Another solution I might offer would be to find one of those courses that helps people with fear of flying. I have no idea how good or otherwise they are, but might be worth a try.
As to the safety of repaired aircraft, I don't think they should be compared to cars, as the initial investment in a 747/A380 is obviously much greater then for a car, and while with damage to a car it might be more cost effective to replace the car (Hence cars are never as strong once they have been repaired) with aircraft this is not so, and hence are designed to be as strong as ever after repairs. I once on a school tour visited a hanger at Avalon where 747's underwent extensive maintainance. What they do is virtually pull the whole aircraft to pieces, replace any parts that are defective, then rebuild the whole plane, so virtually every plane in the air has had many new parts, and has been virtually rebuilt many times.
This rebuilding process is the process that a badly damaged plane will undergo during repairs anyway, and therefore will be just as safe as any other after being repaired.
