>I'm great in an airplane. I'm ok on a ladder up to about 25 feet. Ferris wheels can make me freeze-up and - if I'm pretty sure nobody will notice - cry like a little schoolgirl. I'm supposed to go on a helicopter tour around Manhatten in October and wondered if anyone who wasn't thrilled with heights had ever done this and what they thought about it. Go ahead, make fun of me - I'm man enough to take it.

Renoir,

I remember a walk where I had to go for a few hundred meters along a precipice. The road was more than a meter wide, so it was not objectively dangerous. But I got really dizzy, and decided not to do it again. I wonder whether there is a way to get used to heights. Would practice help?

I don't think this will apply to helicopters, but then again, the last time I went in a helicopter I was a child.

I think the main difference is that you are surrounded by safe walls, so there is no chance that you fall out. This would give you a certain feeling of safety.