My mate Fran really is afraid to fly, so terrified at the thought of
going aloft in a metal tube as to pop tranquilisers for days
beforehand. Obviously a situation susceptible to calm, male,
rationality, I guess, so I move to reassure, get this out of her
system (using a non-freudian approach, Hugo). I run the statistics by
her, you know, the ones that say that, with a one-in-several-million
probability factor, she'd have to fly every day for a hundred years
and so on.
'No I don't,' she moans, 'I'd only have to fly once!'
Which may be part of the problem in coming to grips with your
challenge. It will arise infrequently. Nonetheless, so will most of
the difficulties we train for, and I would have thought that having a
well-rehearsed procedure for the 'hypnotised captain' scenario is just
as important as anything else we do.
In support of your interest, I know of several instances where the
situation arose. They seem to have occurred more than once in several
million flights. And they were in an airline that does have a 'Captain
you must immediately talk to your therapist!' policy.
Cheers
Doug