Arlene I was scared of heights growing up and really nervous about any kind of stalls when I started my flight training. I would get this massive adrenaline rush whenever my instructor said stalls were on the lesson plan and while we performed them. I was willing to tough out the traning and now after thousands of them I do not get a rush at all. It's all about investigating something enough to know what causes it and why it happens. Flying is the same way, when you know a lot about it there simply is not that much to go wrong and you can relax. Knowledge gradually replaces all the unknowns that serve as the root of the fear. On the other hand, some fear is a natural reaction to unknown circumstances, not only in flying but in everything, and almost everyone gets a mild rise out of some part of flying even when they are highly experienced. The mind is saying "there may be something dangerous here and you need to be on the lookout". I am not a psychologist, but I think that knowledge is the cure for your fear.

A lot of what has been said here has been great advice. I was afraid of heights, so I took up rock climbing. It worked.

Taking a ground school first, then maybe a couple flight lessons would be a great way to try and work through this fear. I had a couple students do this when I was instructing. It started as ground school and by the end, both were on their way to soloing. I still keep in touch with one and she has had no problems flying since then.

I went in today for my second of three hypnotist, virtual reality therapy. Seemed pretty easy today. I realized most of my stress is at the gate, taxi-ing, and take off. After that I'm pretty good. Landings are no big deal.

Although I'm starting to wonder if my 'therapist' is a fraud. My lawyer , whom I chat with, thinks he's not nearly qualified since he's really young, and got his ph.d. from Capella U. over the internet.

I figure if VR works for training and desensitization it doesn't really matter who is doing it- a. And b. its all hocus pocus bs anyhow.

If it works it works.

I'm just wondering if I should book a flight for this Friday, since I should be ready to fly after our last session on Thursday.

I could take a short one hour flight from lax to santa barbara and then there isn't any pressure since I could take the train back, if I chicken out.

I like to avoid ground stops, as I find those stressful, as well as being stuck controlless on the plane.

I"m thinking morning flights are the best way to go.

Ideas??

Try and catch the pilots before they board, or speak to the gate agent. Let the person know you're a nervous passenger, and you'd like to have a chat with one of the pilots to help your fears. If there's time, I'm sure they'll say yes, and will be happy to answer questions. Have a list of questions to ask (but don't make the list tooooo long).

Here is the link to the college's aviation page with courses- which ones should I take?

http://secure.glendale.edu/schedules...TRANSPORTATION

I figure the first two should be

AT 112

I don't have the pre- req for 114,

but I could take

AT 120

I have a question about AT 112- private pilot lab 1, it looks suspiciously like I might have to go into and fly an airplane as its conducted at WHITMN, which is an airport. Or might it just be we have a course room over there, and get familiar with items?

At 112 and AT 120 appear to be flight training in an airplane, and ground school for the preceding, respectively. Go do it! I would call Curt Potter and ask him if there are any supplies you need and what times he can schedule your lessons. Also, you can be sure the flight training carries a pretty hefty hourly cost ($100/hr?), so make sure you ask about that too. I looked up Glendale Community College in the airplane registry and I see they own 3 or training aircraft so you will be flying an old 172 or a 150. You're gunna love it!

Fall semester starts on September 2nd, so I have some time to burn before that. Wish I could get on plane today.

Cubdriver,
thanks for the tip on asking about the flight training hourly cost. I'll email him and see whats up with that. I checked out those two cessna's on wikipedia, it says they are the most built aircrafts, and mainly used for training since they are easy to fly.

I'm *still* scared of ladders and hate being on top of them or workstands without "one hand myself, the other for ship's work"...but have no problems flying a Piper Cub with the door wide open (for instance).

The weirdest is crawling out onto the wingtip of something tall.

Arlene: LAX-OXR is shorter than LAX-SBA (15 minutes comes to mind, actually, in the EMB-120), although I don't remember if you can easily get to the train station from Oxnard "International" and there's not a lot to do in OXR.