Dialogue: Hijack calamity realises worst fears of air phobics

By SUZANNE McFADDEN

In the United States, 25 million people are terrified of flying.

That was until a week ago. Since hijackers turned four airliners into terrorist missiles, the number of air phobics has probably tripled.

It is a fear not confined to the Land of the Free. It should be a boom time the world over for those who help to soothe the nerves of those terrorised by the thought of boarding a plane.

But it is quite the opposite.

Grant Amos has run the Flying Without Fear programme in Auckland for the past 20 years, and his latest course started last night.

He originally had 11 frightened flyers sign up. By yesterday the roll had dropped to five.

"People pulled out because they said, 'We were right'. They turned the hijackings into a justification for their fear of flying," Mr Amos said.

"One of the women was supposed to fly to New York to visit her daughter, who worked in the World Trade Center. Her daughter was running late for work on the morning of the attacks - 400 of her friends and workmates died.

"The daughter is afraid of flying, too, so she's told her mother she can never fly - that all planes crash.

"This is what is happening. People who were worried before are now running for cover."

Researchers reckon that between 8 and 12 per cent of any country's population will not, and cannot, fly because of their phobias.

Boeing did its own research and found that somewhere between 10 and 15 per cent of every plane-load of passengers do not want to be in the air.

Yet it is a well-known fact that the chances are much greater - in fact, about 2000 times greater - of being killed on the road than in a jet crash. Every time a plane goes down, the phobic population goes up. It is not helped by modern communication technology - as the image of a jet exploding on impact is repeated over and over on our television screens.

Mr Amos was last night trying to remind his class that the American tragedy had nothing to do with an engine malfunction or pilot error.

"The reality is that this is not a flying problem. It's a religious-political problem," he said.

Yet the fallout from the incident - like stepped-up security at airports worldwide - is exacerbating anxieties. It has been compounded here by Air New Zealand's woes.

"People with a fear of flying have to go through a mental preparation, like an athlete getting ready for a marathon. So the alteration to things throws them," Mr Amos said.

"Some of our graduates have been ringing because their flights have now been cancelled and they don't know what to do."

The number of business executives who are fronting up for help is steadily growing; they make up at least a third of the course attendees. There are even former cabin crew, who have taken a break from the job and developed a new nervousness in the air.

While I am not a member of the white-knuckle brigade, I will probably always have a dread of falling from the sky. But last week's events will not stop me from flying - it's not hijackers I fear.

Several years ago, I was on a flight to Hawaii when the plane plunged several thousand feet to avoid a clump of turbulence. No warning was given to the passengers. A line of ambulances was waiting for us on the tarmac for those hurt in the dive.

The new phobia to come out of all this is the fear of not being able to get home from the other side of the world.

With a stench of war in the air, many New Zealanders in the Northern Hemisphere just want to get home. Some anxious families are calling for a "Kiwi rescue flight" to get their loved ones back.

Warren Douglas, the media man for the Nautor Challenge in the Volvo Ocean Race, starting this weekend, has been away from his Auckland home for the past three months. He is booked to fly out of Heathrow this time next week, after the fleet sets sail.

"Now I'm worried that, one, Air New Zealand might not be flying and, two, Los Angeles airport may be closed. The question would then be whether to fly over the Middle East - and the answer has got to be no," he said.

"Now I'm thinking that the easiest way might be to jump on a yacht and sign on as a cook."

Other travellers are finding the price of dashing home from the other side of the world pretty steep. One Kiwi was told a one-way ticket from London to Christchurch, via Singapore, would set him back $5500.

Not surprisingly, there's been no trouble getting a seat.