Motion Sickness Curable!! ??

[thisgoodone]

So, as an aspiring heli pilot, can anyone reassure me that as the Pilot in command it will be easier to deal with, or am I being too optimistic. I don't really get it too severely and it seems to take a while for it to kick in, but occasionally has left pretty hurtin' What can you experienced folk tell me about what seems to be a fairly opinionated topic, c'mon, you know you wanna
thanks

[North Shore]

Well, I dunno much about helis, but I find that my first few flights in the spring (steep turns, low-level turbulence, lots of turns on instruments etc..) tend to get me a little queasy. It goes away after the first few days, though..

Keep persevering would be my advice..

[sky's the limit]

When I first started looking at flying for a living the motion sickness thing was a problem. I thought I might not be able to do it full time, but after a few flights I made a realization: As long as my hands were on the controls, all was good... Call it what you will! My first few aerobatic flights were brutal, either puking or wishing I could puke and then being totally miserable for the rest of the day... but again, with more regular exposure life was good. As Northy says, each spring after a long layoff I have a few moments of queasiness on certain flights, especially long line work, but after that first day, maybe two, it's over.

As I've aged I've found the problem has all but disappeared.

stl

[KK7]

I'll chime in to say the same thing as the others. You will eventually get used to it.

I fly low level survey at around 500 feet AGL all day in hot, humid, turbulent environments. Plus I occasionally need to write stuff down and read stuff, which doesn't help. I was the kind of person who couldn't read in a car, and doing stalls and spirals made my stomach churn. Not only did I become an instructor with no problem with the air work, but I can read in moving vehicles. But it's an acclimatization thing. I work on rotation and my first flight or two after one or two months off I feel a little queasy, the next flight is better, the next flight it's gone. Your body get accustomed to the abuse and eventually gives up on trying to make you sick.

[thisgoodone]

Thanks, this is all reassuring, even the part about heli's being better, sorry fixies.
thanks again though

[cgzro]

What can you experienced folk tell me about what seems to be a fairly opinionated topic

You'll probably get over it no problem. My understanding is that its related to our eyes seeing one thing and our inner ear telling us something else. So you brain is getting confusing signals. Your brain will adapt fairly quickly.

Having a light meal and some sugar in you seems to help. Try bringing a sugary candy to suck on. Empty stomach is not a good idea.

Also if you are finding that 1 hr is too long, try a 30 minute lesson initially instead, if possible. For aerobatics no lesson should be over 30 minutes initially and I imagine more than 30 minutes initially in a chopper is not terribly productive either as you are in sensory overload pretty quickly.

I had the pleasure of flying a little R-22 not long ago and it was a riot, almost, but not quite as much fun as acro.

[sky's the limit]

I had the pleasure of flying a little R-22 not long ago and it was a riot, almost, but not quite as much fun as acro.

Haha, glad to hear you gave it a try... but I could reverse it on you: I like trying my hand at basic acro, but it's nothing like what I can do in a heli.... Give it a few thousand hrs! Lol

stl

[Deltawidget]

Worried about getting sick makes you feel more sick which makes you more worried which makes you more sick...

You'll get through it sooner or later. Ginger gravol assisted me a few times in earlier filghts, especially when I knew the air was a bit bumpy or we were doing stalls or steep turns. Don't worry, you're not a huge pu**y. A lot of pilots aren't born with stomachs of steel

Good luck!

[pitot]

I feel I have to chime in here as someone who suffered from this. I started training in the fall and so there was little turbulence, however come spring when I was doing my multi ifr trying to follow those instruments was bloody painful. There were a few times when I wasn't sure I was fit to land. What compounded it was as soon as I would make a mistake I would start to get nervous and boom I would feel worse and miss more and the funny part is i would then have to keep going around and around in that stupid hold lol. I went to the doctor and asked if there is anything that cold be done and he said yes.....quit! If you can believe that. After dropping 20g I told him that wasn't happening. You would think that a medical professional would know that it is something that you can over come. I bought something called sea bands and as crazy as it was it worked for me. Wore them for rest of training and with the odd exception of a swamping trip in the otter I never had to wear them again. I did feel queezy occasionally but I think anyone can get that feeling in the right type of turbulence. That was over 13 years ago now.

[The Mole]

I barfed something fierce, co-joeing on an S-58t. The heat, exhaust smell, going up an down the side of a hill like a raped ape. Not fun. It did take some time to get used too. If i'm at controls, no problem. I can only think of one time flying PIC that i almost barfed and that was picking seismic bags in the prairies during a snow storm. White fields in low viz. A few guys in company experienced the same thing, in those conditions. You do get used to it.

One company i know of, based hiring on if you puked. They would bring a few young recruits to a job site. Give them each a cycle logging. The one that didn't barf got the job. Most barfed. In the first 15-20 min...


Pro tip. Don't barf out a window, if you don't want to wear it.

[KAG]

I puked for my first 60 hours every other flight. They have ginger based gravol ( i used the real thing but found id sleep during class post flight) give that a try. After a few sick free flights start to cut the dosage to wein yourself off. Finally a can of ginger ail prior to your flight will be all youll need. Half of it is in your head and if you think your going to get sick you will.
It can be beat and once you do it's over.

[thisgoodone]

thank you everyone, this info puts my mind at ease

[sigmet77]

I've used bands that go on your wrist with a little ball that puts pressure in a certain location there. It may be a bunch of hooey but it worked for me and my wife for many days floating around Vancouver Island.

P.S. If you think you are going to puke check for sickness bags early in the trip, you can waste a good hat if you don't:(

['CauseTheCaravanCan]

I agree that the first fights in the spring (back from layoff) can upset your stomach a bit, but you soon desensitize all over again.
The length of the time airborne is a huge factor. Passengers that I fly who have been in airplanes most of their lives commuting on a 20-30 minute flight a couple times a week are fine. But take those same guys on a 1.5 hour flight, it's sometimes a very different story.
In 4 years at my old job, I never had anybody throw up, where the flights were 5-35 mins. long.
But, I've had half a dozen 1 baggers, and a couple of 3 baggers at this new gig, with legs in the 1 hour to 2 hour range.
More likely to reach your threshold on those flights I guess.

About heli's, the first chance I had to fly one I took it (a Bell 206), and coming from fixed wing where airspeed=life, the takeoff, and circuit felt pretty normal, it wasn't until we came to a stop about 50' off the trees and the airspeed dropped to zero the butterflies were crippling. Blarf. YOU HAVE CONTROL

Nobody wants to tell their grandkids (yah Gramps was gonna be a pilot once...)
Stick to It! You'll do great.

[tiggermoth]

I've used bands that go on your wrist with a little ball that puts pressure in a certain location there. It may be a bunch of hooey but it worked for me and my wife for many days floating around Vancouver Island.

I was slightly skeptical of those at first as well, but now I keep a set in my flight bag. I, just like most of the others can have some queasyiness if I haven't flown for a bit, so if I know it is going to be a problem, I throw on the bands. After an hour or two, they come off again because I have gotten used to flying again.

I would strongly recommend the wrist bands. My wife and I went on a trip a few years back when she was about 5 1/2 months pregnant with our twins. On the return flight that weather was crappy, and we were dodging around some thunderstorms, carefully picking our way back home through the bumps. She was wearing those bands and never even started to feel ill at all.

I had the opportunity to go for a ride in a Sukhoi 29 with Jerzy Strzyz (avcanada user Jerz) and I wore those bands. Came back with only a slight bubbling in my stomach, but not enough to even feel bad. Probably could have gone a few more manuevers even!!

My Dad went for a flight with me, and he had not flown in 25 years (he used to fly himself back in the 70's) and it was a bit rough and he started to feel a bit sick. As we headed back to the airport, he grabbed the bands from my bag and put them on. We ended up turning around and heading back out to the practice area to "play" some more because he felt better within a couple minutes.

[Carrier]

The ReliefBand Explorer Model RB-EL was most effective. It has been replaced by the Reletex.

http://www.aeromedix.com/aeromedix_arti ... index.html

[pitot]

The bands are called Sea Bands or at least the ones I used. They were blue, similar material to the 70 's athletic headbands and they had the white ball in the center. I thought they were a mental thing however it seems they have worked for quite a few people.

[2R]

When you get up in the morning stretch your hands as high as you can over your head.
Then touch your toes slowly at first right hand to left foot,any exercise that involves the spine should be started slowly,then left hand to right foot.Or as close to your toes as you can knees,ankles or as close as you can.
It is important to start slow and slowly increase the speed of touching your toes.Keep it in your comfort zone and increase the toe touching for about fifty sets .
This gentle simple exercise works like magic for those who suffer from motion sickness.
After about a month you will be ready for the bar stool graduating test.A game the old guys played when they where young in pilot bars frequented by pilots in training in Georgia,Florida and Alabama.
Placing your head on one shoulder have a friend spin the bar stool for about a minute ,before attempting to walk a straight line.
If you can walk a straight line have another beer and spin again until you puke or can no longer walk a straight line.

Instrument rated pilots can usually spin through a six beers before stumbling off the line.
Some non drinkers will not be able to keep the first beer down on the second spin.
The winner gets another beer