By Charlene Smith
In the first generation of jet aircraft there were five accidents per million departures. In the third and fourth generations, that figure dropped to 0,5 accidents per million departures. And today? Every aircraft built in the last 10 years has remained accident free, according to the aeronautical engineering department at the University of the Witwatersrand.
So why then are there gouge marks on aircraft armrests where passengers have dug in their nails when clear air turbulence tosses the plane? How many relationships have begun, or ended, when a nervous traveller grabbed the hand of her fellow passenger and held on for dear life - or so she thought at the time - when a thunderstorm bucked the cabin?
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Mike Finch, an SAA 747 captain, has tried to smooth the furrowed brows of anxious passengers for 14 years with a course he runs in Johannesburg. He says that between 60 percent to 80 percent of travellers fear flying and about 15 percent are petrified.
'I used to be so scared of flying I wouldn't even go into an airport' He, like Charles Bothma, a duty officer at Durban airport who runs a similar course in that city, has a psychologist and an aircraft maintenance expert assisting with the training. They have anything from eight to 16 people on an average course.
Some people like East Coast radio announcer, Damon Baird, have always been anxious flyers. His fear was exacerbated when an aircraft he was flying on caught fire: "I used to be so scared of flying I wouldn't even go into an airport, and if I flew I'd sweat so much I'd have to change into spare clothes at my destination."
He took Bothma's course because he had a simple choice - one that faces many people: you can have an exciting career earning lots of money but have to do a lot of travel, or you can stay at home, push paper and earn peanuts.
"I would be lying if I said I was totally comfortable in an aircraft, but I do the things they suggest on the course.
'I would be lying if I said I was totally comfortable in an aircraft'
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