Okaz newspaper

MANY people suffer from fear of fly or the phobia of flying. I know friends who do not travel to far away places and limit their travel to areas they can reach by car, because they are afraid of flying. I know other friends who take sleeping medicine once they sit on the chair so they will sleep throughout the flight and only wake up when they land.

I am one of those who suffer from phobia of flying. When I am traveling by airplane, I am always on the alert of any change around me, the sound of the engine changing, the little turbulence, I watch the facial features of the flight attendance if they are panicking, I get scared quickly if we are circling an airport and not landing. When I experience the thing I mentioned above, I almost suffer from a heart attack and I start praying.

Lately, there was this news of the Airbus that departed from Madinah to Dhaka in Bangladesh. The airplane made an emergency landing at King Abdulaziz International airport after there was a problem in the hydraulic system. The front wheel jammed closed and the pilot was forced to return, but he was directed to go to Jeddah.

I received this news when I was watching a TV series and I almost got a heart attack. I imagined myself with the passengers listening to the announcement of bad news of the emergency landing. Can you imagine this?

I was terrified and I was thinking of the poor passengers who were hovering the air above Jeddah to empty the fuel level before landing. Since I had this phobia, I started reading about what could be done in this case to make an emergency landing. I read that they spray the landing runway with foam to prevent friction and then fire. There was also this risk of skidding from the runway and then crashing on the side of the runway. I imagined myself in this accident and I can see myself cut into many pieces. I pray to Allah that no one will experience this situation.

After this news, I learned that the airplane was a chartered one with its crew and the pilot. It was hired to support the Saudi Arabian Airlines fleet. I call on you in the name of those who have phobia from flying, we trust our airline and pilots 100 percent. I feel comfortable when I know that I am traveling on Saudia with Saudi pilots. If I knew that the airplane was chartered, then I will exit immediately. I don’t fully trust other airlines. I hold Saudia responsible if I was frightened if the airplane was chartered. From now on, if i bought a ticket and found myself in a chartered airplane, then I will file a lawsuit against the airline, and this is a warning.