Motion Sickness

T

tima414

Well-Known Member
Hi,

First post here, been lurking for about a month. I'm contemplating switching careers to aviation very seriously. I'm in my early 30's, married but no kids. We are quite stable financially so the cost of obtaining ratings is very doable. My story is a bit longer but for the sake of brevity I'll keep to that.

I went up yesterday morning for a discovery flight, I hadn't been flying in about 3 years. So we are cruising along at 2500' getting tossed around but I can see the horizon so no big deal. However, anytime I was in a turn and did a scan and brought my eyes to the horizon I was dizzy. There was a pretty strong smell of 100LL in the cockpit. Not really sure why that happened and I'm guessing it didn't help. I did end up asking to return to the airport about 10 minutes early.

Once we were straight and level for a few minutes I did feel better but it was till I was home (10 minute drive) and sat down for a bit that I felt totally better.

Have any of you overcome motion sickness and now fly without getting it? It's a pretty serious concern for me. I did schedule a lesson for Saturday to give it another go. Thanks all!
 
Took me my whole private until I wouldn't feel anything while flying. It will get better with every flight. Your body will adapt to the difference in what you are seeing and what your inner ear is feeling.

Remember that it's all mind over matter. After 276 hours, I can make my self feel sick with the flip of a switch. I can also make the feeling stop just as fast. All this done by me thinking about it or telling my self to stop. It's interesting and a cool experiment at times.
 
^ This is what I've been told. What I found interesting is it wasn't the bumpy ride but the instrument scan then back into the world that made my head spin. I'm glad to hear it took someone a while to get over it.
 
It's not unusual for the new sensations and movements encountered in flight to make one feel a little dizzy, light headed, or even sick. Most people seem to adapt to it within a few hours and its no longer an issue. I've known one persistent student who threw up on every lesson for his first 10+ hours... but he was bound and determined to become a pilot, and he did, and he got over the sickness.
 
Ive never once felt sick in an airplane thankfully.

Ive heard that taking ginger pills can help greatly with motion sickness.

and as moxiepilot said do it as a hobby. Take a good hard look around these forums before jumping into a career in aviation...
 
rframe said:
It's not unusual for the new sensations and movements encountered in flight to make one feel a little dizzy, light headed, or even sick. Most people seem to adapt to it within a few hours and its no longer an issue. I've known one persistent student who threw up on every lesson for his first 10+ hours... but he was bound and determined to become a pilot, and he did, and he got over the sickness.
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Not one of my students but a friends student, Puked every flight till around 120 hours. even did it on his PPL checkride.
 
Thanks for the thoughts on not flying for a living, however the job I am currently in doesn't earn me much money (commission based). I bet I made less than a 2nd year regional FO in 2012.
 
Welcome to JC.

This is very common especially during your initial training. What I found that helped was try flying early in the morning when the air is more stable. Also, try chewing Ginger gum. Ginger helps with motion sickness. If all fails, buy one of those electric wrist bands. Also, try flying more and get your body used to the feeling and after about 10 to 12 flights it should get better.

Before you full force with making flying a career, try and get soem more ratings especially your PPL and IFR so you can see how you like flying and if its something you like to do as a career.

Good luck.
 
skypilot6 said:
Not one of my students but a friends student, Puked every flight till around 120 hours. even did it on his PPL checkride.
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I have a friend who went through a career-oriented flight school and said one of his class mates was like that, she was so used to it she'd be sliding down an ILS, turn and puke in a bag, and complete the approach.... I think I would've found a new career ambition by that point... LOL.
 
tima414

Why was the CFI having you scan the instruments on an INTRO flight????

That kind of motion stickiness you'll get over. You just need to get acclimated. Your eyes, body and inner ear are all sending your brain conflicting information.

If you REALLY like flying. Take a few more lessons and look into buying an affordable airplane to train in, hire a CFI and have a blast! Check out Cessna 120s or 140s or a Bellanca 7ECA. All are affordable, fun to fly and better than any Cessna 172 or Cherokee a flight school will likely have.

If you already have a good paying job, do it for fun! You'll get to fly YOUR plane where you want when you want to. Go exploring, camping, fishing, fly-ins get a burger... Flying is a commitment you need to stay involved in, not like a marriage where people just give up when things get difficult (or one gets a flying job).
 
Unless you already have contacts to get a job flying corporate, charter, or cargo once you get your ratings, I would advise to just do flying as a hobby.

I don't know if you've put pen to paper yet on how much getting your PPL, Instrument, Multi, Commercial would cost, but I would sit down with a calculator and a beer and figure that up before deciding to leave your current job. Take that number and compare it to the starting pay of a regional airline or CFI'ing and see if that's what you REALLY want to do.


As far as getting sick goes. Like most others said, you'll get use to it. The main factor I believe in getting sick is whether YOU are in control of the aircraft or not. My coworkers and I noticed this especially on the 90+ degree days when it would be turbulent and bumpy. One of us would fly for awhile while the other would do the other duties, then we would switch because whoever wasn't flying would get sick. As long as you were the one that was flying and in control, you were less likely to get sick because YOU knew which way the airplane was about to turn and how hard you were going to turn it. The other fella was just along for the ride. We switched back and forth about every 15 minutes that day.


motion-sickness-watch-768255.jpg


When I was taking spin training and unusual attitude lessons in the Pitts I got sick EVERY time we went flying. I could only last about 45 minutes in the Pitts before we had to come back. I got one of these watches and I would like to believe it worked. I would start getting sick and I would turn that dude on #5 and it would seem to subside the motion sickness for awhile. I haven't been sick in a long while, and I haven't rode as a passenger in anybody else's Pitts in a long time either but I still have it.
 
You'll get used to it, but you had factors working against you: Inexperience, turbulence and avgas fumes. For Saturday's flight:

  • Understand that just about everyone has yakked in an airplane. No big deal.
  • Have the school identify the source of the fuel vapors, and if they can't be identified (leak, rag, fuel tester, GATS jar, soles of your shoes), request another aircraft.
  • Don't drink the night before, and have a small, simple breakfast that morning.
  • Make sure that you've got cabin air turned on and that all available vents are pointed your way.
  • Gum.
  • Take sips from a water bottle - it will keep your esophagus muscles moving liquid down, not up.
  • Buy a couple of SicSacs, make sure they're readily available, and have one open and tucked in your shirt pocket - knowing that it's right there sometimes helps minimize apprehension.
  • Request that you manipulate the flight controls while the CFI runs the checklists and operate the radios, keep climbs and descents within 500 fpm, and bank angles under 20 degrees.
  • Have fun.
 
Thanks again all! Tomokc that's for all the tips. I didn't drink the night before and had a granola bar and some water for breakfast. I live in the New England and we have had a mod. turbulence here for a while now (at least according to skyvector). Hopefully Saturday will be smooth.

As for the instructor having me do a scan, she didn't tell me do it, it came naturally from my previous few hours flying and growing up using flight simulators. I am going to keep the airplane cooler than we had yesterday. The wind chill yesterday morning was brutal.

I don't want to make this a career focused thread but my pay the last years has been about what a 1st-2nd year regional FO would be paid. So I am not taking a pay cut to go fly for a living that is for sure.
 
skypilot6 said:
Ive never once felt sick in an airplane thankfully.

Ive heard that taking ginger pills can help greatly with motion sickness.
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They do help with motion sickness...ALOT. I use them when I go fishing off of Long Island.

You can get them at GNC, Walmart for about $5 for a bottle of 100.
 
Okie_Pilot said:
motion-sickness-watch-768255.jpg


When I was taking spin training and unusual attitude lessons in the Pitts I got sick EVERY time we went flying. I could only last about 45 minutes in the Pitts before we had to come back. I got one of these watches and I would like to believe it worked. I would start getting sick and I would turn that dude on #5 and it would seem to subside the motion sickness for awhile. I haven't been sick in a long while, and I haven't rode as a passenger in anybody else's Pitts in a long time either but I still have it.
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My wife gets motion sick easily, cannot look down in a car, etc. I have only been able to take her for a couple rides in my airplane and then I fly with the lightest touch and late in the evening when all thermals are gone. The anxiety over getting sick is a real problem too. She also gets sick during airline travel. We are looking at some long international flights later this year and I've been meaning to start experimenting with aids including the acupressure wrist bands and bonine pills. I remember seeing the electronic bracelets and thinking they had to be a gimic but then saw they had a lot of very positive reviews... so I told her we should think about trying one. Now I see Sporty's doesn't even carry them anymore and it sounds like the company no longer makes the model in your photo above but now sells something similar for $150 that has a battery that wears out fairly quickly and cannot be replaced... stupid. Hopefully either the acupressure or pills will provide her with some relief.
 
rframe said:
The anxiety over getting sick is a real problem too. She also gets sick during airline travel. We are looking at some long international flights later this year and I've been meaning to start experimenting with aids including the acupressure wrist bands and bonine pills.
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The anxiety plays a major role in it. Being a 90 hour PPL with time mainly in the 150 and 172, putting a parachute on for the first time, then stepping over and shimmying down in the front cockpit of the Pitts that smelled like smoke oil, then proceeding to get the 5-point harness all strapped in and not being able to see anything out the front and the pure power of the Pitts for the first couple of times caused JUST A LITTLE anxiety.

I tried Dramamine pills the second time I went up in the Pitts since I got sick the first. I took the pills and went for a flight, went home and CRASHED hard. Those pills didn't like me and I was OUT for a couple of hours.
 
I have flown with hundreds of students over the years and very few who made the effort did not overcome some initial motion sickness. Resist the temptation to self medicate. The advice about staying on the controls (even when you feel queasy) is good advice. If the motion sickness persists, consult a physician to check for an actual reason - potential inner ear problem. I have had a student puke on a private checkride - he is now a regional airline captain.
 
I had a student that got queasy all through his private training. He used to carry a bag of small pretzels and a bottle of gatorade (or something similar) in his flight bag. When he'd feel bad, he'd down a few pretzels, take a few hits off the gatorade and get back to work. We often had to return to the airport early. He never barfed in the plane, and he finished his private training ahead of schedule even though we had to incomplete a lot of lessons. He just tried to fly everyday to make up for it. He also used to (or still does) get carsick. The pretzel/gatorade technique is what he did in the car.
 
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