Reducing passenger anxiety

By Donald Talleur

Last month we talked about reducing student anxiety during flight training and evaluation. This month, we switch gears and address passenger anxiety. Specifically, as pilots who carry passengers, we have an obligation to provide a safe and enjoyable experience for those persons aboard our aircraft. The obligation is the same whether we fly for pleasure or for hire and whether we’re flying a Boeing 757 or a Cessna 152. As a result, a review of passenger anxiety problems and their solutions should be carried out once and awhile.
Passenger anxiety is most commonly rooted in the emotion of fear. Typically, the fear a passenger experiences is due to a lack of knowledge about their environment and the realization of the uncertainty about their ability to control that environment. These fears are completely normal and pilots need to be sympathetic towards the outward display of passenger fears. In addition, pilots need to be aware that not all fears are evident through outward behavior changes. While the textbooks tell us that fear invokes a “fight or flight” response, clearly, the usual response is not nearly so obvious. The passenger onboard an aircraft is not usually in eminent danger but may, in fact, not be aware of that. As a result of this uncertainty about the true level of danger, most passengers will not exhibit either extreme of the “fight or flight” response.
A passenger’s ability to mask the signs that they are petrified of flying can be varied, but the casual observer will usually be able to spot some sort of abnormal behavior. Some of the telltale signs of a passenger in emotional distress include fidgeting, humming or whistling, and profuse sweating. Of course the most classic response is the “butterflies” in the stomach complaint. In any case, the outward appearance of these symptoms should signal to the pilot that a passenger might be experiencing anxiety about the flight. At this stage, the pilot may have no idea why the passenger is anxious but it is safe to assume that in many cases, the anxiety is due to something the pilot either did, or did not do either prior to or during the flight.
In dealing with passenger anxieties and fear, the first prescription is education. Make sure the passenger is aware of the sensations to expect during the flight and make sure they understand what type of maneuvers the flight will entail. If you expect turbulence, you should tell the passenger and describe what to expect and how it will affect the aircraft. However, most non-pilot passengers have no idea what to do with overly complicated details of the flight so it is not wise to subject them to a three-hour preflight brief. During the flight you might consider describing some of the more straightforward activities you engage in. I have found that a simple narrative during the flight keeps the passenger interested and most importantly, informed about the progress of the flight. The later goes a long way to alleviate the passenger’s uncertainties about the flight.
Involving passengers in more mundane flying tasks is also helpful for the anxious passenger as well as to the pilot. For instance, having the passenger hold your navigation chart will help them feel like they are an active part of the flight. You might even ask them to repeat or verify a frequency from the chart. When I fly with a non-pilot passenger, I typically have them hold my flight planning and jot down my checkpoint arrival times and subsequent checkpoint ETA. Of course one needs to be careful to not overload the passenger with busy work during the flight.
Likewise, the task of collision avoidance can be accomplished by all passengers onboard. Prior to the flight, brief your passenger on proper traffic scanning techniques and enlist their help in this task during the flight. If you have more than one passenger, give each a specific area to watch for traffic. In this manner, you will have a team of spotters watching for traffic throughout the flight. Since novice spotters may alert you to traffic that are clearly of no concern to your flight, it is imperative to teach the passengers simple alerting procedures so as to minimize the distractions. An easy method, such as a tap on the shoulder or simple phrase in case of spotted traffic, will be less distracting to you. Methods like these will give you a timely indication of possible traffic conflicts and allow you to make a decision as to the imperativeness of the situation. Most importantly however, the passenger(s) achieves a sense of involvement in the safety of the flight and, should they spot a potential traffic conflict, a sense of satisfaction about that involvement.
Of course there are times when a pilot is not successful, despite valiant efforts, to calm an anxious passenger. There is little recourse in these cases other than to make a precautionary landing or return to the origin airport. Some potential passengers have no idea they’re afraid to fly until they get airborne. No amount of preflight briefing or preparation will be adequate for this type of passenger. If the pilot knows that a potential passenger is likely to be anxious during the flight, sometimes it is helpful to recommend the passenger take a mild sedative prior to the flight. Of course any such course of action should be approved by the passenger’s Physician to preclude possible side effects that may occur at the reduced atmosphere of flight altitudes. Generally, if a potential passenger needs to go to these extremes to fly, I won’t take them aboard a one-person crew aircraft. These people are better suited to fly on commercial airlines where they can receive personal attention should they have a problem during the flight.
I realize that all this sounds like a lot of work just to carry a passenger or two. However, none of what I’ve mentioned so far is hard to accomplish or time consuming. We all know of pilots who have a “hands in your lap” and “mouth shut” policy for their passengers, but I’m a firm believer that if you cannot handle properly preparing your passengers and accept some minor distractions during the flight, then you’re not ready to carry passengers. Remember that carrying passengers is a privilege, not a right. Keep that perspective when carrying passengers and apply the tips I’ve promoted here and you will undoubtedly have passengers who will fly with you on more than one occasion.

Donald Anders Talleur, an Assistant Chief Flight Instructor at the University of Illinois, Institute of Aviation. He holds a joint appointment with the Professional Pilot Division and Aviation Human Factors Division. He has been flying since 1984 and in addition to flight instructing since 1990, has worked on numerous research contracts for the FAA, Air Force, Navy, NASA, and Army. He has authored or co-authored over 70 aviation related papers and articles and has an M.S. degree in Engineering Psychology from the University of Illinois.

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