It was only when I attempted to make small talk with my visibly squirming seatmate on a Raleigh-Durham to New York flight that I realised it was me causing that look of horror on his face, rather than the slight turbulence we had been experiencing since take-off.

A friendly chat, I had thought, might help distract him from flight anxiety. But then I noticed his eyes – wide with fear – were fixed on my computer screen, which displayed an investigative report on an airplane crash I had been reading.