(QUEEN CITY NEWS) — With the recent crashes in Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia two days after, one former airline pilot says no one should be afraid to fly.
“You’re safe. Your progress in overcoming flight anxiety is real,” Captain Ronald Nielsen said. “Don’t let this one-off event derail your journey, become a fear from becoming a confident flier.”
Nielsen already has a PowerPoint ready to share with his clients who have a fear of flying. He’s been working with people with that fear for over 30 years through his Fearless Flight classes.
He’s anticipating clients to be more on edge due to the recent crashes.
“So it has nothing to do with the plane. I got a little slogan that says “The pain in your brain ain’t got nothing to do with the plane. Even though they know that this is a one-off, we haven’t had an accident, a fatal accident in the U.S. in 15 years and you can just tell everybody gets wired,” he said.
MORE FROM QUEEN CITY NEWS
DC MIDAIR COLLISION TIES
He attributes the hesitancy to flying to an anxiety disorder called “Cleithrophobia”
a rare phobia characterized by an intense and irrational fear of being trapped or enclosed in small spaces.
Nielsen hosts a weekly YouTube show offering tips and advice to help them ahead of their upcoming flights. One of the first things he tells them is to learn how to distract or disrupt their thinking.
“If you’ve got flight anxiety, it’s essential to process this information rationally. That’s number one. Recognize that emotions are not facts. Finally, stick to your flying planes.. canceling flights due to fear, only reinforces the anxiety rather than helping you overcome it,” he said.
Data from NASA’s Aviation Safety Reporting System shows there were just over 1,100 near-midair collisions involving at least one commercial aircraft reported over the last 20 years, from 2005 through the fall of 2024.
“It’s just unbelievable that everything had to be just right. All of them lined up everything that needed to go wrong, went wrong in that particular incident,” he said.
However, Nielsen believes commercial flying is still the safest way to travel on the planet.
“Accidents stick in people’s minds for various reasons, and this one will be because it happened at the end of a long lull in accidents. And it and we’ll probably have an even longer lull after this. They’ll make some changes on this,” Nielsen said.
