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University Daily Kansan
Campus/Area
Tuesday, Sept. 24, 1985
Air deaths renew fears Past pilot eases fear of flying
By Stefani Day Of the Kansan staff
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — In 1980, the main U.S. airlines recorded no fatalities in 1981, they had one.
This year, there have been more than 500, and people are scared.
Thai fear of flying has been eased (courtesy University Kansas Medical Center)
"I can stay calm and under control in an airplane," 18 people recited in unison Saturday at the most recent clinic.
Walt Gum, clinic director and assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at the Med Center, said that telling yourself convincingly that you were in control was the first step to conquering fear of living.
"You know you can't control the airplane," Gunn said, "so exert all that energy into controlling yourself.
"When you feel that rush, when your heart speeds up and your stomach flutters, aax. You can speak in six seconds — splure breathe, elax."
Gunn, who was a pilot with Trans World Airlines for more than 39
years, also said activity was a great stress release. He told the participants to walk around, move in their seat, do anything to keep active when they felt anxiety welling up.
"Activity will absorb that anxiety like a sponge," he said.
Since its inception about a year ago, more than 90 people have participated in the clinic. Gunn said.
"It appears about two out of three show some improvement, if not total improvement."
But Gunn said several people who initially were successful at overcoming their fear had re-encrolled in the clinic since the recent rash of airline accidents.
Gunn, who has more than 28,000 hours of flying time and has flown nearly every plane from DC-3s to 747s, tries to explain the cause and circumstances of the accidents to the clinic participants.
"All I can do is explain, not excuse, these incidents," he said. "Some people need some rationalization, some logical explanation."
Gunn said many people who were afraid to fly showed "obsessional compulsive tendencies."
"They tend to persist in agonizing over fearful situations or events," he said.
He cautioned the participants to stop torturing themselves whenever airplane accidents were reported.
"We can't control the press," he said, "but we can control ourselves. You can control some of this imaging that you do."
He quoted a passage from Robert Serling's book, "Howard Hughes' Airline: An Informal History of TWA."
"You could be born on an airplane
- anv. major. U.S. sched. carrier
- and fly for 78 years before being involved in a fatal accident. Then it may not be fatal for you," he said.
After the five-hour clinic, Gunn took the participants to the Jack Frye TWA Fight Training Center in Kansas City, Mo., for a simulated flight. He gave them a checklist of things to do, including choosing the seat where they would be most comfortable, adjusting the seat and seatbelt and staying generally active.
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