Broncos

My son, (now 18), has had issues clearing his ears his entire life. He's been diagnosed with very small (narrow) eustachian tubes. Basically, no matter how hard he tries, he cannot valsalva completely. In fact trying to do so makes it worse. This has made flying difficult and painful for him, so he chooses not to. I've searched the board here, and all the posts are 10-15 years old. I'm just polling the aviation community to see if anyone has any recent experience with this and can offer any solutions/advice. Thank you!

Excargodog

Ear tubes…

https://www.verywellhealth.com/ear-t...adults-1192068

SonicFlyer

Any serious ENT doc can advise you on this.

Excargodog

Even the non serious ones. It isn’t brain surgery.

Twin Wasp

It’s within a couple inches of brain surgery!

Excargodog

True Story:
North Africa in the 1930s and 40s had a lot of nasal and respiratory infections. (When the battle of El Alamein was fought, Rommel was actually back in Germany, getting treated for nasal diphtheria)

http://deutsches-afrikakorps.blogspo...-deceases.html


https://imgur.com/a/6C9EM85

The WW II Stuka pilots in North Africa had so many ear blocks doing their 45 degree dive bombing in an unpressurized aircraft that the Luftwaffe flight surgeons just put a hole in their tympanic membranes and cauterized it to keep it open so pressure would equalize. Because an ear block like that could distract a man pretty severely and you didn’t want to delay to long on the pull up.

https://youtu.be/YP5-lgFaCBg

AirBear

When I started flying T-37's in USAF pilot training I noticed an issue with trying to clear my ears on a rapid descent (think spin recovery). All the air was going out my left ear and my right ear stayed blocked. I had to work my hand inside my custom fit helmet and block my left ear canal then valsalva. At that point I was out of hands and had to fly with my knees. I went to the Flight Surgeon and he said not to worry, probably just a slight cold. Much later I realized how lucky I'd been, it could have gotten me kicked out of training.

So I put up with it for the rest of T-37 training. The T-38's were pressurized to about 14K cabin so I didn't have much of an issue. Then I flew C-130's and again not to much of an issue. Then one day I get orders to be a T-37 Instructor in Del Rio, TX. Hmm...No .

I went to the Flight Surgeon who couldn't find the cause. Then I was sent to an ENT Doc and he said grafting some skin onto the ear drum should fix it. So I had surgery, 30 days off from flying. They gave me a test where they blow air into both ears and measure resistance. It showed normal so I was good to go. My orders had been delayed and now at least I had a better base but still did not want to instruct in T-37's. Started flying C-130's again and the issue came back. Next thing you know I'm seeing the regional ENT Doc at Andrews AFB. He puts a neutral solution in my ear and has me valsalva. He sees the trail of bubbles but can't confirm the reason. A few weeks later I'm off to see the Chief ENT Doc of the USAF at Lackland AFB. This Doc was a bird colonel and knew his stuff. He figured out I had a "trap door" in my left eardrum. That's why the results varied. He said it wasn't enough of a problem to have surgery again. So I basically dictated a waiver letter to him saying I was limited to flying Tanker, Transport, Bomber aircraft. So I stayed in C-130's and then flew airlines and corporate for many years. But what a CF to go thru.

For the OP this all happened to me in the mid 1980's. I'm sure the tech has gotten many times better and getting that fixed **should** be a simple matter.

rickair7777

Yes the solution is tubes, quick and easy, but find a good AME to consult on that *before* you get any procedures done just to avoid any pitfalls with the FAA.

Broncos

My son is not a pilot, so not worried about the FAA.