Fear of flying? There is help... (Bush?)

By Charlene Smith

In the first generation of jet aircraft there were five accidents per million departures. In the third and fourth generations, that figure dropped to 0,5 accidents per million departures. And today? Every aircraft built in the last 10 years has remained accident free, according to the aeronautical engineering department at the University of the Witwatersrand.

So why then are there gouge marks on aircraft armrests where passengers have dug in their nails when clear air turbulence tosses the plane? How many relationships have begun, or ended, when a nervous traveller grabbed the hand of her fellow passenger and held on for dear life - or so she thought at the time - when a thunderstorm bucked the cabin?

Mike Finch, an SAA 747 captain, has tried to smooth the furrowed brows of anxious passengers for 14 years with a course he runs in Johannesburg. He says that between 60 percent to 80 percent of travellers fear flying and about 15 percent are petrified.

'I used to be so scared of flying I wouldn't even go into an airport'

He, like Charles Bothma, a duty officer at Durban airport who runs a similar course in that city, has a psychologist and an aircraft maintenance expert assisting with the training. They have anything from eight to 16 people on an average course.

http://iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=31&art_id=vn20040527160948663C314961&set_id=1

In my opinion, deep in my bones, I feel Bush has some kind of psychotic panic disorder like this or simular. It just doesn't make any sense that he never flew overseas most of his life. According to mainstream reports he'd only flew overseas 2 times his entire life before the age of 49. Wouldn't you flew on Air Force One with your father, President, if you had the dozens of chances? What about growing up being in the wealthy elite American Jet Set class but never meeting your friends in their villas overseas! The report didn't mention the 2 foreign countries Bush had traveled to. Funny huh? I wonder if they were Canada and Mexico and he drove to them?

As you all know, I believe Bush never flew a jet solo. I wonder if some kind of psychotic disorder is in fact what grounded him? The most he'd did was briefly take controls from his Flight Instructor.

I know for sure never passed any flight schools tests. I've taken student pilot lessons and classes and it's not that easy. Especially for someone whose father had to bride his school with $20 Mil. just to get him a D- average.

If you look into panic and other psychotic orders they are amplified by alcohol and drug use. It is possible with 25 years of alcohol/drug abuse and a type of psychotic disorder he neared insanity and that's when he quit drinking cold turkey. From people I've spoken to and seen reports this is a typical pattern. The edge of insanity forces a dramatic life change and a turn to Fundimentalist Religion.

We had a co-worker who went through this exact path. None of us made fun of her. It was good to see her find some type of peace for her life. But in no way do I believe this type of person should be in a position to launch nuclear weapons. All leaders in the position to launch nuclear weapons should be forced to take drug, alcohol, and psychological testing the same as ALL Americans who hold a Top Secret clearance.