Crew - please take your seats for take off

"Crew, please take your seats for take off". And that's the moment when my heart, stomach, mind, body and soul start plummeting into the abyss of dread. Sudhir's fingers must be mush by now; and seat handles must be dented. 

Take off, mid-flight turbulence and banking - these 3 make sick to my stomach; I wish teleportation was a reality.

But mind you, descent before landing is something I am super comfortable in; "yay, we are going down - soon this ordeal will be over and done with. We are at a lower altitude, hence a crash will be less severe in terms of casualties" - awesome, right ?

I s**t bricks every time we take off. What if Bernoulli fails ? What if physics decides to give up at that very moment ? Why do we have to bloody bank every time the captain has to turn the damn flight ? OMG - what if the plane loses balance and we just plummet downwards due to the banking while making a turn? I actually clench and hold the plane while it makes a turn so that I can try to keep some balance in the flight and maintain the centre of gravity - don't ask me why I do it, I just do.

I'm not sure why the fear of take off and en route flight set in, but I have an idea. I guess it was some time in 2015 while going to Bombay through terrible turbulence. The pilot asked the crew to strap in during descent and the plane shook, rattled and bounced all the way down. It actually even made those screeching sounds you hear in movies when a plane is crashing. I screamed out loud and scrunched up into a fetus pose while seated. Since then, every time the captain switches on the seat belt sign mid-flight, I break into a heavy sweat - obviously same thing happens during take off.

I understand this fear is silly - I know it is stupid of me to be so worried and scared during flights. I know the stats - flying is the safest way to travel. Chances of you dying are better than one in a million - the probability of being hit by a truck in a football field is higher! Yet, there are loads of people who are worried during flights - with me being one of them. The recent Jet airways episode and Indigo-Spice Jet episodes do NOT help ...

I've read several blogs and articles on how to combat the fear :
1. Keep yourself occupied - read a book
2. Have a countdown timer on your watch / phone so that you know how much time is left for landing

*3. Medicate yourself a lot so that you pass out

*4. Don't sleep a few days before you fly so that you cannot help but sleep on the flight

5. Check out all the probability stats that you can before flying

6. Talk to you co-passengers / air hostesses about your fear - they might be able to help calm you down

etc. And there are many many more.

(by the way, the starred points are concoctions of my own :) )

I have even tried Silva Mind Control to help with the fear. My dad has helped with this and I've imagined (while in the alpha state) super comfortable flights, with me enjoying the ride and not having any anxiety. I've even done the "safe place" mind control session where I concoct a potion that will help calm my nerves; where I've programmed myself to calm down by joining the 3 fingers of my left hand... But somehow - nothing has worked.

So then I tried keeping a talisman with me - I took a print of the Hanuman Chalisa ('coz Hanumanji is a stud right ? He carried a whole mountain for Laxman - what's an aircraft to him :) ). I read that feverishly every time we take off. I used to go for Balavihar classes as a kid - and I am so so so so so grateful to my parents for making me do that. I know prayers; I have my talismans; I feel slightly calmed every time I get scared in a flight.

Another thing I do is check the expression of the air hostesses. They look calm ? All good! Worried / tense expression - we're doomed.
I even bugged the crap out of a friend of mine (Rajasik) who is a pilot with IndiGo. Questions like - will the flight be steady ? How does the pilot know what to do if an engine fails ? Can it fly with one engine ? There are enough airports for an emergency landing en route within India right ? Do they know how to handle emergency situations ?
Hahahha ! He patiently answered all my questions and told me that they are trained for exactly such situations and know exactly what to do in case something does go wrong ...

However, the best, most effective thing that helps calm nerves on a flight is when the captain speaks. My God, the soothing effect his / her voice has on my nerves cannot be explained in words. It somehow gives me that comfort, and this runs through my mind - "the captain is speaking and he sounds all fine. Which means that everything is going fine. Everything is under control and we are not plummeting to our deaths". I'm serious, when the captain speaks (even though he just gives an update of how much longer we are going to take, or apologises for the delay) it just feels much better. I get that sense of comfort that he is in control and all is good, and the sun comes out and everything is nice, shiny, bright and happy :)

I wish all captains spoke every now and then on the flight to the passengers (and NOT to the crew to strap in) - even if it was about the weather, clouds, a joke, how much longer we were going to take, etc. It has a super strong calming effect on anxious passengers - trust me. 

Guess I need to share this with a pilot friend of mine, maybe IndiGo will make this their norm :)