Conquer your fear off lying

If the prospect of stepping on a plane fills you with terror, Mike Peake has some tips that’ll have you soaring anxiety-free in no time

Whether it’s the dreaded ‘triple bing-bong’ of the cabin call bell or an anxious look on the faces of the cabin crew, if you’re a nervous flier – and up to one third of us are – one of these is all the evidence you need that your aircraft is about to fall from the sky. In your mind, the memories of a dozen airline disaster movies are pouring petrol on to the already-incendiary images your imagination is throwing up, and within moments you know with unflinching certainty that a screaming, horrific death awaits you. But then the trolley passes, a woman hands you a hot towel and… Nothing happens.

Anyone who is scared of flying is their own worst enemy. They feed their fear with stomach-churning thoughts of disaster and translate the tiniest jolt of turbulence into an iron-clad guarantee of impending doom. Half-truths and myths combine with overactive imaginations to devastating effect, and at 20,000 feet they can transform a normally rational person into a blubbering wreck.

And yet flying has never been safer. According to newly released findings from the Aviation