How to Conquer Your Fear of Flying – Episode 4

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How to Conquer Your Fear of Flying

Not sure how to conquer your fear of flying? In today’s episode, we sit down with Brian Morris to discuss overcoming the fear of flying. With air travel anxiety on the rise, Brian offers expert advice on how to manage those nerves and feel more confident in the sky. He’s also the creator of Flight Deck 365, a unique set of flashcards designed to help reduce travel-related stress. Tune in for practical tips that could change the way you approach flying. Follow us on social at @BonVoyageBesties and Brian at @FlightDeck365

takeaways

• Brian’s first flight experience triggered his fear of flying.
• Turbulence is a common fear among many flyers.
• Self-talk and positive affirmations can help manage anxiety.
• Staying hydrated during flights can reduce anxiety symptoms.
• The Flight Deck Flashcards provide reassurance and information.
• Community support is crucial for overcoming fear of flying.
• Flight attendants and pilots can offer valuable support to anxious passengers.
• It’s important to seek help early to prevent fear from escalating.
• Therapy dogs at airports can provide comfort to nervous flyers.
• Sharing experiences can help normalize the fear of flying.

How to Conquer Your Fear of Flying: Deep Dive

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If the thought of boarding a plane sends your heart racing, you are far from alone. On this week’s episode of Bon Voyage Besties, we sat down with Brian Morris, who is self-described former fearful flyer and creator of the Flight Deck Fear of Flying Flashcards, to talk honestly about how to conquer your fear of flying.

Believe me, we’re here for you.

So, whether you’ve always been nervous or a recent incident has shaken your confidence, this one is for you.

Rachel has had a fear of flying since her mid-20s, triggered by a stretch of severe turbulence over the North Atlantic that sent her mom’s wine glass flying into the ceiling. Believe us, it was awful. Awful.

Meanwhile, Brian’s goes all the way back to his very first flight as a child: a twin-prop plane ride in Alaska that included a terrifying drop, unexpected turbulence over the ocean, and a visual that made him think the wing had fallen off the plane. He followed it up with a 17-hour ferry ride home through rough seas. It’s safe to say he had a lot to overcome.

Why the usual advice doesn’t work

Anyone with a fear of flying has heard it: “Statistically, you’re safer in the air than in a car.” I know I’ve heard it a million and one times.

And while that’s technically true, Brian is clear that statistics don’t do much for someone in the grip of genuine flight anxiety. When fear is irrational by nature, rational data rarely cuts through it. What actually helps is a combination of knowledge, community, and practical in-the-moment tools, not dismissal.

Both Brian and Rachel agree on one thing that actively makes fear worse: feeding it. Watching news coverage of aviation incidents, searching crash videos, or bingeing shows like Mayday can entrench anxiety deeper.

So, Brian has a firm rule. No incident videos, no crash stories, no social media doom-scrolling. If someone tries to tell him a scary flying story, he politely cuts them off. His fear is not a garden he wants to water. And neither does Rachel! Nope, no way!

Fear of Flying Strategies that actually help

Over years of working through his own fear and coaching others, Brian has built up a solid toolkit. Here are the strategies he swears by.

Stay hydrated. This one surprises people, but dehydration genuinely amplifies anxiety. When your body is low on fluids, your heart rate increases and your nervous system gets louder. Brian drinks plenty of water before and during every flight, and skips alcohol, which dehydrates you faster at altitude. (Yeah, I need to work on that last tip).

Download your music before you board. In-flight Wi-Fi is unreliable, and the last thing you want when turbulence hits is a spinning loading wheel. Brian’s favorite trick for rough air is what he calls “dancing with the turbulence”. What’s that? Headphones in, music loud, doing a subtle little bob in his seat. It sounds silly. It works. If you can’t feel the turbulence over your own movement, your brain stops fixating on it.

Practice breathing exercises. A slow inhale, a few seconds of hold, a full exhale that is repeated ten times. Brian learned from a psychiatrist that the body has an extremely hard time sustaining a panic attack while actively doing controlled breathing. It’s one of the simplest, most effective tools available, and it costs nothing.

Use positive self-talk. Consistently, not just on travel days. Brian repeats phrases like “flying is safe and flying is fun” while driving, weeks before a flight. The goal is to chip away at the mental grooves that say the opposite. If you’ve spent years telling yourself flying is terrifying, you need a counter-habit to replace it.

The flashcards that started it all

Brian’s Flight Deck Fear of Flying Flashcards grew out of a very personal need. When a friend asked him to officiate their wedding, which had been moved to Florida, he had exactly 30 days to get himself onto a plane. He enrolled in a fear of flying course, started jotting notes on index cards, and found that having that physical reference in hand during the flight made all the difference. When anxiety spikes, you can’t always access what you’ve learned. The cards do it for you.

Working with a pilot coach named Captain Emma, Brian refined those handwritten notes into a commercial product now sold at flightdeck365.com. The cards walk you through every stage of a flight — from the safety demonstration to the sounds of chimes (not secret emergency codes, just crew communication) to the sensation of wheels dropping on landing. Each card ends with the same message: this is completely normal.

Rachel has her own set. Obviously, the rainbow deck, which her favorite and she brings them on every flight. Flight attendants have started keeping decks in their bags to hand to nervous passengers. Pilots have spotted Brian flipping through them mid-flight and ordered their own copies on the spot. The final card, Brian’s personal favorite, simply reads: Congratulations, you have landed. You should be proud of yourself.

With A Fear of Flying, Maintenance Matters

One of the most important things Brian said in our conversation is something that rarely gets talked about: getting better at flying isn’t a finish line, it’s an ongoing practice. He still belongs to fear of flying communities. He still does his self-talk. He’s honest that an upcoming flight always carries a little uncertainty.

Will all his amazing hard work hold? He thinks it will, but he’s not taking it for granted.

That’s the real message of how to conquer your fear of flying: it’s not about becoming fearless overnight. It’s about building a set of tools, staying connected to a community, and doing the work consistently. Brian went from nearly missing flights to Hawaii multiple times in a single day to officiating a wedding in Florida, to flying to Sydney for the Olympics, to building a business that helps thousands of other people get on the plane.

If he can do it, so can you.

Find Brian’s Flight Deck Fear of Flying Flashcards at flightdeck365.com. Follow him on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube at @FlightDeck365 and on Facebook at Flight Deck. Listen to the full episode of Bon Voyage Besties on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and iHeart — and follow us on Instagram at @BonVoyageBesties.

Listen on APPLE PODCASTS | SPOTIFY | YOUTUBE