Calming Nervous Flyers: A Pilot’s Innovative Approach

When a commercial jet prepares for takeoff, many passengers experience intense anxiety. This distress is familiar to Hanna, a 38-year-old commercial pilot, who used to find that traditional aviation safety facts offered limited comfort to nervous flyers. ‘They’d still get off, say that it helped slightly but that they’d panicked again,’ she shared with Newsweek.

Two and a half years ago, Hanna, who prefers to keep her last name confidential, began to merge her aviation expertise with her skills in psychology, yoga, and breathwork. As a result, she gained over 28,000 followers on Instagram under the name @flying_wingwoman. Her insightful message to followers is straightforward yet impactful: while facts about flying are beneficial, true calm comes from bodily support.

From Cabin Crew to Cockpit

Hanna’s journey to becoming a commercial pilot is somewhat atypical. ‘I started my career in aviation when I was little,’ she explained. With her mother working as a cabin crew member, Hanna spent much of her childhood on planes. Intrigued by the flight deck, she admired the pilots and the control panels. She pursued flight training while working full-time as cabin crew and soon transitioned to become a pilot.

Why Facts Alone Don’t Calm Nervous Flyers

The turning point in Hanna’s approach came after she began studying psychology and became a yoga and breathing instructor. ‘I realized that I needed to speak to nervous flyers about what was happening in the mind and body,’ she stated. ‘I’m not saying that facts about flying don’t help, because they absolutely do. However, when someone is anxious and panicking, facts are not enough because the rational brain isn’t engaged.’

Hanna noted that fear candisable critical faculties. ‘The brain is clever and it shuts down what it thinks you don’t need when it’s reacting to danger,’ she said. This reaction silences the rational side that processes facts.

Breathing as the Reset Button

According to Hanna, takeoff is especially difficult for anxious passengers due to heightened initial anxiety. Although she continues to share factual information, she finds that deep breathing centers the mind and body. ‘The only way to get the mind and body back under control is through deep breathing,’ she emphasized.

Passengers responded positively after implementing breathing techniques she taught. ‘They’d tell me they didn’t panic for the first time, and felt much better about the flight,’ Hanna noted. Her interactions spurred a global support network for nervous flyers. Many have messaged her, expressing gratitude for overcoming flight anxiety, often flying for the first time in many years.

Hanna packages her guidance into a 30-second breathing exercise, helping many shift their perspective. ‘We are so hard on ourselves in life always and this fear is a big burden for people,’ she said. ‘There is zero judgment from me for this fear and everyone thinks they’re being irrational. But I just think it’s their brain working normally to perceived danger.’

However, she reminds her followers that feeling danger doesn’t always equate to an actual threat.