We know about different kinds of phobias, and this is another common one; aerophobia is an extreme fear of flying in an aeroplane.

People with aerophobia may be scared about different aspects of flying, such as take-off, landing or getting locked in the plane.

You might know that your fear is irrational — statistics show that air travel has the lowest death rates among other forms of transportation — but you can’t reason your way out of the anxiety. Another name for this condition is aviophobia.

There is no specific cause of aerophobia, as the fear usually originates from a combination of factors. For example, the fear of heights can be genetically inherited, or the fear of flying may be modelled in kids by their parents.

Increased exposure to media that show plane crashes or other incidents may also play a role. Most commonly, people fear flying because they feel they have no control over the situation and safety. The longer a person avoids flying, the more this fear may increase.

Sometimes this fear is also associated with other phobias, such as the fear of vomiting (emetophobia), fear of heights (acrophobia) or the fear of enclosed spaces (claustrophobia). Sometimes working on these specific phobias can help resolve aerophobia.