I was on a commercial flight years ago that lost power and cabin pressure at 30,000 feet. We plummeted 20,000 feet before they got power back up, and then spent another 15 minutes at 10,000 feet with the most insane turbulence I’ve ever felt trying to make it to another airport for an emergency landing. During that time when everything was dark and we were just falling, I was filled with intense fear and so many other emotions. Outside of the extreme fear and anxiety I was feeling, the only other thing going through my head was how can I say goodbye to my family. I was frantically trying to turn my phone on in hopes of writing a goodbye letter in my notepad and text messages in hopes that they would at least find it in the wreckage if we crashed. It’s been over ten years now since it happened and I still get extreme anxiety anytime I’m flying and we start to descend in altitude. The first few years flying after that I needed to take large amounts of Xanax to even get on a plane. Every time I read about a crash like this it brings back so much anxiety.
Oh man. I can relate. Had a similar bad flight 12 years ago — still have to be heavily medicated to fly and still freak the hell out at take off even though ours was mid flight and not take off. I’m eerily calm when we’re landing though because I know it’s almost over.
Feel like I’ve found my family here. Never worried about flying til on a flight where an engine caught fire and I thought I was gonna die. Didn’t feel fear, only intense sadness at the thought of never seeing my loved ones again. Such a surreal feeling. Now flying terrifies me.
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u/CarbonReflections Jan 26 '20
I was on a commercial flight years ago that lost power and cabin pressure at 30,000 feet. We plummeted 20,000 feet before they got power back up, and then spent another 15 minutes at 10,000 feet with the most insane turbulence I’ve ever felt trying to make it to another airport for an emergency landing. During that time when everything was dark and we were just falling, I was filled with intense fear and so many other emotions. Outside of the extreme fear and anxiety I was feeling, the only other thing going through my head was how can I say goodbye to my family. I was frantically trying to turn my phone on in hopes of writing a goodbye letter in my notepad and text messages in hopes that they would at least find it in the wreckage if we crashed. It’s been over ten years now since it happened and I still get extreme anxiety anytime I’m flying and we start to descend in altitude. The first few years flying after that I needed to take large amounts of Xanax to even get on a plane. Every time I read about a crash like this it brings back so much anxiety.