bfuller1981

I'm curious if anyone has any suggestions on how to overcome motion sickness, my instructor and I where practicing accelerated stalls in my 182 one day and he told me to push full left rudder and see what happens and at the time I was new enough that I didnt realize that it would start us into a spin. We entered the spin and my instructor recovered before we went into a full spin. Anyhow I got a little nauseous after the break and during the recovery. I was wondering if I went out and rode with someone doing aerobatic flight if that would help me get over that feeling.

rickair7777

It is completely common for a new pilot to experience motion sickness under those conditions. Odds are that as you gain more experience, you will have less trouble with motion sickness. Commercial manuevers, stalls, and spins are not normally performed by most commercial pilots in routine operations, so once you get through training it should be a non-issue.

Aerobatic training might help, but you would probably have to do it more than once. But aerobatic training is a very good idea for an aspiring commercial pilot in case.

Motion sickness drugs might not be authorized for use by pilots while flying, but those pressure-point wristbands work for some folks.

bfuller1981

Great thanks for the advice, I'll look into the wrist band, I wont take any motion sickness pills I barely take tylenol unless I absolutly have to. I've also had an offer to go out in a C-152 aerobat and see if doing some manuevers will do the trick.

Navajo31

I almost tossed the cookies my first time in a Level D Simulator!!! Loose cloths, keep the temperature down and lots of airflow will help. Try to look outside at the horizon as much as possible.

rickair7777

Those are worse than real airplanes...the visuals are just SLIGHTLY off, which compounds the problem.

sinsilvia666

i found that eating a little something...NOT GREASY....just something small like a pack of chicken nuggets helps alot when your learning and working hard flying...now even as a cfi i still make myself eat a little something before flying everytime

Seggy

Gingerale works very well to prevent motion sickness.

TBoneF15

From a dude who's been there...

There's basically 3 reasons dudes get sick in airplanes:

1) nervousness. Anxiety sometimes makes you wanna puke. If you got wigged out by an unexpected spin entry, that might have contributed to it.

2) you are worried about puking. I'm not kidding. I've seen more dudes puke in jets because they thought they would than any other reason. If you get it into your mind that you might feel sick, you will. You will subconsciously be looking for any little hint that you feel sick, then your mind will run with it until you are.

3) you are just sensitive to it. This can usually be overcome by just continuing to go up in the air and expose yourself to the problem until you become desensitized to it.

You'll get all kinds of advice. Most of it is cr-p, to be honest. I was told to eat nothing but saltine crackers all the way up to eat a giant bowl of chili right before you fly. Point is, if you think it will work for you, then it might. A lot of it can be mental.

In case it helps, I used to get sick in cars, in Cessnas, and I got sick about 7 times in USAF pilot training. I was just sensitive to motion my whole life. I got over it and I am now an F-15 instructor pilot where I can now stand the most gut wrenching stuff aviation can hand out without any issues. I wanted to be a fighter pilot and I was going to keep trying until I got there. Eventually I just got over the motion sickness, but the Air Force has a program to help. It essentially involves spinning you in a chair (called a barany chair) and then making you move your skull around to induce tumbling sensations. It's hell on earth, but it works to desensitize you quickly. I know you don't have that exact option, but I used to go to the park and spin on the merry go round thing for a while (close your eyes and spin until you don't really feel like you are spinning anymore, then start moving your head around...it sucks). That's pretty extreme advice and I don't think you are there yet.

Here's my advice:
1) DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT. If you get sick, you get sick. I mean that quite seriously. You'll eventually get over it, but you'll get over it a lot faster if you don't keep thinking about it all the time. Some dudes get sick. It's a fact. It's not fun, but it's also not a big deal unless you make it one.

2) Keep flying. The more you get in the air, the better. Staying away from flying for a while will make it more difficult to get over it.

Good luck

wolf

A couple raw eggs blended with some chicken livers and okra immediately before flight always worked well for me






Seriously, back when I was getting my ratings I had a couple of flights where I didn't feel that great. Many of us have been through it and most likely it will pass as your body adapts. Try some dry toast or crackers and some water or ginger tea before you fly. Ginger ale works but watch out for too much carbonation. Avoid greasy/acid/dairy foods before flight until you get used to it. If you're flying in the morning I would skip the OJ and fried stuff. Go with some toast or a granola bar and make sure you stay hydrated with water or weak tea. A totally empty stomach can also cause problems.

Many people don't believe in it but I have found that the pressure point in your wrist works very well to combat nausea, and not only the motion sickness kind... Take your left wrist and find the two hard tendons in the center of the inside of your wrist. Apply strong pressure in between the tendons about one or two fingers width up from the base of the wrist. Apply pressure for ten to twenty seconds at a time, release and repeat while taking slow deep breaths.

Hope that helps and good luck.

Phuz

Back when I was doing upset training at Riddle I puked in the sack on my first flight out. We didnt even do spins on that flight, just lazy eights, accelerated stalls, and maybe double wing-overs. I felt like such a panzy. My IP told me not to worry but I still thought "maybe im not cut out for this."

But sure enough, a few days later as I was walking out to the plane for my next upset flight I saw the previous student climbing out of it with a big white sick-sack tied off at the top. And he was heading straight over to the same garbage can I had tossed my white sack into just a few days prior. Seeing someone else had gotten sick for some reason made me feel a whole lot better =) You're not alone bud.