FEAR of flying?
Dial a Pilot therapy service wants to ease passengers’ fears
Ihave an irrational fear of drunken pilots. Just when I think I have conquered my phobia, a pilot gets busted for showing up to work intoxicated. The United pilot who was recently arrested in Paris for a high blood alcohol level set my progress back weeks.
I unloaded all of this on my therapist — I mean, the pilot who was providing support through a new service called Dial a Pilot. The help line, which launched June 26, connects aviation experts with travelers struggling with certain fears or concerns about flying.
Five pilots are on call, and each $50 session lasts 15 minutes, though it’s not a hard stop. My conversation with James clocked in at 30 minutes. (The pilots requested that I do not disclose their employers’ names, because they do not speak on behalf of the airlines.)
“I thought it was a really good opportunity [for nervous fliers] to hear from the horse’s mouth what’s going on in aviation, what we do in turbulence and why we move the flaps around — all of the things people experience on an airplane,” said Kyle Koukol, the airline pilot who founded the company. “That one-on-one, office-hours mentality felt like it was the way to help people.”
Koukol said he vets the pilots who answer calls, and the company checks their qualifications using public data from the Federal Aviation Administration. Though the experts do not have counseling backgrounds, they are accustomed to explaining such troubling topics as turbulence and engine failure. For years, Koukol has been fielding anxious questions from his sister-in-law and friends in his hometown of San Francisco. James is the youngest of four kids, three of whom are jittery fliers.
“I have experience in talking them off the ledge,” James said.
COMMON CONCERNS
Koukol said the company receives about 20 calls a week and that turbulence is the No. 1 topic. “They want to understand why it’s so bumpy, where turbulence originates from, what the pilots do when they encounter it and is it something that we can forecast,” he said. “And, of course, is turbulence dangerous?”
He said callers also inquire about the sensations and sounds of flying, including the usual rattles, groans and creaks.
“We explain all of that and say, ‘Hey, you know, if you look out on the wing, this is what you’re seeing,’” Koukol said. “If you are feeling this in your seat, this is what’s actually happening.”
The pilots also get an earful of “what-if ” scenarios. What if the plane loses an engine? Over the ocean? Does it carry enough fuel for such emergencies? “We get a lot of those,” Koukol said.
The advisers are open to discuss any subject, no matter how improbable, with one exception: They won’t divulge sensitive se
curity protocols.
AEROPHOBIA
The fear-of-flying marketplace is crowded; skittish passengers can try virtual or in-person courses, homeopathic remedies, exposure therapy, breathing exercises and meditation apps such as Headspace, which has a section that specifically addresses aerophobia.
Brenda Wiederhold, co-founder of the Virtual Reality Medical Center in San Diego, uses several techniques to help her patients overcome their high-altitude anxieties, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy and biofeedback. She said some of her clients will supplement their care by watching YouTube tutorials run by pilots. Others will share their worries with crew members before takeoff, finding comfort from speaking with the people in charge.
However, some travelers could suffer from social anxiety and lack the confidence to approach a pilot.
“I think [Dial a Pilot] has huge value,” Wiederhold said. “A lot of people can be proactive and do it themselves and not need therapy.”
Before your call, she recommends writing down your questions in advance. Fifteen minutes can fly by.
“Know what you want to ask and you can pivot, depending on the answer the pilot gives you,” she said.
WHAT IT’S LIKE TO CALL
Signing up for Dial a Pilot was a snap. I scanned the available times on the online calendar and chose a Tuesday afternoon. The form asked me to share the topics I wished to cover so the pilot could be prepared. I could also include flight information in case I had specific concerns about a coming trip.
After paying the fee, I received an emailed receipt. A half-hour before the call, a text message reminded me about my appointment.
My phone rang at 1 on the dot. A sunny, easygoing voice said hello, and I immediately felt at ease. Aware of the ticking clock, I was ready to jump right in with my questions, but James politely interjected. Before we began, he said he wanted to introduce himself properly. He told me he has been flying for about seven years and works for a major commercial carrier. Then he tossed the mic back to me.
I started with the concern foremost on my mind: drunken pilots.
“I have never experienced it in my entire time of flying,” he said. “When it does happen, it’s a very big deal. You’re done. You’re never going to touch a plane again.”
He said federal and company rules are very strict about alcohol use. The Federal Aviation Administration does not allow pilots to consume alcohol within eight hours of a flight. Some carriers, including his airline, have even longer lead times: no booze 12 or 14 hours before takeoff. He also said some carriers will administer random breathalyzer and drug tests on its crew members.
His explanation was encouraging. But, I asked, what if a pilot ignores the law and shows up wasted? Would an airport or airline employee intervene?
James said crew members are not necessarily suspicious, but they keep an eye on one another to make sure they are not overtired or unwell. “I’d know if something was up,” he said reassuringly.
I moved on to turbulence. I wanted to know whether seat belts could really prevent us from shooting out of our seats, even in the choppiest conditions. He said injuries only occur when passengers and flight attendants are not strapped in. “That’s why we are so crazy about the seat belt stuff,” he said.
At this point in the conversation, I realized my time was almost up, and I was only halfway through my list of questions. “Don’t worry about the 15 minutes,” he said.
In my speed round, I asked about cellphones not switched to airplane mode — safe or dangerous? Harmless, he said. They don’t interfere with radio communication.
Are 5G towers worth fretting over? No, planes have added 5G filters. “It’s not causing some crazy effect,” he said.
For the urban myth portion of my session, I wanted to know whether pilots and co-pilots eat different meals, to avoid a double case of food poisoning. James said this rule was in the manual but was not an issue for him: “I don’t eat the meals because I think they are gross.”
I asked if he uses the sink water in the bathroom or drinks any beverages made with airplane water, such as coffee or tea. He said he washes his hands in the lavatory sink and avoids the hot beverages, but for taste (not toxic) reasons. He acknowledged that the airlines don’t clean the tanks as frequently as they change the water, but they test the containers and will disable the water system if the results are subpar. On one flight, he said, the carrier supplied the bathrooms with hand sanitizer and wipes in place of water.
Finally, I threw out a question I had been wondering about for years: Do pilots who botch the landing hide in the cockpit until everyone has disembarked? He laughed loudly. “I have heard that they stay up front after a hard landing.” I didn’t ask if he was speaking from personal experience.