Any pilots here know what to do with a fearful passenger?

[Schteevie]

Me neither, apparently!

This was a humbling experience for me!
- She was WAY more afraid than I thought, and it was a real challenge to try to keep her calm.

This was the first time I failed to impress a passenger with how awesome flying is...
(and it was a perfect night for flying, so it isn't like I took her on a crappy day and scared her.)

What it comes down to is that I've never met a person like this; who is deathly afraid of flying,
but still willing to get in the plane
- I think most people with her level of fear, simply wouldn't even try it!
So I have to give her props for being so brave!

I tried every trick in the book to help her, but ultimately we didn't make a lot of progress
- let me know if you guys have any ideas beyond what I tried!

http://youtu.be/vHwZNmYwYRA

[timel]

Couple years ago doing a 172 tour I had a guy shouting and grabbing my seat from the back seat. I felt bad for the gf.

An other one flew for 4 minutes instead of 30 and gave me a 20$ tip. Some just can't.

[Hiflyer2]

4 or 5 whiskeys and a couple valiums often work well !! I have a friend whose daughter screamed at the top of her lungs for the push back and taxi out in Orlando on a Sunwing flight. She was clawing at the windows and trying literally to tear her way out of the 737. Captain finally taxied back to the gate and had them deplane. They unloaded the luggage. After an hour delay Sunwing went on their merry way and my buddy found a rental return and drove home for quite a reasonable amount of money.

I some how think my Dad would have calmed me down likely with a donkey punch!!!

[Pratt X 3]

I some how think my Dad would have calmed me down likely with a donkey punch!!!

You might want to rephrase that. Especially if you look up donkey punch in the Urban Dictionary.

[zulutime]

Me neither, apparently!

This was a humbling experience for me!
- She was WAY more afraid than I thought, and it was a real challenge to try to keep her calm.

This was the first time I failed to impress a passenger with how awesome flying is...
(and it was a perfect night for flying, so it isn't like I took her on a crappy day and scared her.)

What it comes down to is that I've never met a person like this; who is deathly afraid of flying,
but still willing to get in the plane
- I think most people with her level of fear, simply wouldn't even try it!
So I have to give her props for being so brave!

I tried every trick in the book to help her, but ultimately we didn't make a lot of progress
- let me know if you guys have any ideas beyond what I tried!

http://youtu.be/vHwZNmYwYRA

I'm assuming these are your videos. Well done indeed!

Would love to know how you have set up the cabling connections so you get full ATC comm along with great video footage from the GoPro.

Thanks

[Pop n Fresh]

I believe the only thing that will help is exposure. You are trying to deal with the fear rationally but the fear was not rational, "I'm afraid we might just fall." "What if there's a tornado?"

Like you said a meteor is just about as likely as a tornado. Instead of helping her think, "Oh, that probably won't happen." It may have been another thing to worry about. Good footage of your city. Thanks for sharing.

[cgzro]

Two words "short flight"

I do a fair amount of flights in old biplanes and if the person seems at all nervous I do a quick circuit and come to a stop and then ask if they want to continue.

[I_Drive_Planes]

I some how think my Dad would have calmed me down likely with a donkey punch!!!

You might want to rephrase that. Especially if you look up donkey punch in the Urban Dictionary.

Hahahahahaha! That's my laugh for the day right there! I roared so loud it scared my girlfriend and the cat.




Now to the topic at hand: You did a great job with her and you shouldn't change your approach with nervous flyers a bit. Someone with that level of fear isn't just a nervous flyer, they have a true phobia and require professional help for them to overcome it.

[CFR]

I some how think my Dad would have calmed me down likely with a donkey punch!!!

You might want to rephrase that. Especially if you look up donkey punch in the Urban Dictionary.

I think he meant rabbit punch.

[Outlaw58]

Now to the topic at hand: You did a great job with her and you shouldn't change your approach with nervous flyers a bit. Someone with that level of fear isn't just a nervous flyer, they have a true phobia and require professional help for them to overcome it.

I agree. I think you did a good job helping her keeping it together. A shorter flight might have helped some as stated above but I don't think there was any way to "win her over".

As a skydiving Tandem Master, I dealt with very afraid people in the past. I think you got it easy She did very well!

JP

[CFR]

I do a lot of talking and a good pre brief on what to expect. If you can predict things they are not such a surprise (Stall Warning anyone?). Explaining the steeper turn was great.
Landing on a hot summer day one time I told my nervous passenger that as we passed under a Cu on approach to the runway there might be a bump or two. When it happened he wasn't has jumpy as the unexpected bumps during the flight.

Keep things simple. My wife hates to fly but agreed to a 1 1/2 hr flight to check out a place we were going to go camping. I was my first chance to do a long flight with a G1000 equipped airplane, and I was looking forward to learning the autopilot. Every time I made a change or tried to engage it an alarm went off (I had some things set wrong). This was so upsetting to my wife, I simply flew the rest of the way by hand.

I can tell you what NOT to do. One of my instructors suggested that the problem was trying too hard to make the flight calm. Each time a bump is a bit worse than the one before, the fear starts all over again. His theory is to do the worse you can right at the beginning and everything else seems fine in comparison. He suggested pushing aggressively forward on the stick while simultaneously screaming "I'm coming Satan and I'm bring a friend!!!!" Needless to say I have not tried this!

I may try using your film for my pax that are really scared.

cheers

[DareDevil]

As an old rule of thumb past down to me from generation to generation : "DUCT TAPE WORKS FOR EVERYTHING"

[Heliian]

Don't let them on the a/c. From my experience, someone who is more than just a bit nervous will present themselves obviously before boarding and they should be removed. A sightseeing flight is not the place for therapy and in some cases the person will never be able to fly no matter how much work is put in. Its about cabin safety, an irrational person will do irrational things and you have to learn and make the decisions to mitigate risk. As a note, someone who is really afraid will be easy to talk out of the trip.

[ScudRunner]

[Schteevie]

I'm assuming these are your videos. Well done indeed!

Would love to know how you have set up the cabling connections so you get full ATC comm along with great video footage from the GoPro.

Thanks

Cool thnx.
I am still working out the bugs with regard to a consistent way to get good quality audio when patching into the intercom.
It doesn't always work correctly with all planes (like sometimes the audio is really low, or totally distorted)…
I will make a video in the near future that talks about how I produce the videos.
I've found that they are an amazing tool for review and self analysis, and sometimes I get "gold" like this footage with MJ that is worth sharing

[flyinthebug]

Don't let them on the a/c. From my experience, someone who is more than just a bit nervous will present themselves obviously before boarding and they should be removed. A sightseeing flight is not the place for therapy and in some cases the person will never be able to fly no matter how much work is put in. Its about cabin safety, an irrational person will do irrational things and you have to learn and make the decisions to mitigate risk. As a note, someone who is really afraid will be easy to talk out of the trip.

This is closer to what I was thinking. The fact is that some people are simply terrified to fly. We want our significant other to share our passion for flying but the fact is that doesn't always happen. I would suggest that you "woo" her with stories of your flying and stop trying to force it. Maybe in due time she will come to you and ask you to take her. If/When that day comes, do 1 circuit and park it. Then ask her how she felt etc? Slow steps and maybe one day she will be able to enjoy a decent flight with you. If you push her, it will just magnify the fear and every time she is near an airplane she will feel anxiety. As Heliian said, you are risking the possibility of her freaking out in a small aircraft and putting you and the flight in jeopardy.

My .02
Good luck!
Fly safe!

PS...Great vid!!

[Rookie50]

I am quite thankful in this regard. For my wife and I it was simply graduated exposure over a period of years, and talking through the forces that cause aircraft to move about in the sky. For vfr turbulance eventually the bumpy road analogy took hold and the fear dissipated. For IMC when that came about, I talked about it in advance and introduced it slowly. (for my benefit as well). I give her full credit for being willing to face her fears and try to enjoy the magic of flight.

Today my wife has a few hundred hours, and her perspective has gradually changed from fear / anxiety, to tolerance, to actual joy and enjoyment. Obviously even today some flights for transportation do experience uncomfortable bouts of IMC / weather turbulance we could do without, but there is rarely anxiety anymore even with those.

[Panama Jack]

Rule #1- fly the aircraft . . .

[girouxc]

For very nervous persons

Cut the experience in very small pieces. Accept that person needs more time.

1st contact : sit in the airplane to talk about anything that person likes until forgetting you are sitting in an airplane. Let some silence be. Some persons need silence to think about how and when to say ideas.

Questions may arise. Answer simply. Try to find what's under the question (airplane may fall off the sky in turbulence for example). Talk briefly how the engine is started (almost like a car) and how we taxi with the feet. That's it for now.

2nd visit : objective is engine start and taxi. No flight. This will be the contact with the feel of the engine on and the airplane moving slowly. The experience has to be positive. Reassure your pax that you are pleased to take that time. Do it on a quiet moment at the airport.

3rd visit : engine start, taxi and may be a circuit if person feels so.

You can always stay some time in the cockpi to talk to make that environment a known one. No pressure.

The idea is cutting the traumatically perceived experience in small pleasant pieces of discovering experience.

My humble 2¢

[New_PIC]

For very nervous persons

Cut the experience in very small pieces. Accept that person needs more time.

1st contact : sit in the airplane ...
2nd visit : objective is engine start and taxi. No flight...
3rd visit : engine start, taxi and may be a circuit if person feels so...

I think this is a good progression too and even on the 3rd visit, don't push for a circuit. You might also suggest they try to steer a bit during some of the taxiing. You may need to to go to a quieter rural airport for this. The more understanding they have and control of the situation that they feel, the more comfortable they'll be.