The late Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, was flying on a small two-engine plane from Atlanta back home to Detroit in the early 1980s when her life changed forever
Aretha Franklin was left with a lifelong fear of flying after a traumatic experience on a plane.
The legendary singer, known as the Queen of Soul, would have turned 83 today (March 25). The winner of 18 Grammy awards and scorer of countless hits sadly passed on August 16 2018, following a battle with pancreatic cancer.
Franklin developed a fear of flying after experiencing a nightmare flight in 1982 that would change her life forever. The Respect hitmaker was riding in a small two-engine plane from Atlanta back home to Detroit.
However, the plane was getting battered around in the sky as it was dealing with intense turbulence. “I was leaving Atlanta in a very small plane,” she told The Atlanta-Journal Constitution in 1993.
“A two- engine prop plane, I believe. And it was a very bad flight,” adding: “I’m very much a ground person now.”
She told Time Magazine: “The flight was dipsy-doodling up and down all the way home. I said, ‘Oh, my God, when I get to Detroit, that’s it. That is it’. And I have not flown since. But I intend to. It’s been a long time.”
After that, Franklin would travel by bus, not by plane, to get to her concerts. However, it seems the icon didn’t mind ditching the air miles as it gave her the chance to “really see America”.
Asked if it had hindered her career, she said: “It has not hindered my career at all. Miss Franklin can get around. I have been everywhere, believe me, on this bus–everywhere except across the ocean.
“And if it were an amphibious bus, I might do that. When I was flying, I never saw the U.S. and what it really looked like. I saw the back of the concert hall, the hotel and the airport. Now I really see America.”
That being said, Aretha did try to conquer her fear of flying when she took a class, Fearless Flyers, aimed to rid students of their aviophobia (fear of flying). Sadly, though, she missed some of the classes and never got over the fear.
She said in 2014: “I did take a class, Fearless Flyers, but I missed two weeks of it and my fellow students went on to Indiana and passed, and I didn’t, so I need to make those two classes and then hopefully I’ll pass and I’ll be able to fly again.”
Aretha had also suggested she’d wanted to return to the UK once she got over her fear. “I want to come to London,” the Irish Independent reported her saying. “I’ll be there when I can get over this flying thing,”
It seems Aretha did just fine without getting on a plane again, because she ended up selling over 75 million records worldwide and became the first female artist to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
And, thanks to her phenomenal vocal capabilities, she has been hailed the greatest singer of all time twice by Rolling Stone magazine. If Aretha wants to travel by bus, then travel by bus Aretha shall.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
