Yet in "RIP, Mrs. Columbo" he does fly to San Francisco to meet Mrs. Dimitri's shrink. There was no mention of his fear in this episode, and we know he had to take a plane to see this guy.
thanks for the happy 4th wish, Steve. It was indeed a happy 4th: Italy won to Germany in the semi-finals of the world cup (and I am italian) :-) I apologize for the OT. And I also enjoy lieutenant's fear of flying: that's a nice quirk.