Get nervous when you’re on a flight? Your flying experience could be more tolerable depending on where you sit on the plane, Kyle Koukol, a 29-year-old airline pilot based in San Francisco, told Newsweek.
Koukol flies a Boeing 737 aircraft for a commercial airline. He is the founder of Dial A Pilot, which allows nervous passengers to book 15-minute calls with a pilot who can provide information to help ease their nerves about flying.
If you have a fear of fear of flying, you’re certainly not alone. A June 2021 study in Frontiers in Psychology found that this fear was found to be prevalent among around 10 to 40 percent of the industrialized world.
It’s no surprise that many travelers get nervous about flying, as clear-air turbulence (CAT) was found to have increased over the past 40 years, according to a June 2023 study published in Geophysical Research Letters.
The study found that the increases were largest over the U.S. and North Atlantic, both of which are busy flight regions.
The study added that “severe-or-greater CAT increased the most, becoming 55 percent more frequent in 2020 than 1979” and CAT is “projected to intensify in response to future climate change.”
Where Is the Safest Seat on a Plane if You Have a Fear of Flying?
Koukol said that “the whole airplane is very, very safe,” so “it is completely [down to] personal preference on what works best for each individual’s situation.”
He added: “I always recommend sitting in either the front of the airplane or just over the wing if you are a nervous flyer.”
In a viral TikTok video shared back in May, airline pilot Jimmy Nicholson also said that the front of the plane is the best place to sit if you hate turbulence.
Nicholson, who was featured as the bachelor in the reality show The Bachelor Australia in 2021, added that “the rear of the aircraft will swing more” than the front.
“So if you are scared of flying or feel sick when you experience turbulence, sit at the front of the aircraft,” Nicholson said.
Koukol added: “If the motion [on the plane] causes you any emotional distress, I always recommend sitting at a window seat and keeping your eyes on the horizon, particularly during take-off.”
The pilot said: “Personally, I always try to sit as close to the front as possible because I like to get off the airplane quickly once we land and get to the gate.”
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