Skip to main content

Practise Before You Fly

2 min read

The short answer

You can start training your brain before you ever step on a plane. Watching flight videos, listening to cabin sounds, visiting an airport and, with a therapist, virtual reality all let you face the fear in small steps. Studies show this kind of gradual practice makes real flights much easier.

Small Steps Change Big Fears

The best-proven treatment for phobias is exposure: facing the fear gradually, in small steps, until it shrinks. You don't have to start with a flight. Start with something that feels a little uncomfortable, then stay with it until the feeling settles.

Build Your Ladder

Write a list of flying-related situations, from easiest to hardest. For example:

  1. Looking at photos of planes.
  2. Watching take-off and landing videos filmed from the cabin.
  3. Listening to cabin sounds, including bumpy air.
  4. Watching a whole flight filmed from the cockpit.
  5. Visiting an airport and watching planes take off.
  6. Taking a short flight with someone you trust.
  7. Taking a longer flight.

Move up one step when the current one feels manageable. Repeat each step as often as you need.

Sounds are worth practising on their own. NO-FEAR Airlines, an online programme for fear of flying that was tested in a trial, is built around real images and sounds of flights.

Stay Until It Settles

The key is to stay with the feeling rather than escaping straight away. Anxiety rises, peaks and then falls by itself. Each time you see that happen, your brain learns that the situation is safe.

Virtual Reality

A virtual reality headset can recreate a whole flight: boarding, engine noise, take-off and bumps. In a controlled trial, people treated with VR did just as well as those who practised on a real plane at the airport. Within six months, 93% had flown.

VR exposure works best when guided by a trained therapist. Read about treatments that work.

Visit an Airport

Many airports have viewing areas or cafés with a view of the runway. Watching dozens of ordinary take-offs and landings is powerful practice on its own.

Practise Your Calm Too

Use breathing and grounding while you practise. Skills learned at home are ready when you need them in the air.

Be Kind to Yourself

Some days a step will feel harder. That's normal — progress is rarely a straight line. What matters is that you keep going.

Give Your Practice a Clear Purpose

Before a manageable step, write one prediction: "If I watch this cabin video, I won't be able to stay with it."

Choose a short practice period in advance. Afterwards, note what happened: "I felt anxious, and I completed the practice I planned."

Then ask: "What did I learn about coping?" You don't need to reach zero anxiety for the experience to teach you something. Choose a gentler step if needed, and seek a therapist's support if practice feels overwhelming.

Sources

Keep reading

Building Long-Term Flight Confidence

How fear of flying fades over time — and the proven steps that make flying feel easier, then normal.

Which Treatments Work for Fear of Flying?

What the evidence says about CBT, exposure, virtual reality, courses, online programmes and medication — and where to start.

The Weeks Before: Calming the Dread

Why the days before a flight can feel worse than the flight itself, and simple habits that make the wait easier.

← All articles