This app promises to help you get over your fear of flying
For those of us who are uncomfortable with flying, we tend to get over it (well, “over it”) in one of several ways. Medication, alcohol (do not mix!), meditation, and ceaseless fearful muttering are all coping mechanisms, but what if we had a pilot’s reassuring explanation of every jolt, bounce, and dip in the plane’s movement?
That’s the goal of SkyGuru, a new app which tracks your flight in real time and offers explanations for every bump along the way.
Created by professional pilot Alex Gervash, the app is his attempt to address the fear of flying that affects about 20% of the population — but it isn’t actually his first time addressing the problem. Gervash has actually created a fear of flying school with about 1,500 students a year in Moscow, but when he realized that his graduates still had anxiety around flying, he decided to take another step and offer people personalized soothing based on their specific flight.
SkyGuru has you enter your flight information a few hours before you step on your plane, letting you gauge what kind of weather delays might be affecting your flight. Then, you keep your app open on your flight, allowing your phone to read altitude and g-force, as well as pick up information about turbulence happening in real-time. All in all, the app serves as a soothing presence: This is what’s actually happening, so all that bumping and jostling gets taken out of your head and explained by an expert.
Of course, there are some caveats with the app still because after all, you do have to keep your phone open and working during the flight. And as the app was developed for a Russian audience, there are still instructions that pop up in Cyrillic. But! If you’re looking for a starting point to address your flying fears, SkyGuru might just be your best bet.