"Flying Without Fear" iPhone app holds your hand in the bumpy skies

I admit it: Flying isn't my favorite thing. I know it's, like, a hundred times safer than driving a car or crossing a crowded street, but try telling me that at 35,000 feet during a choppy flight. Sir Richard Branson to the rescue!

Branson and Virgin Atlantic have a new app out for the iPhone—the aptly named "Flying Without Fear"—that's designed to calm your frayed nerves while you're in that big metal tube that has no business hurtling through the air.

The $5 app starts off with a brief video of Sir Richard himself, calmly explaining that he "Flying Without Fear" app is based on a fear-of-flying course offered by Virgin Atlantic, which has helped "pretty much every person" who's taken the class. So far, so soothing (although isn't Branson the kind of guy who likes jumping out of perfectly good airplanes?).

Next up: an 11-minute video that walks you though a typical flight from start to finish, from taxiing to the runway to coming in for a landing. The video is narrated by a pilot who (again) calmly explains that yes, those overhead compartments are supposed to wobble (it's "perfectly normal," apparently), no, those beeps in the cabin aren't "secret messages" that something's gone wrong (they're just telling the crew to prepare for landing), and don't worry, turbulence might be "uncomfortable" but isn't dangerous (that's not what I've read, but hey, for the interest of getting me through the flight, I'll take it).

You also get an interesting audio Q&A with a pilot who covers a battery of common questions, like "Is the pilot qualified to fly?" (or, better yet, how do we know the pilot isn't drunk?), "Are the wings supposed to move?" (yep, they're like shock absorbers in a car), and my personal favorite, "What if one of the engines catches fire?" (turns out the engine pod is isolated from the rest of the wing so flames would have nothing to burn ... although I'd rather not find out for myself).

Finally, the app comes with 10- and 30-minute relaxation exercises, as well as a "Fear Attack" button that brings your to a page that reads "This is natural. We know you're scared. You will be OK." You'll also hear lovely birds chirping in the background as a soothing voice instructs you to breathe slowly and deeply, and think about "the bluest blue sky you ever saw" (and not those dark, ominous thunderclouds).

Sound goofy? Maybe so. But when it comes to keeping cool while the plane is making like the rickety-old rollercoaster at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, well ... I'm a firm believer in the "whatever works" school of thought.

Related:
Do you fear when you fly? There's an app to help that. [The Unofficial Apple Weblog]