Customer Reviews

Flying Without Fear - Op

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book has been instrumental in my battle against fear of flying. I've owned the book for almost a year (through six flights), and it has helped me to confront my biggest fears.

The first part of the book helps you to understand the physiology of fear. Usually I tend to skim over sections like this, but I found the information in this case to be quite helpful because it helps you to understand how your fear has developed and that there are different types of fears with regard to flying. For example, I may be afraid of heights whereas another person may be clastrophobic, so you have to treat these fears individually. There is also a checklist in this section to help you identify your specific areas of fear.

Then the author moves on to several sections that help you develop "a valid information base." For me, these sections were key. I have gone through these time and time again, underlining and memorizing bits of information. Most of this information is in a question and answer format, so it is easy to skim until you find the questions that interest you most. The sections address everything you could possibly want to know: The Airline Industry, Pilots and Training, Personnel Other Than Pilots, Questions about Pilots, Aerodynamics, Flight Planning and the Flight Itself, Weather, Turbulence, Terrorism and Bombs, and Miscellaneous Questions. My favorite statistics are that the death rate risk per flight is one in eleven million and that air travel is 20 times safer than by car. The remainder of the book discusses coping strategies and information about developing your own flight plan.

If you are debating about whether to buying a book which addresses your fears, I would definitely encourage you to do so. I remember when I first looked for a book and wasn't sure if I really needed one or which one to get. After doing some research, I settled on this book, and it's been a great investment in peace of mind. It's well organized, clearly presented, and full of reassuring information. So go ahead, don't let unrealistic fears limit your experiences in life...fight back!

This book was great. I had flown before with white knuckles and sweaty palms, praying the whole time that we would not crash. I read this book from front to back just a few weeks before a five and a half hour flight to Hawaii. I took the book with me on the flight. I was a little nervous after boarding the flight but I got the book out and read the parts explaining take off. I was able to handle take off with out grabbing the arm rest and with in a few minutes I was even able to relax. I thoughly enjoyed the whole flight there and back and I am ready to fly again. This book answered all my questions on how the plane works, what is happening in each stage of the flight and what all the noises are. Thank you very much Duane Brown for freeing me from my fear. I highly recomend this book to anyone who wants to fly but is afraid.

After a particularly turbulent plane ride several years ago, I refused to fly for a couple of years. When I finally did, I started having panic attacks on the plane. With the help of a pyschologist and his recommendation of this book, I was able to move with my family to Hawaii last year. While on the plane, I practiced several of Dr. Browns flight plans and my fear was greatly lessened on that flight. My fear is not completely gone and I will take Dr. Browns book on my flight next week to the mainland. I'm confident that re-reading the book will keep me from having a panic attack when I re-educate myself about the logistics of airplanes and how they fly.

My fear developed slowly. After following several news stories a bit too close, and then having to do a (highly controled) emergency landing in a 747, I decided I couldn't fly until I did some research. Thus, this book. The best thing about this book is that it reconstruct people's misconcieved data about fying by replacing it with statitistics that prove that the most dangerous part of the flight is the drive to the airport. 11 million flights a year in the US and Canada alone! That right there helped a lot. Wierd noises, all explained. Weather, turbulence, engine loss, all covered. Honestly, after reading this, I swtiched my fear to the road. Buy this book if you have a flying phobia. It will help. (And for god's sake, stop following the news so closely!)

If you really want to get rid of this absurd fear of flying, you simply must read this book! I do know what I mean: I couldn't fly for more than half an hour and... even in such a short flight time I would feel so unconfortable and my anxiety would make me feel like I was going to die right away! But this book thoroughly inspects all those topics that are critical to a fearful flyer: psychological interactions, wrong technical informations hold as gospel by fearful flyers, and much much more. This book is not philosophical musings: on the contrary, it explains you how to handle EVERY little tiny thing which causes you to be a fearful flyer and it concretely helps you recovering from that. One last thing: after reading this book I had a 24 hours trip (from Italy to Korea) and... this time it was fun! I liked it so much! Can you believe it? I wish you this book has on you the same effectiveness it had on me.

The second after I knew I had to fly, the crying spells, catastrophic thoughts and panick attacks began. I was chained to my fear. I chose this book to read because I was sick of viewing plane trips to exotic places as a tempt of fate. I just got off four planes and it was the best rides of my life. Brown's information, check off lists, and exercise's actually allowed me to ride with relative comfort. It helped pull me out of my unrealistic thinking and back into control. I believe I have conquered turbulence and I was even telling other passengers what the plane was doing and why. What a change!I am so grateful for this book!

This book is phenomenal. I have been a white-knuckled flyer for over 9 years, and with just one reading of this book, my fear was completely and permanently eliminated. This book is filled with incredible information about every single aspect of flying that you have ever been nervous about. I just went on two recent flights that were EXTREMELY turbulant, filled with all sorts of noises, and other "unusual" stuff -- yet because of this book, I was completely cool, calm, and collected. I was amazed at myself -- I couldn't believe the different person that this book had turned me into. (Thanks to this book, I was even able to SLEEP on the plane -- I don't think I've ever been able to sleep on a plane in my entire life!) In fact, not only did this book eliminate my fear of flying, but I now embrace flying and look forward to future flights. This is a must-read for any person who is afraid of flying.

I've purchased just about every book that is available on the subject and this is the only one I choose to take with me when I fly.

I completed the Fear of Flying Clinic at SFO last year-that allowed me to fly again. This book reinforces much of what I learned at the clinic. I found it to be thourough, practical and factual. Of particular help to me is the 'checklist' it includes of sights, sounds and smells that occur during ordinary flight. When I fly I use this checklist to remind myself that all is going well.

Fearful flyers, you can do it! This book will help but don't expect miracles. Recovering from this fear can take a lot of work.

When I get my laptop ready for a trip, the first thing that goes into my case is this book. I had a frightening experience on a plane about 10 years ago, but after my daughter was born, I started to panic everytime I was slated to travel. The Center for Travel Anxiety in Bethesda, Maryland recommended this book and I never fly without it. The book covers everything from the basics of how an airplane stays in the air and industry safety to techniques on how to stop racing thoughts and creating your own flight plan. If you are a fearful flyer, this book is a "MUST READ".

I am a frequent flyer. (178 flights in calendar 2001). I am the sort of flyer who gets on a plane, buckles his seatbelt and falls asleep. I have absolutely zero fear of flying.

Unfortunately, my ability to sleep on planes has convinced my friends and colleagues that I possess the secret to overcoming the dreaded FEAR OF FLYING. This is absolutely not the case. Having never once had such a fear-thus having nothing to overcome-I have no clue as to how one deals with that problem.

Fortunately, Duane Brown does. More importantly, he is able to articulate and explain that skill to others.

Mr. Brown understands flying, understands the causes of the anxieties and phobias that cause the dreaded FEAR OF FLYING, and provides useful and effective mechanisms folks can use to, if not eliminate the phenomenon. At least make it manageable.

This book is so good I bought a couple of copies to have on hand. Someone will come by and start a conversation that I discern is about this fear (it usually takes folks a while to get there) and I simply hand them a copy and tell them "Read this-it'll get you over the hump." Every person I have ever given it to (maybe two dozen or so) has told me it helped them immensely.

This book is for white-knuckle flyers. If you are just anxious because you have never flown, haven't flow for years, or are just jittery from 9/11 or whatever, a better choice would be The Fearless Flyer : How to Fly in Comfort and Without Trepidation...