Help with Airsickness

TheOneMarine

Well-Known Member
Hey guys, I've been really excited about starting flight training and I finally did last week. I've never been one to get sick, and I have ridden in Cessna 172's and piper cubs and never even flinched, but since starting flight school I have had 3 lessons and gotten pretty rotten and sick all three times. What the heck is up and what can I do about it? No matter what I'm going to finish and push through but it isn't very comfortable! Someone please help!
 
Do you think that maybe nerves are contributing to your sickness?

Just remember that no matter what your CFI will make sure the flight is conducted safely, and nothing bad is going to happen, try to relax and enjoy it.

That may have nothing to do with your air-sickness but just what came to mind right away, since you say you have flown as a passenger and didn't have any trouble.
 
Somewhat normal i think. Its Hot the airplanes are old and have a history of people puking in them, and that smell stick with them. Little bit nervous or excited, little turbulence, you add all that together and viola. My first few times I didnt feel well at all. Try to keep the airplane as cool as possible with whatever vents are available.
 
I don't know where you're at, but try flying earlier in the day when it's not as hot and bumpy out. Also, make sure you have eaten something and properly hydrated. A lot of students get sick on their first couple of flights. It will pass eventually.
 
Concentrating so much can create motion sickness where you may have never experienced it before. It's nothing to be embarassed or ashamed of, lots of pilots go through it.

When you first feel it's effects, try to look out on the nice level horizon, looking inside at gauges will make it worse. Keep cool air blowing on you (not always easy this time of year, but try). Bring ice packs along to put on your lap, on your shoulders, on your head, wherever. Keeping cool is a HUGE help to keeping that nasty feeling at bay. SeaBands (small bands you wear on your wrists) work wonders for some people, for others they have no effect at all. They're cheap and well worth a try.

With time, motion sickness goes away in just about every case. Your body gets used to the motion and learns to ignore it.
 
It took me around 8 or so hours before I stopped getting that feeling, got especially with steep turns. Just keep on it, follow the suggestions, you'll be alright.
 
Hey, I thought that Marines were suppose to be strong??:sarcasm:

Don't sweat it - I got sick for like my first 7 or 8 hours in the plane. After a while, you just get used to it.

I even blew chunks the day before my checkride!!!:rawk:
 
MQAAord said:
Concentrating so much can create motion sickness where you may have never experienced it before. It's nothing to be embarassed or ashamed of, lots of pilots go through it.

When you first feel it's effects, try to look out on the nice level horizon, looking inside at gauges will make it worse. Keep cool air blowing on you (not always easy this time of year, but try). Bring ice packs along to put on your lap, on your shoulders, on your head, wherever. Keeping cool is a HUGE help to keeping that nasty feeling at bay. SeaBands (small bands you wear on your wrists) work wonders for some people, for others they have no effect at all. They're cheap and well worth a try.

With time, motion sickness goes away in just about every case. Your body gets used to the motion and learns to ignore it.

Yeah, what she said. If you look on the horizon and keep a vent open or even open a window it might help. We've all been there, I felt sick just the other day.
 
Here is something I wrote a while back for some people where I learned to fly. They are just my personal observations and they repeat some of what has been written above. I consider myself moderately experienced in the airsickness & airsickness prevention department. :buck:

There are people who can do spins and aerobatics longer than their fuel supply can let them and they won’t get sick. To those of you who fit into this category, move to the next article! But for every person that will never get sick, there is one that very easily will. The types of motion problems can be broken down into two basic categories: spatial disorientation and airsickness. The first can lead to the second but being airsick does not necessarily come from being spatially disoriented. Sometimes you are oriented perfectly but get sick anyway.

The FAA defines spatial disorientation as the lack of orientation with regard to the position, attitude, or movement of the airplane in space. This article won’t be about how to keep that orientation; that’s what the instrument rating is for. Trusting the instruments and being able to interpret them accurately is the main idea there. Airsickness, however, can happen to some people on a clear day and having more experience with this than many of my pilot friends combined, I deem myself relatively qualified to give some basic tips on avoiding airsickness because I’ve tried them all. They work for me.


Rest. Showing up to fly on five hours of sleep is asking for problems. Besides the decreased alertness and judgment one would expect when flying fatigued, airsickness occurs more readily. It’s easy to rationalize the night before flying that a sugary breakfast and caffeine will get you through a quick one hour flight lesson after staying up late, but it usually starts to feel like a bad decision as you stagger around in the dark trying to wake up. Get enough sleep and you’re less likely experience nausea.

Eat. Before you start thinking “I ought to eat something that tastes just as good coming back up as it does going down” (bananas), you should know that while flying on an empty stomach might eliminate the problem of an upset stomach, it makes the condition of nausea set in even faster. I’ve found that a typical full-size meal three to five hours before the flight is the best time to eat. Greasy food or anything else that is difficult to digest should be avoided. Hydration is at least as important as eating well and drinking water during the hours before a flight is crucial. Water is digested fast anyway so anything short of chugging a quart during the run-up is probably going to be just fine. There is also the strategy of drinking water just before a flight so as having to relieve oneself very much during the flight which is planned to be fairly short. The idea here is that holding it will distract you from even thinking about getting airsick. Don’t even bother trying this one – it’s worthless! Plus, you need more than one bag.

No milk. This is just a really bad thing to have in your stomach before you fly and shake it all around. Got Milk? Save it for the debrief! "Milk was a bad choice."

Don’t exercise. Once I did an experiment. I thought if I got my body doing some physical activity before aerobatics, it’d handle it better since it wouldn’t be going from being still to being tossed around. So I went on a vigorous bike-ride and then did 6Gs in an aerobatic plane. Exercise before G-force: worst idea EVER.

Look outside. Mostly common sense, but still worth being on the list. If you’re doing unusual attitude recovery with those cute lookin’ foggles on, you’re gonna get sick faster than if you’re doing the same thing looking outside. If it’s one of those days where even the airline pilots are submitting PIREPs with the remark WHITE CAPS IN MY COFFEE, stare outside at the horizon as much as possible so your eyes can tell your brain you really are right-side up.

Chew gum. This one is preventative. Chewing gum helps digest food by keeping the rate of saliva secretion high, as it was while you were eating. Put a baseball player sized amount in your mouth after a meal and maybe it’ll digest in time for that flight. And keep chewing while flying! There is one thing you should do if you get in the habit of chewing gum before or during flights, though. Change the type of gum once in a while. The reason for the variety is so that you do not begin to associate the taste of that familiar gum with being airsick. I’ve had that happen and you feel like you should be doing a preflight whenever you put that flavor in your mouth.

Attitude. Your attitude going into a flight had better be one that does not include getting sick – otherwise, you’re just counting down until that moment from the time you shut the doors and strap in until the time you hand the plane over to the instructor who is already tuning the ATIS as you reach for the bag. Oh, and that bag…you brought it, didn’t you?

That’s what I’ve got for you. The good news is, if you get airsick occasionally, it does go away. The more often you fly and the more you induce nausea and recover, the tougher it’ll be for you to have problems up there.

Good luck. We’re all counting on you. Especially the one who has the plane after you.
 
two things:


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and

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Thanks, you guys are great. Thats why I keep comming here! :nana2: I'll try some of your suggestions. I think it could be nerves as well because I just want this so much and want to succeed. I'm also partially afraid that it won't go away and I'll be screwed, so as was said earlier, I know i'm going in with the "I'm going to be sick attitude" and I don't know how to shake it. Thanks a ton though to all, I'll keep you updated!
 
I was sick the first 8 or so hours . . . it went away. My wife uses the relief band. It is excellent! Don't Quit!!!
 
MQAAord said:
Concentrating so much can create motion sickness where you may have never experienced it before. It's nothing to be embarassed or ashamed of, lots of pilots go through it.

When you first feel it's effects, try to look out on the nice level horizon, looking inside at gauges will make it worse. Keep cool air blowing on you (not always easy this time of year, but try). Bring ice packs along to put on your lap, on your shoulders, on your head, wherever. Keeping cool is a HUGE help to keeping that nasty feeling at bay. SeaBands (small bands you wear on your wrists) work wonders for some people, for others they have no effect at all. They're cheap and well worth a try.

With time, motion sickness goes away in just about every case. Your body gets used to the motion and learns to ignore it.


Now that would be a Kodak moment!
 
I used to work on a tour ship in Alaska and i used to suggest Dramamine to the new crew members who would feel sick. Not that i know that it worked because of the ingredients, but i feel that motion sickness is mostly mental and just the thought that these crew members had taken something that they thought would prevent them from getting sick seemed to work...or maybe just dramamine works..who knows.

Another story is for passengers we would make up crazy stuff, like eat salted toast and drink a rootbeer or close your eyes and count to 15. We made up countless stupid things and over half the time it worked and the customers felt better and would thank us and leave us a big tip. I think it is all in peoples heads and sometimes all it takes is a superstition that they believe will work.

Last story....My brother in law is a helo pilot for the CG and when he was flying their high performance single in training he would get sick every single flight. After about a month of flying everyday his body just became accustomed to the feeling and he hasnt been sick since, regardless of the conditions.
 
JEP said:
two things:
No joke, I second the tea. And the relief band will make nausea go away instantly. I used that band several times in my early training when I was required to ride back seat in a 172 on a Florida summer afternoon. I would be about to puke, turn on the band, and feel better instantly.

I also recommend flying early or late for smoother air and if you feel ill (and have the option) open the windows to increase airflow.

Good luck!
 
What the crap is a relief band???


Times like this I feel so lucky. On my intro flight I asked the instructor to do some stalls for me, I told her my favorite parts of airline trips was takeoffs, landings, and turbulence and she floated some pens for me.

But I only flew with her my first flight, the instructor I have now would probably have made fun of me...which would be more incentive to not get sick. But like I said, I am lucky and don't get sick.
 
I actually would stay away from the Dramamine as a pilot, but it's really effective as a pax. It's just that the Dramamine has drowsiness and disorientation as a side-effect.

We get pukers in the tweet quite frequently (especially on those first spin sorties- woo-hooo!) Generally the flight docs suggest exactly what Nick suggested. They also have a program using a barony chair, which is just a rotating chair. The hard cases fly every morning and spin in the chair until they puke every afternoon. You could basically do the same thing to yourself with a rotating office chair. I would only use this method, though, IF ALL ELSE FAILS. It is really unpleasant from everyone I've talked to who has tried it. But it does cure about 99% of people with motion sickness.

The 1% who never get cured are generally people with extremely weak stomachs, who get motion sick frequently in other aspects of their lives (like driving in cars) also. If you've not had problems with motion sickness throughout your life, this probably isn't you.

So relax, you'll get over it.
 
TheOneMarine said:
Yea, the Orlando, FL heat and humidity aren't helping my cause. Where can I get a relief band and for how much?

I think you can get it from avweb or sporties for ~$90. Expensive but extremely effective and it won't knock you out like dramamine (or whatever the drug is).
 
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