In The NoCo

Afraid of flying? These tips from an MSU Denver psychologist can help get you off the ground

By In The NoCo,

Published June 2, 2025 at 5:35 AM MDT

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Randi Smith, a woman with light brown hair and brown glasses, wearing a black dress, black boots and a red sweater, stands outside on the MSU Denver campus and leans against a railing. — "With any phobia or fear, the longer we avoid it, the more entrenched the fear and anxiety becomes," says Randi Smith, a psychology professor at MSU Denver. "So if we can push through the fear and get on the airplane, even though we think we're going to die, we teach ourselves that all of those catastrophic thoughts are not really going to happen. And then our fear diminishes."

Commercial airline travel is one of the safest ways to get around.

In 2024, around five billion passengers worldwide flew on 40 million flights, according to the International Air Transport Association. In that year there was less than one aircraft-related accident for every million flights in the air.

In other words, the odds are in your favor when you buy a plane ticket.

And yet, fear of flying is one of the most common phobias people struggle with. Researchers estimate about 25 million adults in the U.S. suffer from aerophobia, or fear of flying.

Randi Smith is a professor of psychology at Metropolitan State University of Denver. She studies why air travel provokes such an intense reaction in so many people.

With the summer travel season about to get underway, she joined Erin O’Toole to share some science-backed strategies to help you, or a loved one, overcome a fear of flying.

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In The NoCo

KUNC's In The NoCo is a daily slice of stories, news, people and issues. It's a window to the communities along the Colorado Rocky Mountains. The show brings context and insight to the stories of the day, often elevating unheard voices in the process. And because life in Northern Colorado is a balance of work and play, we celebrate the lighter side of things here, too.

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Erin O'Toole

As the host of KUNC’s new program and podcast In the NoCo, I work closely with our producers and reporters to bring context and diverse perspectives to the important issues of the day. Northern Colorado is such a diverse and growing region, brimming with history, culture, music, education, civic engagement, and amazing outdoor recreation. I love finding the stories and voices that reflect what makes NoCo such an extraordinary place to live.

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Brad Turner

Brad Turner is an executive producer in KUNC's newsroom. He manages the podcast team that makes In The NoCo, which also airs weekdays in Morning Edition and All Things Considered. His work as a podcaster and journalist has appeared on NPR's Weekend Edition, NPR Music, the PBS Newshour, Colorado Public Radio, MTV Online, the Denver Post, Boulder's Daily Camera, and the Longmont Times-Call.

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Ariel Lavery

Ariel Lavery grew up in Louisville, Colorado and has returned to the Front Range after spending over 25 years moving around the country. She co-created the podcast Middle of Everywhere for WKMS, Murray State University’s NPR member station, and won Public Media Journalism awards in every season she produced for Middle of Everywhere. Her most recent series project is "The Burn Scar", published with The Modern West podcast. In it, she chronicles two years of her family’s financial and emotional struggle following the loss of her childhood home in the Marshall Fire.

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