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As many as 40 percent of all airline passengers have at least mild apprehension about flying, experts say, and people with serious aviophobia fall roughly into two groups.

An oddball friendship, or at least a foxhole sense of camaraderie, develops between the two, with Mr. Grodin’s character veering from abject fear — “I have aviophobia,” or fear of flying — into moments of quiet absurdity.

Only a small percentage of people actually suffer from clinical aviophobia.

Fear of flying, or aviophobia, is an anxiety disorder.

But perhaps the best way to get over the fear of flying — and the National Institute of Mental Health estimates that 2.5 to 6.5 percent of Americans suffer from aviophobia — is to look at the facts.