Our History

The Fear of Flying Clinic, Fearless Flyers Inc. commenced in Australia in August 1978.

Boeing had done a study showing how much the airlines would benefit financially if the fearful were able to fly. It is estimated that 20 - 25% of the population is afraid of flying.

We were offered the program in August of 1978 and Nancy Bird Walton, Aminta Hennessy, Nancy Wells, Glenda Philpott and Jean Mc. Phee were the initial group to get the courses going in Australia.

We had a meeting with all the Australian airlines in October 1978 at the Qantas Theatrette in the Wentworth Hotel, and it was Qantas who offered to support the program. We started our first course in October 1979 with 9 candidates at the Qantas Jet Base. The course then was run over 8 weeks, one night per week with a graduation flight to Melbourne and back at the end of the course. We now conduct courses over two weekends in Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth as well as in Sydney and our 100th course was held in Melbourne in October 2008. All the team members and lecturers give their time voluntarily but we employ psychologists in each city.

This is the second oldest course in the world, and we think it is the best!

We are very proud of our achievements in over 30 years and we have well in excess of 1,500 graduates