Buzz
As a child, I was fascinated by flying and even aspired to become a pilot. However, a college experience shattered that dream: a friend's father invited me on a flight in his small Cessna plane, and within minutes, I felt nauseous and desperately wished to return to the ground.
Since then, I've developed a severe case of aviophobia (also known as aviatophobia or aerophobia, depending on which therapist I consult). I refuse to board small planes, such as those used for short trips between cities. I only fly on large transatlantic jets, and even then, I need an aisle seat and some form of sedation to cope with the anxiety.
Interestingly, I'm not alone in this fear, as evidenced by the following quotes from articles I discovered while researching celebrities' fear of flying.
1. Jennifer Aniston: Aniston disclosed her long-standing fear of flying, stemming from a terrifying encounter with an electric storm during a flight from Toronto to New York. While she has made progress in overcoming her fear, she still experiences anxiety whenever she needs to board an aircraft. [source]
2. Sam Shepard — Despite portraying a renowned pilot in The Right Stuff and surviving a plane crash in the film Voyager (1992), Shepard was famously averse to flying. Reports suggest he swore off air travel after a turbulent flight from Mexico in the 1960s. Interestingly, he made an exception in 1984 when the real Chuck Yeager took him on a jet ride while he was preparing for his role as Yeager in The Right Stuff. [source]
3. Wes Anderson - Our train journey to discuss a film set on a train wasn't initially planned, but it feels like another instance of Anderson's talent for adding a unique twist to reality. This preference might also tie into his fear of flying; until recently, he opted for boats to Europe and favors trains and cars over air travel. [source]
4. Whoopi Goldberg: On her NBC show Whoopi, Goldberg revealed that she shares her character's aviophobia, or fear of flying. [source]
6. Billy Bob Thornton - In the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, while many felt uneasy, Thornton found an unexpected sense of calm. His well-known fear of flying vanished, as he shared in a recent interview with Mr. Showbiz, stating, "As usual, I'm backwards. While others grew anxious, my fear of flying disappeared. Now, I feel safer because people are more cautious." [source]
