I take issue with people saying they have a fear of flying. People suffer from a fear of suddenly not flying. When your plane stops flying, you have a problem. Still, pteromerhanophobia is one of the world’s best-known fears. SkyGuru is a brand new app designed to help you overcome your fear of flying.
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What causes a fear of flying?
Flying used to be new and exciting. Today, we treat planes like we do buses. For that reason, flying only makes the news these days when there’s a crash. This creates a world where a fear of flying is logical to some extent, but it’s not the root cause.
Us humans are a strange bunch. Most of the time, our biggest fears stem from the unknown. This is definitely true for flying. A flight attacks nearly every one of your senses. You have the feeling of turbulence, the smell of jet fuel and the sound of engines. The majority of people who step onto a plane have no idea what causes the feelings, smells and sounds.
Not understanding the details behind these sense provoking events causes anxiety for passengers. This is the problem that SkyGuru has set out to solve.
How does SkyGuru help with your fear of flying?
SkyGuru is a smartphone app that gives you some of the information the pilots have. The author of the app is Alex Gervash. Alex has been studying the fear of flying since 2006 and he also has over twenty years flying commercial airliners. His knowledge powers the app to help you overcome your fear of flying. Essentially, the app is like sitting beside a pilot who explains every step of your flight to you.
the app is like sitting beside a pilot
Think about it. You’re not afraid of driving because you’re in control and you know what’s going on. SkyGuru helps you understand “what made that noise” and “what’s that feeling”. Before takeoff, you enter your flight details. The app then downloads all the information it will need for your flight. Once onboard the app calibrates itself and you’re ready for takeoff.
The app walks your through every stage of your flight:
Pre-flight
Pushback
Taxi
Takeoff
Climb
Level flight
Descent
Landing
Is SkyGuru any good?
I’m a die hard fan of shows like Ice Pilots and Air Crash Investigation. From a young age, I’ve always had Microsoft Flight Simulator installed on my PC. I’m also a nosey passenger that enjoys a bit of turbulence. Still, SkyGuru was able to provide loads of information I would never have known during my flight. When queuing up, SkyGuru advised of what takeoff would be like. The detail is amazing, even telling me what the likely first turn would be after takeoff.
Throughout the flight, the app provides a lovely graphic interface of how the plane is moving. A fairly constant running commentary helps to paint you a picture of what’s going on around you. This could be details on speed or why you experience that sagging feeling. I was particularly impressed when the app informed me that the pilot was about to reduce engine power. I got this notification just as I could hear the engines powering back.
Is SkyGuru good value?
If you’re interested in knowing what’s going on with your flight, SkyGuru is expensive. But if you are deathly afraid of flying, it’s a great companion. SkyGuru helps you rationalise the events around you. That loud noise was the flaps retracting. The smell of jet fuel is totally normal. That falling feeling is actually the plane ascending slower than a second ago. If you have a fear of flying, this is the kind of info that will really calm you down.
SkyGuru is currently available to download for iOS. Android will also be available soon.