Conquer your fear of flying with the SOAR Video Course.
Get the most effective help available anywhere. Control fear,
anxiety, claustrophobia, and panic automatically when you
fly, even if difficulty is extreme. "Other programs only help
mild cases. That's why I set up SOAR." Capt Tom Bunn

The first step is to enroll. Then, start viewing online. As
you have time, download SOAR to your computer. DVDs
that play on your TV can be sent by mail or FedEx.

Next, phone counseling with licensed therapist and airline
captain Tom Bunn makes sure you are ready.

Put Take Me AlongNever Fly Alone Again! "Take Me Along" on your iPhone, iPad, or other MP4 device. Before your flight, I'll help you relax. During your flight, I'll explain what you hear and feel, why turbulence is not a problem, and how signals guide the plane to the runway. "Take Me Along" is included free with most courses. on an iPad, iPhone (or other MP4 unit)
so Capt Tom can coach you through your flight. More

We continue helping with weekly group phone sessions,
chat and newsletter. SOAR is superior to anything you have
tried. We can help. We can guarantee your success. More

"I would like to thank you for this course from the bottom of my heart. Today I had the best flight of my life. I was the biggest skeptic alive, and until even this morning did not believe that the course would help at all. Well put me down as another SOAR graduate. Words just cannot express what this has done for my life." J.W. More

SOAR was founded in 1982 as nothing was available for extreme fear of flying. The only program proven highly effective by independent university research.

Will Free Help Be Enough?

Do you have panic attack or claustrophobia trouble in elevators, high places, or on bridges. If so, you need a way to control your feelings automatically when you fly. See Programs & Counseling.

If your difficulty with flying is very mild...

Free Help is all you need and includes:

• Free Videos
  
• Capt Tom's Top Ten Tips
  
• Weekly Newsletter
  
• Wednesday Night Chat
  
• SOAR Forum
  
• Free Group Phone Counseling

Free Video

Select the Free Video Player to view SOAR Free Videos

Immediate Free Help

SOAR & The Media

SOAR frequently appears in the media, on TV, online and in many newspapers and publications. View and read some of them

SOAR soothes their fear of flying

(exert) by Mark Muro, The Boston Globe

...You can't run, and who are you going to fight? Flying goes against all the most basic instincts."

"See, I don't think people who can't fly are nutty or screwy or anything like that. I think it's very natural. In fact, my students are about the brightest, most sensitive people around. They're in touch with their fears, but they're so imaginative they create vivid movies they begin to think are real. I just try to get people to realize their movies of planes crashing aren't real."

Overcoming the fear of flying

(exert) By Allan Chernoff, CNN Senior Correspondent

...During takeoff Edmonds looks to the flight attendant for reassurance. On her lap is a loose-leaf binder of Bunn's tips, Edmond's version of a study guide for her flight.

When the flight attendant offers drinks, Edmonds places her cup of water on the tray table and studies it, tangible evidence that the plane is barely shaking.

Yet another coping strategy is breaking down the flight into pieces, like eating a hamburger bite-by-bite.

"If you think about it in small pieces and getting through each of the pieces, that's a little easier than thinking of the whole hamburger because it's very overwhelming and it becomes paralyzing," said Edmonds.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are approaching Baltimore," announces the flight attendant. Edmond is relying heavily on Bunn's coping strategies during the 90-minute flight. But she's coping. As the wheels touch down, Edmonds' face lights up.

"Yay! I did it," she exclaims to the pilot.

"Congratulations," he responds...

SOAR on TV

Read more about SOAR in the media

Storms Detected By Radar

At cruise altitude, pilots can generally fly above or around storms. Thus, the storms shown by radar on the map are not likely to cause turbulence when en-route. Storms near your arrival or departure airport can cause turbulence during ascent and descent. Pilots coordinate with air traffic control to provide the best ride possible.

Turbulence is not a safety problem. Pilots change altitude only for passenger comfort – not for safety. On a cargo flight pilots do not bother to change altitude to avoid turbulence.

Read more

Clear Air Turbulence Forecast

Turbulence forecasts do not mean there will be turbulence but only that turbulence is possible in the designated areas. If turbulence does take place, it does so on and off.

Planes cruising in the same area are on the same radio frequency. Pilot hear reports of turbulence from other pilots. If turbulence is reported in an area your flight is headed into, the pilots will ask for a change of altitude. If a better altitude is available, air traffic control will assign your flight to it. In some cases, a smooth altitude is not be available because all altitudes are bumpy, or the altitudes that are smooth are already
in use by other flights.

Read more

Flight Tracking Via The Web

Several web sites offer a way to track a flight's progress. Selecting the icon will connect you to the FlightAware tracking site. To gain confidence about an upcoming flight, enter your flight number. Watch the flight take place. Seeing it take place day in and day out as your flight approaches can help.

Read more

Become an expert in how flying works

As you go through SOAR you will become an expert in how flying works. You will know that before every flight every system is checked. The flight begins using the primary systems (electrical, hydraulic, navigation, etc.). If one exceeds the normal range, the plane automatically switches to its standby system. If the standby system does not remedy the situation, the pilots are notified. Using a checklist, they switch to the third system. In most cases, a fourth, or even a fifth
system is available.

For any problem that can develop, there is a backup and backups to the backup. In the SOAR Program, you learn how the pilots deal with each and every problem that could possibly develop.. Pilots are more comfortable in flight than on the ground because, in flight, they have more control than on the ground. When this control is real to you, you will be satisfied about your physical safety in flight.

Establish Automatic Control

But what about emotional safety? As you continue SOAR, you will establish automatic control of the feelings that make flying difficult. Feelings are caused by stress hormones. SOAR controls feelings by automatically controlling the release of stress hormones. (MORE)

How the brain works. When anything unexpected or that is non-routine happens - or is imagined -  stress hormones are released by a part of the brain called the amygdala. Hormones activate your emotional regulation systems.

One of these, the Mobilization System, is very basic. With a "knee-jerk" system" it urges us run or fight. But stress hormones also activate Executive Function. Think of it as your inner CEO that says, "Wait, take a look. Let's figure this out." It does three things. A. it makes an assessment of the situation. B. it builds a plan of action - if needed - and, C. commits to carry out the plan. When all three steps can be done, Executive Function ends the release of stress hormone, and resets the amygdala.

SOAR Controls Feelngs when flying

Another emotion control system, the Social Engagement System, is activated if stress hormones are due to the appearance of another person. The Social Engagement System does its work unconsciously. It reads the face, body language, and voice characteristics of the person. Depending on what it senses, it partially or completely overrides the Mobilization System's urge to flee or fight.

The Social Engagement System, when well-developed, controls fear in social situations. We have found a way to retrain this system so it can control fear in flight situations as well. By retraining your Social Engagement System and increasing the effectiveness of your Executive Function,  SOAR completely controls your feelings when you fly.

View SOAR Programs