and simply will not go.

Is this me or is it just the general public?

Any ideas? I hope this doesn't sound stupid but just my impression the
since passing my checkride.

Gerald

"Gerald Sylvester" wrote in message
news

Is this me or is it just the general public?

Any ideas? I hope this doesn't sound stupid but just my impression
the since passing my checkride.

Some people just have an innate fear of getting in a small tin can with
wobbly wings - especially with a newly minted pilot at the controls.

In my experience, the only thing you can do is be yourself and don't expect
others to change. Don't push it and try not to belittle them for their
"irrational" fears. Some people may eventually decide to try it after
regularly hearing how excited you are about it and seeing that you actually
come home after every flight. Others will never do so.

--
John T
http://tknowlogy.com/TknoFlyer
http://www.pocketgear.com/products_s...veloperid=4415
____________________

"Gerald Sylvester" wrote in message
news
I recently got my PPL and find that most people are scared sh*tless to
go up. One friend came along and was just blown away and had a ton
of fun. Just about everyone else is "oh my god, I am so scared
of airplanes." This weekend I was going to go with my CFI to celebrate
my passing my checkride in a brand new SR-20 and people are still
shaking in their boots scared to hell and simply will not go.

Is this me or is it just the general public?

Any ideas? I hope this doesn't sound stupid but just my impression the
since passing my checkride.

It's important to realize that your fearful friends may be right.
Recreational flying is more dangerous than any activity that most Americans
engage in (unless we count dietary and exercise habits as an "activity").
According to AOPA's Air Safety Foundation's 2002 Nall Report
(http://www.aopa.org/asf/publications/02nall.pdf), personal (non-business)
GA flying has an average rate of one fatality per 56,000 hours of flying.
At that rate, among people who do 100 hours per year of personal flying,
about 1 in 20 are killed within 25 years. To put that in perspective, for
40-year-olds with a life expectancy of 80 years, 6.3 hours of life are lost
for every hour flown. For 10-year-olds with the same life expectancy, 11
hours of life are lost for every hour flown.

Is it worth it? That's a personal decision; it depends in part on how
important flying is to someone. If it's very important, then taking the
risk might make sense. If it's not very important, then it might not make
much sense.

--Gary

"Gary Drescher" wrote in message
news:WSaNb.49062$sv6.126431@attbi_s52...
| "Gerald Sylvester" wrote in message
| news | I recently got my PPL and find that most people are scared sh*tless to
| go up. One friend came along and was just blown away and had a ton
| of fun. Just about everyone else is "oh my god, I am so scared
| of airplanes." This weekend I was going to go with my CFI to celebrate
| my passing my checkride in a brand new SR-20 and people are still
| shaking in their boots scared to hell and simply will not go.
|
| Is this me or is it just the general public?
|
| Any ideas? I hope this doesn't sound stupid but just my impression the
| since passing my checkride.
|
| It's important to realize that your fearful friends may be right.
| Recreational flying is more dangerous than any activity that most
Americans
| engage in (unless we count dietary and exercise habits as an "activity").

There are also smoking, logging, and water skiing, too name a few other
activities that are more dangerous than flying. Motorcycle riding is pretty
dangerous, too.

You can make your recreational flying far less dangerous than the norm if
you just avoid some activities, such as low level maneuvering.

"C J Campbell" wrote in message
...

"Gary Drescher" wrote in message
news:WSaNb.49062$sv6.126431@attbi_s52...
| It's important to realize that your fearful friends may be right.
| Recreational flying is more dangerous than any activity that most
Americans
| engage in (unless we count dietary and exercise habits as an
"activity").

There are also smoking, logging, and water skiing, too name a few other
activities that are more dangerous than flying. Motorcycle riding is
pretty
dangerous, too.

Sure, but none of those is an activity that most Americans engage in. Most
Americans avoid activities as dangerous as recreational flying.

You can make your recreational flying far less dangerous than the norm if
you just avoid some activities, such as low level maneuvering.

Maneuvering accidents account for 22% of GA fatalities, so avoiding
maneuvering does help a little. Takeoff fatalities are the next biggest
category (17% of GA fatalities), and that's a harder activity to avoid if
you're going to fly.

On the other hand, student flying is about four times safer than personal
flying overall, and student flying includes an especially high concentration
of low-level maneuvering, as well as takeoffs and landings. So we're a lot
better off if we fly like students.

--Gary

"Gary Drescher" wrote in message
news:WSaNb.49062$sv6.126431@attbi_s52...
|
| It's important to realize that your fearful friends may be right.
| Recreational flying is more dangerous than any activity that most
Americans
| engage in (unless we count dietary and exercise habits as an "activity").
| According to AOPA's Air Safety Foundation's 2002 Nall Report
| (http://www.aopa.org/asf/publications/02nall.pdf), personal (non-business)
| GA flying has an average rate of one fatality per 56,000 hours of flying.
| At that rate, among people who do 100 hours per year of personal flying,
| about 1 in 20 are killed within 25 years. To put that in perspective, for
| 40-year-olds with a life expectancy of 80 years, 6.3 hours of life are
lost
| for every hour flown. For 10-year-olds with the same life expectancy, 11
| hours of life are lost for every hour flown.
|

Wanna check your math, there, Gary? And maybe you could mine the data for a
little more interesting information. You do come up with good stuff.

It would be more accurate to say that there is one fatal accident (as
opposed to fatality) every 76,000 hours of flying. That would be one fatal
accident every 760 years for people flying 100 hours per year. However, most
people fly much less than 100 hours per year. They also do not have long
flying careers. Most people fly for less than 20 years of their adult life.

It would be interesting to know whether accidents cluster around those who
don't fly very often (less than 50 hours per year) or those who fly a lot or
even professionally.

"C J Campbell" wrote:

It would be more accurate to say that there is one fatal accident (as
opposed to fatality) every 76,000 hours of flying. That would be one fatal
accident every 760 years for people flying 100 hours per year. However, most
people fly much less than 100 hours per year. They also do not have long
flying careers. Most people fly for less than 20 years of their adult life.

And if you eliminate the obvious Darwinism fatalities it is even
safer. Just like automobile accidents. Don't do the things that kill
most people and it is safer than raw stats would suggest.

Ron Lee

"Ron Lee" wrote in message
...
"C J Campbell" wrote:

It would be more accurate to say that there is one fatal accident (as
opposed to fatality) every 76,000 hours of flying. That would be one
fatal
accident every 760 years for people flying 100 hours per year. However,
most
people fly much less than 100 hours per year. They also do not have long
flying careers. Most people fly for less than 20 years of their adult
life.

And if you eliminate the obvious Darwinism fatalities it is even
safer. Just like automobile accidents. Don't do the things that kill
most people and it is safer than raw stats would suggest.

Not necessarily. You're right that the statistics reflect an unknown number
of dumb decisions that you and I might never make. But they also reflect an
unknown number of instances where a pilot escaped harm by exercising better
skill or judgment than you or I possess. We don't know which factor
predominates, so we don't know if our personal risk is greater or less than
what the raw stats show.

--Gary


Ron Lee

"Gary Drescher" wrote in message
news:_LvNb.59755$5V2.69373@attbi_s53...
Not necessarily. You're right that the statistics reflect an unknown
number
of dumb decisions that you and I might never make. But they also reflect
an
unknown number of instances where a pilot escaped harm by exercising
better
skill or judgment than you or I possess. We don't know which factor
predominates, so we don't know if our personal risk is greater or less
than
what the raw stats show.

At the CAA safety evenings in the UK, they open up the discussion
with the lecturer explaining saying hello, and that just by turning up,
even if they didn't stay for the lecture, they're 20 (or was it 15, can't
remember) times less likely to suffer a fatality than average. Nothing
magical about turning up, just that people who are interested in safety
in flying are those who aren't likely to have the accidents...they know
what causes fatal accidents and avoid such situations.

Paul

"C J Campbell" wrote in message
...

"Gary Drescher" wrote in message
news:WSaNb.49062$sv6.126431@attbi_s52...
|
| It's important to realize that your fearful friends may be right.
| Recreational flying is more dangerous than any activity that most
Americans
| engage in (unless we count dietary and exercise habits as an
"activity").
| According to AOPA's Air Safety Foundation's 2002 Nall Report
| (http://www.aopa.org/asf/publications/02nall.pdf), personal
(non-business)
| GA flying has an average rate of one fatality per 56,000 hours of
flying.
| At that rate, among people who do 100 hours per year of personal flying,
| about 1 in 20 are killed within 25 years. To put that in perspective,
for
| 40-year-olds with a life expectancy of 80 years, 6.3 hours of life are
lost
| for every hour flown. For 10-year-olds with the same life expectancy,
11
| hours of life are lost for every hour flown.
|

Wanna check your math, there, Gary? And maybe you could mine the data for
a
little more interesting information. You do come up with good stuff.

It would be more accurate to say that there is one fatal accident (as
opposed to fatality) every 76,000 hours of flying. That would be one fatal
accident every 760 years for people flying 100 hours per year.

According to p. 1 of the Nall Report, there are 1.22 fatal accidents per
100,000 GA hours. That's one every 82,000 hours. According to p. 5,
personal flying accounts for 48.1% of GA hours, but 70.8% of GA flying.
That comes to one fatal accident per 56,000 hours of personal flying.
That's every 560 years at 100 hours per year, or every 28 years among 20
pilots who fly 100 hours per year each. So as I said, it's roughly 1 in 20
within 25 years.

You're right though that I was conflating fatal accidents with fatalities.
So the probability in question is the risk that *someone* will die in the
plane you're piloting--not necessarily you.

--Gary