In the wake of the thwarted London airplane bombing plot, the beleaguered national air carrier Czech Airlines (ČSA) is hoping to allay people's fears about a terrorist attack by throwing them into one — simulated, of course.

ČSA has begun offering passengers to a paid one-day training session in its flight simulator where they can pretend they are in various emergency situations and learn how to respond to them.

The airline is using a mock-up Boeing 737 to create the appearance of a normal flight: Refreshment are served; the flight attendant asks passengers to raise their seatbacks. Minutes into the "flight," something goes awry. The cabin fills with smoke or loses air pressure — or a terrorist attempts to hijack the plane.

The first class was July 29.

"Passengers can learn about particular anti-terrorist measures that we take," ČSA spokeswoman Daniela Hupáková said. "This could lead to lowering their fear."

ČSA studies suggest that as many as 40 percent of passengers fear flying. Passengers' demand and the example of other airlines worldwide prompted the airline's Fearless Flying courses.

"After going through the course, people should be boarding planes without stress," said instructor Miloš Kvapil, who is also director of staff training.

Flying is not cheap these days, and the same goes for simulated flights that come under terrorist attack — the registration fee for the course is 3,510 Kč ($160). Other airlines charge several hundred dollars, Hupáková said.

So far, ČSA has only held two Fearless Flying courses in the airline's training center at the Old Prague Ruzyně Airport. A little more than two dozen people attended.

That hasn't stopped the airline from expanding its program. ČSA has plans to install another simulator, an Airbus A320, that will also be used for Fearless Flying courses beginning in September 2007.

ČSA's spokeswoman Hupáková said other Fearless Flying courses will follow in the next month and could take place once per month, depending on passengers' interest.

Aviophobia

The course does not differentiate between male and female passengers. But a study conducted by Dutch psychologist Lucas van Gerwen from the University of Leiden in Holland in 2004 found that men and women fear flying for different reasons.

Women tend to be afraid of crashing and losing control of their emotions, while men are afraid because they cannot control the airplane, van Gerwen's study said. Women are also more afraid of terrorists hijacking the plane.

Van Gerwen said the fear of flying is a very treatable psychological complaint.

"Some [companies] give a one- or two-day course to try to get people over their fear," van Gerwen said. "What you need to do is diagnose what the background complaint is. Then you get a much higher success rate."

The ČSA course aims to discover individual passengers' needs, be they exposure to flying, relaxation training or lessons in how to control distressing thoughts.

Fearless Flying could become a good marketing tool for the airline, said Jaromír Beránek, a former ČSA flight attendant and current director of Mag Consulting, a tourism monitoring company.