How Visiting an Airline Training Center Helped Ease My Fear of Flying

What I learned restored my confidence in flying.

Although I travel frequently, I’ve always been nervous about flying. I like to understand how things work and what is happening around me, but I know very little about why airplanes don’t fall out of the sky or tear apart during turbulence.

Whenever I step onto an airplane, I take a deep breath, surrender, and trust that the pilot and cabin crew will get me to my destination safely. Whenever I head to the airport, I remind myself that flying is the safest way to travel. I’m always grateful when I land safely. I often clap when the plane lands, even if I’m the only one willing to show my joy at being on the ground so openly.

However, recent plane crashes have shaken my confidence in flying. After I got off a recent flight to Iceland, I was shaken to see that while I was in the air, there had been a fatal crash at my home airport, Reagan Washington National. I felt grief for the lost lives, most acutely for a Girl Scout who was in the same council as my daughter. A few days later, I needed to get on a plane to return home, so I convinced myself that flying would probably never be safer. Everyone in aviation would be laser-focused on avoiding another tragedy, I reasoned.

Then, a few days later, there was another fatal crash. This one, a Learjet in Philadelphia, destroyed the house where my mother grew up and where I had spent many happy days as a child. Several people my family knows still live in the neighborhood, and the reality that fatalities could have been much higher hit hard. I needed to get a handle on my fear as my return flight approached.

I wondered, yet again, if trying to understand the physics of flying would help alleviate my concerns. It didn’t. To me, flying will always involve a bit of magic and miracles.

A Visit to an Airline’s Training Center

Instead of letting fear get the better of me, I wanted to learn how the flight crew keeps passengers safe in the air. While flying will never be risk-free, it’s still exceedingly safe and far less risky than driving. Visiting Icelandair’s state-of-the-art training center during my trip gave me a deeper understanding of why this is the case. The visit helped me feel much better about boarding my trans-Atlantic flight home.

I felt fortunate to get this behind-the-scenes look when I needed it the most. Like many airline passengers, I always trusted that my pilots and cabin crew were well-qualified. However, I had no idea how they were trained or how extensive that training was. What I learned at the Icelandair training center restored my confidence in flying.

Pilots Are Trained Extensively for All Types of Situations

One of the highlights of my visit was sitting in the pilot’s seat in one of Icelandair’s training simulators. At first, the experience reminded me of a trip to Disney World, where I briefly flew the Millennium Falcon out of danger. However, I soon realized this simulator was no amusement park attraction—it was serious business.

Icelandair’s flight simulators can replicate flying conditions in airports around the world. Simulations can be customized to replicate different weather conditions and airport traffic. The simulations are so detailed that pilots can see what actual trees, homes, and highway traffic look like on the ground as they take off and land.

I tried my hand at taking off and landing at a small airport in the north of Iceland and the incredibly busy JFK airport in New York City. Both were challenging, but my guide, Guðmundur Tómas Sigurðsson, was patient and gave me pointers to ensure my imaginary passengers had a safe flight. Sigurðsson, who was then the Head of Training and is currently the Vice President of Flight Operations for Icelandair, explained that when a pilot runs into an issue, they need to think fast. Yet, they often must choose quickly among many different courses of action. Instead of looking for one correct response, Sigurðsson asks pilots why they chose one option over another. Given how many factors play into safely piloting a plane, from wind to other aircraft in the area, I appreciated the emphasis on critical thinking in high-pressure situations rather than rote memorization of certain maneuvers, which may not always work as expected in real-world conditions where seconds could make a difference.

I also learned that training for pilots is not one-and-done. Unlike getting a driver’s license and being certified to drive for life, Icelandair pilots are required to undergo annual training, both in the classroom and in simulators. I felt reassured knowing that pilots must keep their skills sharp and are constantly reassessed. Moreover, pilots train to fly specific aircraft so they know their plane well before they take a plane full of passengers to the sky.

The Flight Crew Is Prepared for Anything

The Icelandair training center also trains flight attendants. Thankfully, my experience with cabin crew has been limited to putting in a drink order and asking where to stash my carry-on. In theory, I knew that flight attendants undergo rigorous training for all types of emergencies, but seeing that training in action helped alleviate my fears even further.

At the Icelandair training center, I saw first-hand how the cabin crew is trained for almost any situation. Watching the Icelandair Fire and Smoke trainer in action made the biggest impact. Fires sometimes break out on planes, which could be catastrophic if not handled deftly. At the training center, flight attendants calmly practice putting out fires at seats started by electronics such as laptops and cell phones and in bathrooms, where rouge passengers sometimes sneak a cigarette. 

I also got to be a passenger on a mock plane that Icelandair uses for training. Sigurðsson explained that, like pilots, flight attendants are trained for specific aircraft. That way, they know exactly where to find whatever they need in an emergency, whether it’s oxygen, a fire extinguisher, or an emergency exit.

Flight attendants also practice how to evacuate specific planes. A highlight of my short time on the mock plane was getting off. I had always wanted to go down an emergency evacuation slide–in a controlled and safe environment. Going through the process made me less anxious about what would happen if I ever needed to use one during a flight. I went down much faster than I expected. The Icelandair staff shepherding me through the process were clearly confident and clearly practiced.

During my visit, I also saw flight attendants practicing CPR on dummies and saw a display of lifevests, including one a flight attendant had placed on an infant dummy.

I left the experience feeling much more confident about getting on my return flight home. Getting an in-depth look at how pilots and flight crew train was good for nerves. When it was time to return home, I hopped on my plane without a second thought. However, I did still clap when I landed. Old habits die hard.