When Dreams Take Flight

Graham details what she discovered when she took an American Airlines fear-of-flying class for a Fortune story she was writing on executives who are afraid to fly. She argues that two others in the class had been in airplane accidents, and some suffered from claustrophobia. For Phyllis, whose husband had died of leukemia three years earlier, flying was the last of a long list of fears she was shucking off. After two days of lessons on how airplanes stay in the air, practice with deep breathing, and a trip to the cockpit to meet Captain George, it was time for the class's flight. As the class rode in tense silence to the airport, one woman turned to her mother and said that she feels like she is going to her death today.