Eleventh Hour has learned Virgin Atlantic has developed an iPhone application for those people with the fear of flying.  Titled “Flying Without Fear,” the app will set you back $4.99 but is priceless for those looking to beat their phobia of flying.

Virgin founder, Richard Branson begins the application with a personal  introduction and is followed by a list of features that attempt to calm the passenger.  These features include:

• A 10-minute relaxation exercise
• Q&A with Virgin’s GM of Flight Operations
• A video describing in-flight situations such as turbulence, airplane sounds and noises and wing movement.
• Panic Button.  If for some reason the passenger becomes frantic, when the panic button is pressed this message appears: ‘This is natural. We know you’re scared.  You will be okay.’
  

This is not the first attempt for Virgin to help their consumers solve their flight issues.  Back in 1997, Virgin offered a seminar focusing on similar topics as the iPhone application.  The seminars had a 98% success rate, according to the Virgin website so hopefully the app won’t have any problems taking off.  Get it?

A reminder to passengers using this “Flying Without Fear” app, only a handful of airlines offer free wi-fi service so plan ahead to make sure you can access your app if fear may be in your future.

Matt Suttner has never had to press a panic button.