The approach with the best evidence is exposure: practicing being on a plane, in steps, with someone who knows how to run it, usually alongside training in managing anxiety. In a 2006 trial, 76% of people who had that treatment flew on a test flight afterward, against 20% of people on a waiting list.
Information helps too, by less than the internet suggests. Most tips lists open with how safe flying is. If you’re afraid, you’ve probably read that already. A fear is rarely settled by arithmetic.
What the trials did
The 2006 trial, led by Barbara Rothbaum at Emory, randomly assigned 83 people. Everyone treated had four sessions of anxiety management, then either time in a virtual airplane or time on a real parked airplane at the airport, over six weeks. Both treated groups did equally well, and at 6 and 12 months more than 70% of those who responded were still flying. An earlier trial by the same group, with 49 people, found 93% of treated participants had flown within six months.
A German program went further. In a 2020 study, 138 people with clinically significant fear had one group session of education and a breathing technique, then took a 2½-hour flight together on a chartered A320. Six months later, 55% were rated fully remitted and another 16% partly. There was no comparison group, so read that as promising.
The format seems to matter less than the practice. One trial of 60 people found virtual reality, computer-aided exposure with a therapist, and self-guided computer-aided exposure all helped, with no clear difference at a year. A small 2025 trial of 26 people found plain video exposure held up against virtual reality two years on.
What explanation does
Knowing what a bump is does count for something. A 2025 master’s thesis at Mississippi State showed students a short video about atmospheric turbulence before a study-abroad flight. Their general and anticipatory anxiety fell, mainly among those who weren’t phobic. Phobic students gained less, though few of them took part, and anxiety rose a little after the flight.
It’s one small study, and the direction fits an older German trial of 45 patients. There, people given cognitive treatment alone didn’t improve, while those who also had exposure in virtual reality did, both right after and at six months.
I read those together as: explanation can take the edge off ordinary nerves, and it helps you make sense of the flight, but a real fear usually needs practice as well. That’s my reading, and two studies don’t settle it.
Pages like every noise a plane makes and why the climb gets bumpy do that first job. Turbulence and unknown sounds were among the top causes of flight anxiety in a 2015 Norwegian survey, so they’re worth explaining. Treat those pages as background, and skip any that make you more wound up. If you’d rather give your eyes a job, what you’re flying over is a good one.
What it doesn’t cover
Most of these studies are small. People who sign up for a fear-of-flying trial want to fly, which may not describe you. Some of the programs are commercial, and I can’t vouch for any particular one.
I also haven’t covered medication or alcohol, which many people try. That’s a conversation for you and your doctor, and it’s outside what this page can tell you.
Forecasts are a separate question, covered in how to read a turbulence forecast. People who treat flight anxiety warn that checking one again and again feeds the worry.
When to talk to someone
If you’re cancelling trips, turning down work or missing family because of flying, that’s worth raising with a clinician. You wouldn’t be unusual. In a study of Norwegian passengers, about 1 in 22 had cancelled a flight because of anxiety in the previous two years, and those are people who were on a plane the day they were asked.
A psychologist who works with phobias can tell you whether exposure-based treatment suits you, and where to find it. Nothing here is a diagnosis or a treatment plan.
In surveys of the Norwegian public, likely flight phobia fell from 8% in 1986 to 3% in 2015. The surveys can’t say why, but the number moved.
Sources
- Rothbaum et al., Virtual reality exposure therapy and standard (in vivo) exposure therapy in the treatment of fear of flying, Behavior Therapy, 2006
- Rothbaum et al., A controlled study of virtual reality exposure therapy for the fear of flying, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 2000
- Wannemueller et al., Large-group one-session treatment in 138 individuals with phobic fear of flying, Behaviour Research and Therapy, 2020
- Mühlberger et al., Efficacy of a one-session virtual reality exposure treatment for fear of flying, Psychotherapy Research, 2003
- Tortella-Feliu et al., Virtual reality versus computer-aided exposure treatments for fear of flying, Behavior Modification, 2011
- Mesquita et al., Is virtual reality always better than 2D videos? Psychiatry Research, 2025
- Hanna, Atmospheric Turbulence Education Effects on Flight Anxiety, MS thesis, Mississippi State University, 2025
- Ekeberg et al., Fear of flying in Norwegian passengers, Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 2014
- Grimholt et al., Flight Anxiety Reported from 1986 to 2015, Aerospace Medicine and Human Performance, 2019