Fear of Flying Conquered : Graduates Soar After Their First Flight

Fifty people who spent the last three weeks getting up the nerve to step into a jetliner graduated from their “Fear of Flying” course on a round-trip flight to Des Moines.

Some of the passengers on American West Flight 254 clutched arm rests, others did breathing exercises to calm themselves and many gasped as the Boeing 737 took off from Eppley Airfield and landed in Iowa.

Although they didn’t lose their fears, some participants said the classes and the 25-minute flights made airline travel easier to bear. Others called them a conditional success.

“I didn’t throw up and I didn’t cry,” Eleanor Byrne said after landing in Des Moines. “And I think I smiled.”

“I want to go again--I had apprehension today, but now that I’ve done it I’m ready to go again,” LaVonne Franksen said.

The free, once-a-week classes started on Nov. 10 and were sponsored by the Omaha Airport Authority.

The group, under the direction of psychotherapist Sandy Kutler, met for more than an hour each session, some of which were conducted aboard parked airplanes.

Participants avoided flying because of claustrophobia, fear of having a panic attack, fear of heights or a reluctance to relinquish control of their lives to a pilot, Kutler said.

Many said they weren’t fearful of a crash.

The graduates gathered in a conference room to discuss their feelings before the takeoff for Des Moines. Terror, anxiety and panic were common.

At the gate, the students talked quietly among themselves before boarding the regularly scheduled flight with about 30 other passengers.

Once in the air, many relaxed.

“So far so good,” said Lucile Vaccaro of Omaha as she clutched her husband’s hand high above the farmland of western Iowa.