Thanks! At this point I'm really much better, though landings bother me somewhat. The past few times I've deliberately taken a window seat, and I really enjoy seeing the landscapes below. Despite the nervousness, flying is really an amazing thing, and for travelling long distances it beats everything else!
Take-offs bother me more. I'm never really sure that damned thing will actually get into the air. Once it's in the air, I stop worrying.
I'm certain it will eventually come down...
I can totally relate to your fear of flying experiences. I went through the same thing. I found that what was causing most of my anxiety was the thought of not being able to have any control of any events that might occur up there. Not being able to feel the ground underneath me, nor being able to see who was “driving” gave me a feeling of helplessness.
Prayer did help tremendously, and still does. I can handle mild turbulence, but when that thing starts jumping and shaking for more than 10 seconds, I immediately go into “Our Father” mode, and put my life in His hands. It it’s a long flight (more than 2 hours for me is long), I order a scotch on the rocks and pop a few benadryl. When I wake up on the other end, I thank the Lord for allowing me to live another day.
I also found that sitting in a window seat distracted me from fear, and I also enjoy seeing landscapes and trying to identify landmarks along the way. I’ve gotten pretty good at at! Of course, at night it’s a different story, but if the sky is clear, I can follow clusters of lights and identify some towns/cities along the way.
I don’t particularly enjoy flying myself. OTOH, I do enjoy long road trips as long as I’m driving or at least in the front seat. I don’t like the idea of being trapped in a metal tube with a bunch of other people flying through the air with absolutely no control over my own fate.
Now that I’ve retired, I have no time constraints to be somewhere “on time” so I drive a lot more and get to enjoy the countryside as well.
I still drive a large comfortable SUV. When they finally force us all into little plastic wagons, I’m sure this will all change though.
There is good reason to suspect that most did not suffer any torment - other than the fear brought on initially by the harsh turbulence, and breakup of the plane. But, unfortunately they didn't die instantaneously.
But, at the point that the plane broke up and cabin pressure was lost, all aboard the plane would have fairly quickly lost consciousness, and soon died (in few minutes) from lack of oxygen shortly thereafter, long before landing on the ocean surface.
The typical deployment of oxygen masks from above would have been completely ineffective for all aboard as the plane disintegrated and the system that provides the oxygen was disabled by much of the system being destroyed. In effect, they all 'went to sleep' very quickly - and now await the wakening of all dead. (Of course, none believers don't believe that will happen... and don't believe in anything 'spiritual.')
Yes, I'm certain that they did see what was happening as they were losing consciousness, and probably knew their life was over. But, many probably used that short period of time before consciousness was lost to pray, 'Into thy hands, Oh Lord...'