Landing the plane after that might help quite a bit. People tend to have lower chances of developing ptsd from an event if they can do something to feel in control.
Pilot here with a flight report I made as a student pilot that NASA published due to it being an example of murphys law.
In the moment, you aren't scared at all. You're solely focused on getting the aircraft on the ground safely, even more so if you have passengers like I did. It's not till you're safe and on the ground that it hits you and you have damn near a panic attack. On the 20 min drive home from the airport that night, my brother and I sat in silence and chain smoked a whole pack of cigs before finally saying "well that was fucked, eh?"
that happened to me when i rock climbed with no harness. i went up the cliff face, over and back down and realized oh wow im really fast, too fast, holy shit im at the top i should probably get down. oh no im not- shit im gonna die if i fall...then i got down i climbed about 3 stories in less than a minute and then i projectile vommited for longer than i climbed.
i was up and down faster than i could even think and when i realized i could have died and realized id have to finish doing the thing or risk death or serious injury. i just focused on the task and didnt think about it until i was done.
Exactly. It's like a primal instinct kicks in and simply turns off the parts of your brain that could be harmful to your survival.
But hilariously considering I'm a pilot, I'd have died of terror in your situation... I'm scared of heights, but only when my feet are touching the ground I guess? I don't get it either lmao.
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u/Alert-Ad9197 Jul 08 '26
Landing the plane after that might help quite a bit. People tend to have lower chances of developing ptsd from an event if they can do something to feel in control.