I'm a Travel Writer Terrified of Flying-and This Science-backed Tool Eased My Fear

""With a background in engineering and fluid mechanics, aviation turbulence is an area that has always fascinated me,""

""I developed Turbli to give passengers the possibility of visualizing the information previously thought to be only available to pilots.""

""Flight anxiety affects approximately 25 percent of travelers, representing a complex interplay between primitive fear responses and contemporary cognitive processing,""

""When you use tools like Turbli to predict turbulence, you're engaging your prefrontal cortex rather than allowing your amygdala to dominate with fear responses. Knowledge transforms unpredictable threats into manageable variables.""

A travel writer who switched careers in 2017 has visited 48 countries but remains terrified of flying. The most effective coping strategy has been learning to source and read turbulence forecasts for every flight. Turbulence-forecasting services combine official weather and aviation-agency data to predict turbulence, wind, and thunderstorm activity along routes. The founder of one such service has an engineering and fluid-mechanics background and built the tool so passengers can visualize pilot-level information. Medical expertise notes that about 25 percent of travelers experience flight anxiety and that predictive tools engage rational brain regions, transforming unpredictable threats into manageable variables.

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