I think the afraid of flying thing is a drama queen insinuation that Ford fears being taken out in a plane crash by people who want to stop her from testifying.
People who believe her rape story just because will believe anything else just because, so might as well get your money's worth milking this bullshit from their point of view.
>and then the classmate retracted it
Easy for journos, etc. to get an old yearbook and look up former classmates to call to see if they heard the story.
I think maybe some former classmates got a hold of the witness classmate and told her to STFU because they didn't want anything to do with this pile of shit. Enough heat from the right people and she retracted.