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As you say, there are a lot of sites online. To help you clear up the issue of what can help, consider that the first courses on fear of flying started in 1975: one at Pan Am (the one I worked on), one at US Air, and one by a group of flight attendants.

None of these was effective for panic. None were effective for really high anxiety. They were all effective for people who had mild problems with flying. They all claimed 90% success rate. That was based on the percentage of people who flew at the end of the course. But they never bothered to say that 65% of the people taking the course were able to fly before taking the course. That means of the 35% of people who couldn't fly at the beginning of the course about two our of three took the "graduation flight" accompanied by the instructor and other group members. Six months later, half of those who flew with that kind of support could not fly.

That gives you some idea of how effective the original courses were. The problem is, all the other courses you can find on the internet (or even in person) still do exactly the same thing the original courses did: explain how flying works; give you reassurance you will be fine; teach you relaxation exercises. (Hypnosis is another issue; I'm trained in that, but I don't find it reliable enough to use in most cases; it is too hit or miss.)

SOAR was established in 1982 BECAUSE there were no courses which could help people with high anxiety and panic issues. We added Cognitive Behavioral Therapy techniques to the mix. That helped SOME people, but it was not helpful at all for others. I got a year of training in NLP. I found only one exercise in that year of training that was helpful. I hired some highly experienced NLP practitioners and we did a series of courses adding NLP to the mix, and found it produced no results.

Finally, determined to find something that would work, I went to grad school, got licensed as a therapist and went through two additional institutes in New York. Finally, some things started to work. Then, there was the brain scan research that helped us understand how the brain works. There was also new information-- new to me at least -- in "Attachment Theory" that helped explain why some people develop "secure attachment" (and don't have anxiety issues) and others develop "insecure attachment" and have anxiety issues.

By putting all these things together, the thing we call the "Strengthening Exercise" was developed which actually makes you emotionally stronger.

The bottom line is we now know how to fix the problem. Our only remaining problem is helping people who have "tried everything" understand that everything they have tried didn't have a chance in hell of working in the first place, and thus means nothing.

No other program exists which has been operating since 1982. No other program is run by a pilot who is also a therapist. No other program does anything other than the stuff that was done in 1975. So whether it is DVD, book, tape, online, or in-person work, there is no other place that will help you deal with flying IF your problem is high anxiety or panic.

As you read this board, notice the posts by the people who HAVE done the SOAR Course and then tried it out by flying. Again and again, you will read how completely amazed they are. A lot of them tried "everything" before they found us, and though they thought nothing would work, they had the courage to try again, and get what they needed all along but had not been able to find.

We do have a guaranteed course. It is 11 DVDs plus two hours of counseling by phone with me. When you fly after that, if YOU are not satisfied, you get your money back. We have about a thousand people a year go through the SOAR program and we have about one person every two years that ask for their money back. Most people are amazed at the results.

Since the guaranteed program is more money, I don't particularly recommend it because most people get everything they need with the DVDs plus the twenty minute session included free plus the free group phone counseling. That is $480 (versus $595 for the guaranteed program). Also, most people do fine with FastTrack ($195) or the courses that load into your iPod ($199 to $299). So whether you want to take a chance and do one of the less expensive programs or take no chance and do the guaranteed program, you will be -- like everyone else -- amazed.

If you want to talk it over first, call me. 877 332-7359.