Ways to cope if you’re a newly fearful flier

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Kimberly Mack took a free fear-of-flying class at Sky Harbor International Airport more than a decade ago and has relied on the tools she learned on every flight since. On Monday, the 54-year-old Arizona small-business owner called Ron Nielsen, the retired airline captain who runs the classes, for a one-on-one refresher.

Mack has a flight to Napa, Calif., later this month and considered canceling after last week’s devastating midair collision in Washington, D.C., and medical-jet crash in Philadelphia. The guy she calls “Captain Ron" reassured her in a call that stretched over an hour. “He’s not like: Your fears aren’t valid.

You have to remember things happen. It reiterated everything." You don’t have to be a nervous flier to be suddenly anxious about airline safety. The American Airlines-Black Hawk helicopter crash, which killed 67 people, was the worst aviation incident on U.S.

soil in a generation. Frequent fliers as well as casual travelers are talking about it with their families and co-workers and airline crews are stunned. Nielsen, who runs a Phoenix-based business called Fearless Flight and has a master’s degree in professional counseling, saw it at his latest free airport class on Saturday night.

He says a third of the attendees signed up because of the accident. “It doesn’t make people afraid but it elevates the fears that they’ve been repressing," he says. “It activates their fear-of-flying gene." Dial a Pilot, an 18-month-old business run by a major airline pilot, has seen a “massive surge" in bookings for its $65, 30-minute sessions.