The ending sentiment of your piece was lovely. Fear really can give us a unique appreciation for the lives we live, and I think you did a good job of conveying that with just a few short words at the end of the work.

I wish that sentiment at the end would have been played out, foreshadowed, etc. a little earlier in the piece, or that the piece would have been longer to accommodate more time and focus on that element of it. As it is, it feels like the work is more focused on playing up the fear than it is focusing on what that feeling of fear does or results in. I think that's the strongest argument in the piece, and it's less important than the specifics of why the fear is there in the first place.

That said, there are definitely some parts of the material that could use some additional explanation as well. How do you assess "levels of experience, confidence, and normalcy" in the pilot with just a glance? What does "mentally flying the aircraft" mean? How can you identify fellow passengers who might be terrorists, mischief makers, or as terrified of flying as you? It doesn't necessarily have to be rational since it's the perspective of one person (the narrator), but I think it would help the reader understand how the narrator identifies these qualities.

Overall, this was a well-written item that did a great job detailing the reasons someone might be afraid of flying, but could use a little more work fully drawing out it's central premise that the fear being described can actually be a good thing.