Fratellis Frontman's Phobia Rekindled by Emergency Plane Landing

Last Friday's much publicized incident involving the emergency landing of a Qantas 747 jet in the Phillipines -- where a car-sized hole was discovered in the plane's fuselage -- has rekindled a phobia of flying in Fratellis frontman Jon Fratelli. Despite being scheduled to catch the same troubled Heathrow-to-Melbourne flight Monday (July 28), the rocker reveals he is again afraid to fly.

"I might just decide never to fly again," Fratelli (real name: John Lawler) told the Sun over the weekend. "I was getting better. The phobia wasn't so bad, then pieces of airplanes rip off and they show it all over the news and freak you out."

"What's worse is it was a Qantas plane flying from London to Melbourne, which is what I'm getting on," he continued. "I don't need it, man. I could really do without seeing that kind of thing." The Fratellis -- who are supporting their sophomore disc 'Here We Stand' -- are scheduled to play a run of dates in Australia and Japan in early August before flying back to the UK for a pair of festival dates at Reading and Leeds.

Fratelli -- who will also fly to the U.S. to begin a month-long U.S. trek in Cleveland on September 1 -- added that his "life would be so much easier if I never had to get on a plane ever again," adding, "It's been on my mind all the time."