Jet fighter pilot5/16/2023 Mental Rehearsal: I envisioned having panic attacks in simulated flights while on the ground.There were times when the panic was so great that when I landed, I would walk into the squadron with my wings in my hand ready to quit. I never aborted any combat mission and always mustered the courage to do my job and execute the mission. On four hour training missions over the Sea of Japan and six hour night combat missions over Iraq in the cramped cockpit of the F-16, I fought it. Despite the fact that my skills never suffered, if my fellow pilots found out, there was a chance I could have my wings taken away.Įvery training and combat mission I flew, I had claustrophobia as my companion, waiting to attack me and spin me out of control. For the next eight years of my flying career I had to carry around that huge secret. Within seconds, I transformed myself from a confident, fearless jet pilot to a doubtful claustrophobe. I screamed to myself, “Get me out of this plane!” I became lightheaded and anxious and the panicky feeling I experienced a week ago reared its ugly head again. My mask tightened, my pulse quickened, and I suddenly had difficulty breathing. Unable to see the ground or the sky, I felt closed in. I literally thought I was going to die.Ī week later, I found myself back in the cockpit on a training mission in bad weather. Thirty feet under the water and exhausted from excessive use of my arms to swim, I inhaled a full lungful of water and had the most intense panic attack of my life. Three years into my eleven year Air Force flying career, my life changed when I almost died during a scuba diving trip in the Caribbean. How courage, focus, and wingmen can help you tackle your fears Confessions of a Claustrophobic Fighter Pilot
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |