Fear of Flying (The Simpsons) - Plot

Plot

After pulling a prank on Moe, Homer is banned from Moe's Tavern and looks for another place to drink (including the Cheers bar). He eventually settles for an airline pilots' bar, but is mistaken for a pilot and is put in the cockpit of an airplane, which he promptly damages. Fearing public humiliation, the airline gives the Simpson family free tickets to anywhere in the United States they desire (except Alaska and Hawaii). However, the idea of plane travel fills Marge with anxiety as she has a fear of flying, and after a panic attack on the plane, the trip is postponed.

Marge does not want to talk to anybody about her phobia, and Lisa worries that Marge's decision to keep her feelings bottled up will cause them to "come out in other ways". When Marge begins to show signs of her lingering flight-related trauma by insisting the cat and the dog are living in sin, cooking giant feasts, and shingling the roof in the middle of the night, Lisa convinces Marge to undergo treatment with therapist Dr. Zweig. Homer, however, grows increasingly paranoid about Marge's therapy.

Zweig uncovers the roots of Marge's fear, including the moment she realized her father was an apron-wearing flight attendant, a job that was mostly reserved for women during that time, and not a pilot. Marge's shame is eased when Zweig assures her that male flight attendants are now very common and that her father could be considered a pioneer. Marge also brings up memories of her grandmother poking her in the eye as a baby while playing airplane, a toy plane catching fire, and having a plane fire at her, but the therapist just ignores this. Marge is cured of her fears, but when she and Homer attempt to fly on a plane again, the plane crashes into a lake.