Personally, I like to be in control of whatever I do. I stay away from any danger and have never been one for things like roller-coasters. I do not need that particular thrill to rock my boat. Some people call me a wimp, which is probably correct - I guess this comes from having a speech impediment and all of the horrible frustrating stuttering therapy that comes with it.

I am not afraid to admit that air travel has and will always petrify me. Travelling in my own car when I am the driver is something which I am fully in control of; where as in a plane all I do is sit there and hope for the best. I am not the pilot, I am unable to observe any servicing to the aircraft and I do not know its history.

I have, as I am in doubt the majority of people who read this article have, read that travelling by plane is the least dangerous form of travel. Guess what, I don’t care, I still would rather drive.

There has been a recent television series called Lost. This happens to be one of my favourite T.V programs and I have watched each and every episode. It did not help my phobia of flying though.

Due to the popularity of Lost, there has since been a lot of newspaper articles with people describing how they survived an aeroplane crash. I wish I had never read their stories as I can only imagine the fear and terror they must have been through.

I work for a composite door company selling composite doors and Iam required as part of the job to travel and that of course means travelling by plane from time to time.

During my last plane journey, as the aircraft was taking off an amusing thing happened to me. The take off and landing are always the worst aspects of the whole experience for me, and this is where I am at my most scared. We we travelling down the runway, gathering speed, I gripped the armrest tightly, hoping that would help and thankfully the plane rose into the air. The person in the seat next to me then asked if he could have his hand back. I had not been gripping the armrest but had been gripping his hand. I said sorry and continued to be brave.