--- title: Why Some People Have Aviophobia, or Fear of Flying description: Many people have aviophobia, or a fear of flying. Here's why people are afraid of flying, according to phobia expert Todd Farchione. canonical: https://time.com/5330978/fear-of-flying-aviophobia/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-07-06T14:30:54.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:58:03.495Z article:section: Health og:title: Why Some People Have a Crippling Fear of Flying — and How They Can Overcome It og:description: According to a phobia expert og:url: https://time.com/5330978/fear-of-flying-aviophobia/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt13b6c03001085760/698934b40a4a22c8819d31f1/fear-of-flying.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 6480 og:image:height: 3645 og:image:alt: Interior Of An Airplane og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why Some People Have a Crippling Fear of Flying — and How They Can Overcome It twitter:description: According to a phobia expert twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt13b6c03001085760/698934b40a4a22c8819d31f1/fear-of-flying.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why Some People Have a Crippling Fear of Flying — and How They Can Overcome It > Sponsored content. 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Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators.  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Jul 6, 2018 2:30 PM UTC  Photo Taken In France, Paris Photo Taken In France, Paris Erik Witsoe / EyeEm—Getty Images/EyeEm  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Jul 6, 2018 2:30 PM UTC At one point or another, as many as 12.5% of Americans will struggle with a phobia — “an intense, irrational fear of something that poses little or no actual danger” — [according to the National Institute of Mental Health](https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/specific-phobia.shtml). Of these, a fear of flying, or aviophobia, is one of the most common, with estimated prevalence ranging from 2.5% to 6.5% of the population. Far more people have a fear of flying that doesn’t reach phobia levels, despite the fact that [people are flying more than ever before](https://qz.com/585887/more-people-are-flying-in-the-us-than-ever-before/) and plenty of data shows it’s a [reliably safe way to travel](https://www.travelandleisure.com/travel-tips/airplanes-safest-way-to-travel). So what is it about flying that stirs such widespread anxiety? “A lot of it is the lack of control they have in the situation,” explains Todd Farchione, the director of Boston University’s Intensive Treatment Program for Panic Disorder and Specific Phobias. “When the doors close, they’re in it. They’re stuck. They can’t get out of the situation. I think that’s often what’s most frightening for most people.” Fear of heights or crashes, or not [understanding how flight works](http://time.com/4798142/11-airplane-facts/), may also play a part, Farchione says. And flying is a uniquely terrifying activity for many people because they know that if fear or anxiety strikes during the trip, there’s little they can do, he says. “They’re afraid that they might have fear in the situation and be unable to get away from it,” Farchione says. “It’s this image of being stuck sweating and being totally afraid for two hours, four hours, six hours. They’re at the mercy of the pilot.” Sound familiar? Here’s what you can do if you’re afraid of flying. ## Change your response It’s okay to be afraid of flying, Farchione says. What’s more important is reacting to the situation in a healthy way. Many anxious fliers manage their fear by gripping the seats, studying the flight attendants or analyzing every last bit of turbulence, Farchione says. But in doing so, “they’re actually contributing to the fear. Their actions are inadvertently telling them that the situation is dangerous, when in fact it’s not.” Instead, do whatever it takes to distract yourself. Read a magazine, watch television, listen to music or talk to a travel companion. It may also help to practice deep breathing techniques and consciously release muscle tension. “Even just putting a smile on your face can change the emotional reaction,” Farchione says. ## Don’t self-medicate If you don’t fly very often, using a pre-flight Chardonnay to calm your nerves may not be terribly harmful, Farchione says. But if you travel regularly and consistently rely on sleeping pills, alcohol or other substances to get through the experience, you’re just reinforcing bad behavior. “It creates a temporary Band-Aid, but the fear starts to build over time,” Farchione says. “Every time they drink or take medication to get through that situation, they’re saying to themselves, ‘I can’t feel what I feel. I can’t cope with this.’ Because of that, they’re going to be more frightened the next time.” ## Prepare for the flight right Many people with aviophobia experience significant anxiety leading up to a flight. In some cases, Farchione says, this can be worse than flying itself. “In that scenario, I do think it’s useful for the person to ask themselves questions regarding what it is they’re afraid of, and what they think is going to happen on the flight,” Farchione says. Doing so may help you realize there’s nothing to be afraid of, or at least to identify and address sources of fear. ## See a professional The above strategies may work for someone with a non-clinical fear of flying or mild aviophobia, but severe phobias often [require professional treatment](http://time.com/4664996/how-to-treat-phobias/). [Exposure therapy](http://www.apa.org/ptsd-guideline/patients-and-families/exposure-therapy.aspx) — a process of growing acclimated to and eventually accepting the source of fear — is often used to treat phobias, but that’s difficult to arrange for most people with aviophobia. Farchione says treatment for the condition is increasingly moving toward helping patients reframe their fear response, and adds that virtual reality flight simulators may help as well. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5330978/fear-of-flying-aviophobia/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5330978/fear-of-flying-aviophobia/"},"headline":"Why Some People Have a Crippling Fear of Flying — and How They Can Overcome It","datePublished":"2018-07-06T14:30:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:58:03.495Z","description":"It's called aviophobia","url":"https://time.com/5330978/fear-of-flying-aviophobia/","keywords":["Mental Health/Psychology","Living","onetime","onetimetravel","healthytime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt13b6c03001085760/698934b40a4a22c8819d31f1/fear-of-flying.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jamie Ducharme","jobTitle":"Ducharme is a contributor to TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt13b6c03001085760/698934b40a4a22c8819d31f1/fear-of-flying.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Interior Of An Airplane","caption":"Interior Of An Airplane","creditText":"Erik Witsoe / EyeEm—Getty Images/EyeEm","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/mental-healthpsychology/","name":"Mental Health/Psychology"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5330978/fear-of-flying-aviophobia/","name":"Why Some People Have a Crippling Fear of Flying — and How They Can Overcome It"}}]}] ```