The Frightful Skies?

"Airline travel is hours of boredom interrupted by moments of stark terror" ~ Al Boliska


My brother and his girlfriend are off to the friendly skies.  Her cousin's wedding in Oregon is calling them out for a few days.  Excited?  My brother is.  His girlfriend?  Terrified.  She's suddenly terrified of flying.  


Even she admits it - it's an irrational fear.  She has been flying a handful of times before, nothing bad ever happened, and yet she still is petrified to fly.  My family and I love it.  Flying takes you everywhere - exotic destinations, private escapes, family fun-parks, and friends and long awaited visits.  She, however, sees it as a blockade into a uncontrolled vessel, one which flies thousands of feet above the ground and leaving no way out should something go wrong.  She hates feeling, "out of control," as she puts it.  I tried to explain that she has just as little control over other drivers, but she still liked the idea of being on the ground.  I also told her that you have a better shot of dying in a car accident than in a plane crash, but that still didn't extinguish her concern.


Movies?  Books?  Music??  These are all good ways to, as the quote insinuates, pass the boring flight - hours with nothing to do or nowhere to go - because it helps you stay busy and think about something other than being in the same seat for hours.  I tried to play these ideas off as means to calm her.  She seemed skeptical.  I hope they work.  She may not have valium or a prescription sedative (which she really doesn't need), but if she keeps reminding herself everything she fears is strictly in her head and she's being irrational, coupled with being with my brother, hopefully she'll make it through the flight unscathed.  Besides, what good is it to be terrified of the form of transportation that can get you to some of the most exciting places on Earth quickly?!