Once in awhile, we encounter passengers who demonstrate symptoms of fear of fly or aviophobia. I said “once in awhile” because not all the passengers would show or tell us they are in fear. I am certain that there are more people who are in fear then we notice but they just hide it. There are many reasons why they are in fear, the most common ones we see include, fear of height, fear of terrorism and fear of crash.
Airplane traveling is relatively safe nowadays. Whenever there is an accident, however, it hits the headline in the paper. This is because airplane accidents often involve a lot of deaths and casualties. I have met a passenger, who works as a nurse in the cardiology unit, was so fearful that she had had a doctor inject medication to calm her down before she flew. When she boarded, she also requested to see the caption before takeoff to give her a peace of mind.
When people come on board, they bring with them a wide range of emotions. To many people, flying is associated with a mixture of feelings including excitement, fear, curiosity, boredom, freedom, annoyance, depression, enjoyment, you name it. As flight attendants, we have to deal with a cabin full of people with a mixture of emotions and moods.