The course
Desensitise, make peace with it — and maybe even learn to love it
A gradual confrontation with the airport, technical answers, and tools to manage anxiety — right through to the real flight.
The paradox of flying
The S'envoler Sans S'affoler course puts people who are afraid in contact with an environment they once saw as dangerous, and gives them tools to manage their anxiety. The aeroplane is one of the safest means of transport — and yet one of those that triggers the greatest apprehension.
Desensitisation also involves prolonged exposure to the anxiety-provoking setting. For that reason, the course takes place at the heart of the airport, with the sounds and smells of aircraft in the background. Participants gradually integrate into the aviation world to lose their hostility and learn to appreciate a flight for what it is.
They meet a SWISS pilot who takes up the challenge of sharing their passion. Technical sessions alternate with phases devoted to fear management: understanding why fear does not always mean danger.
This double awareness — separating the objectivity of flying from the subjectivity of feelings, then managing emotions without experiencing them as an imminent ordeal of death — is the starting point of a new life with two wings.
More common than you think
People with a fear of flying often imagine they are the only ones suffering. Surveys show that nearly one in three people does not feel at ease on a plane — not counting those who simply give up on flying altogether.
In the United States, an MIT survey already put at 6 million the number of business flights cancelled because of fear (1986). Given the scale of the phenomenon, SWISS and Geneva Airport decided to help aerophobes.
Who are these courses for?
- Children from age 10
- Teenagers who would like to discover the world of aviation
- Working women and men whose fears hold them back professionally, or who feel they are spoiling family holidays
- Retirees who want to use their free time to travel serenely beyond Europe
Take the path to freedom
SWISS and Geneva Airport provide the logistical support and infrastructure needed for a three-day seminar. Designed by Lucienne Skopek, a pioneer in this field, it is now led by Fabienne Regard, herself a former aerophobe.
Since 1980, this seminar — unique in Europe in applying its concept — has reported a success rate approaching 98%. Limited to around twenty participants, it allows you to meet aviation professionals and talk to them openly.
The more you fly after the course, the more you anchor what you have learned. Every month, Fabienne organises a SWISS practice flight: you meet supportive crews again, and thanks to volunteers, your future crews can be notified so you are looked after on board.