Is airplane travel REALLY safer than automobile travel? And what is good drug for flying?

Question

I hate flying on airplanes. I have flown a LOT in my lifetime. My parents took me on a lot of vacations with air travel and I've flown a lot in the military and after. The older and older I get, the more I fear it. To the point that when I go on business trips every other year now, I am almost in a low state of panic the entire flight. Last year, I got Xanax prescribed by my doctor, but I wasn't that impressed with it's calming qualities. In fact, I took probably 5 Xanax before I was even remotely feeling calmer.

So I have two questions:

1) I often hear that air travel is safer than automobile travel, but I feel that this analysis could be misleading. Here are a couple of reasons why:

a) In flights that go wrong, you usually die. In automobile accidents you sometimes die but are often just injured. When they compare air safety vs. car safety are they just comparing accidents with accidents or are they comparing deaths to deaths?

b) When they compare air safety vs. auto safety, they are just using numbers from the population as a whole. However, we all know that there is a HUGE difference in safety between different groups of drivers. In fact, the insurance companies base their rates on some of these differences. So if you compare deaths of air safety passengers to the deaths of the SAFEST group of drivers, does air safety still rank favorably?

3) Lastly, when you drive an automobile, YOU personally have a huge contributing factor to the outcome of the safety of the drive. When you fly in an airplane, you give total control over to people that you don't know and in most cases, never meet or see! Would you drive in an auto with people you didn't know or couldn't see?

2) Question #2 pertains to drugs that calm fear of flying... What do you guys recommend that actually works? I don't care what the side effects are. And don't recommend Xanax, because I already told you that it sucks.

Answer 1

I just went on my SECOND Plane trip ever. The first I was 16. Now, I am 26. In that time, I have developed CRAZY panic attacks in dealing with heights, tiny enclosed places, hiking, and flying. I may possibly be even worse than you are.

I took a job recently that required travel and I decided I have no choice but to face my fear. I'm not like all the others - - face your fear without meds, bla, bla, bla... That's insane.

I was prescribed .5 mg Ativan an hour before my flight and .5 Ativan before takeoff. Then proceed as necessary, if needed.

I woke up. Took 1 mg of Ativan. I didn't sleep. I also took a .2 mgs Celexa and a Bonine for motion sickness.

I arrived at the airport a little less nervous but as soon as I got on the airplane [ 1 seat on one side/ 2 seats on the other] I freaked out - felt like puking/sweating/dizzy/heartache-nervousn... Could have been because it is much smaller than I had expected. I took another 1 mg of Ativan, placed it under my tongue and let it dissolve. I BELIEVE Ativan is the only one of the benzos you can take by mouth. I kid you not - - it instantly made the fear go away. I was anxiously nervous for the entire flight but never freaked up.

I also brought my PSP to play video games on. It really kept me busy. I pulled my shade down on the plane. I continued to play my PSP on the plane even during takeoff. One of the flight attendants told me I could. I told them that I had panic attacks on planes. They cut you more slack. Being busy during take off is a HUGE bonus. I kept telling myself I was on a train. Which, motion wise, seemed fairly similar.

Ativan may work for you. The best part is knowing if you develop a panic attack, you can take an ativan by mouth/dissolve and know it will instantly work. I'm okay/almost prefer being a Zombie during my flight.

I have a longer flight this week for work (my second flight)... And will be mixing Ambien w/ Ativan w/ Bonine + Travel Bands + my PSP + my Shure SE110 sound isolating headphones + laptop (for movie). We'll see how that goes

:)

Good luck!!!

Answer 2

"Would you drive in an auto with people you didn't know or couldn't see?"

People do it all the time -- it's called a taxicab or bus.

That being said, though, the statistics regarding safety of each mode of transport compare what can be compared -- the number of incidents or fatalities per passenger mile traveled -- and the numbers are always far lower for air travel than they are for auto travel.  You always hear about major plane crashes that kill hundreds of people and think that it can't be safe, but think about the hundreds or thousands of auto crash fatalities you never hear about, because it involves one or a few people.  I guarantee that, if your newspaper were to report on every car crash that happened in the world, your newspaper would be hundreds of pages thick every day.

The comparison of incidents or fatalities per passenger mile traveled is the only realistic comparison that can be made between the two.  Adding in additional criteria (such as the safest drivers) only confuses the statistic, because it's a self-selected criteria that only intends to bias the results.  (In your case, you're attempting to bias the result to make air travel less safe than it really is.)  Besides, safe drivers are never in full control of their environment when they're driving -- they're just as likely to be in an accident that isn't their fault (such as being hit by a drunk driver) than anyone else.

Answer 3

Don't know about the first part, but for drugs, my sister-in-law uses Valium (I don;t know how easily she gets it), apparently it makes her sort of high, like drunk, and she's good to go.