It could be that someone had experienced a traumatic flight or plane crash. Even watching extensive news coverage of airline disasters can be enough to trigger a fear of flying. For example, many people experienced at least a minimal fear of flying in the wake of the September 11 attacks.

Your environment play a key role in developing your reactions and behaviour towards different things.

So, if your parents also had a fear of flying, you may have internalized their trepidation. This is a particularly common cause of aerophobia in children but affects many adults as well. You might pick up the fear of flying from another relative or friend, but parents seem to have the biggest influence on phobias.

Other related circumstances: Your aerophobia might also be rooted in an entirely different conflict. For example, a fear of flying that develops soon after a job promotion that requires travel could be caused by concerns about the job itself or its impact on your daily life. Likewise, children who must fly frequently to visit divorced parents sometimes develop aerophobia as a coping mechanism for the trauma of the divorce.