I found that even after 30 flying hours in a Cessna, my body still cannot tolerate practising stall, thus throwing up and dizziness follow up after the sorties. Is there any way I could prevent that?
$\begingroup$
$\endgroup$
8
-
$\begingroup$ It's that drop on stall that messes with the senses. One might be careful with eating before flying. Also, practicing stalls and recoveries do not necessarily involve a full blown stall, then having the nose hurtling towards earth, followed by the pull-out (putting >1 G on the stomach). With the Cessna 172, relaxing the elevator as soon as the nose drops is a much gentler recovery. (On buffet onset is even better!). Provided CG is correct, recovery can be that easy. Seek advice from a professional instructor. You may be making this more difficult than it needs to be. $\endgroup$– Robert DiGiovanniCommented Nov 25, 2022 at 20:26
-
7$\begingroup$ This seems like an opinion-based question. It is obviously possible since I never had that feeling ever when practicing stalls. But whether any one person having felt so can overcome that feeling can only be answered on a case-by-case basis. $\endgroup$– JimCommented Nov 25, 2022 at 23:56
-
$\begingroup$ Get travel chewing gum. Helped me a lot when I was routinely riding in ambulances sitting with my back in the driving direction and noting down patient data. $\endgroup$– MichaelCommented Nov 26, 2022 at 20:17
-
$\begingroup$ @Michael while this works, those have in the patient information that you shouldn't fly with them. $\endgroup$– HaukingerCommented Nov 27, 2022 at 11:57
-
$\begingroup$ I have found tensing up my stomach before some manoever helps. $\endgroup$– copper.hatCommented Nov 28, 2022 at 5:01
|
Show 3 more comments
4 Answers
$\begingroup$
$\endgroup$
4
Practice. That sounds dumb, but is true. The more you practice this, the more you get accustomed to this motion.
Some scientific backup: The most motion sickness inducing motion is a vertical oscillation of 0.2 Hz. The nearer you are at this frequency, the more motion sick you will get. Additionally, around 5.7% of military student pilots experience motion sickness during their first training flight. This figure drops to around 1.1% after their 10th training flight (though this might be biased, as military student pilots have an inherent interest not to be motion sick).
(Source: Page 2, Motion Sickness, by K.E. Money from 1970)
More on this topic in this question.
-
14$\begingroup$ Are there statistics as to how many USAF pilots who have a first training flight also have a 20th? (I'm wondering if there may also be some survivorship bias in that stat. But I have no idea what if any weed-out process the training has.) $\endgroup$– yshavitCommented Nov 27, 2022 at 4:34
-
1$\begingroup$ @yshavit I located the exact source, I updated my answer with the source from which I pulled the numbers. It furthermore states: "training is discontinued because of motion sickness in 5 % of student navigators [...] and in approximately 1 % of student pilots [...]. In one smaller sample of student pilots, 6.7 % ceased training because of motion sickness [...]. " Please note that this paper is from 1970 $\endgroup$– U_flowCommented Nov 28, 2022 at 10:27
-
1$\begingroup$ But again, bear in mind, that this is military training. Part of the (at least perceived) job description is to look tough. Therefore 1% of the pilots admitted to have aborted the flight training because of this. Additionally, I misquoted. The numbers above are given for the 10th training flight. I updated the text above. $\endgroup$– U_flowCommented Nov 28, 2022 at 12:41
-
$\begingroup$
$\endgroup$
6
It goes away after enough time. It's the same thing as acquiring "sea legs", getting over sea sickness on board a ship.
What can help is go ride on a park swing which, being repeated 0G events, can create sea/air sickness in a lot of people. This can help desensitize you to the motion sense/visual contradictions that generate the nausea and speed up the adaptation process.
If I spend enough time on a park swing, I'll still get a bit nauseous, and I've been flying since the mid 70s. And if the average pilot spent an hour doing aerobatics with an expert, most of them will be hurling their lunch before they're done. So don't give up yet.
-
1$\begingroup$ We should be honest here: Motion sickness does not necessarily subside ever. A considerable percentage of people do not become impervious to it. $\endgroup$– Jpe61Commented Nov 26, 2022 at 15:03
-
$\begingroup$ You need to find out one way or another, and do what you can to desensitizing yourself. If he doesn't get airsick in normal flying around in bumpy air, only during extreme maneuvers, that suggests a sensitivity that can be adapted to with exposure. Giving up prematurely isn't the answer. Some people that go into space puke quite a lot until they get their "space legs". $\endgroup$– John KCommented Nov 26, 2022 at 15:19
-
$\begingroup$ I'm not suggesting giving up, I'm just stating the facts. $\endgroup$– Jpe61Commented Nov 26, 2022 at 22:01
-
$\begingroup$ And some of us were born with it. Tire swing just spinning in a circle was my favorite. Being dizzy is fun if it doesn't give you nausea. I just can't go upside down; then it's all over. I grew up across the street from a park. I'd spend hours on the swings; the good ones that were like 20' high. Wrap the two outer ones on the support posts. Now you can do crazy spins on the middle one, at the tops of each arch. Someday I'll get to ride a centrifuge.... $\endgroup$– MazuraCommented Nov 26, 2022 at 23:00
-
$\begingroup$ If I spend enough time on a park swing, I'll start to feel high. IDK why my inner ear has anything to do with my serotonin uptake, but man, I sure love me some swinging. $\endgroup$– MazuraCommented Nov 26, 2022 at 23:13
$\begingroup$
$\endgroup$
2
I don’t want to be discouraging or negative, but some people are just not aeronautically adaptable.
I’m not saying you are or are not, just that while it is possible to lessen the discomfort with repetition, medication, and techniques such as looking at the horizon, extreme sensitivity may prove insurmountable. At some point besides rendering a normally enjoyable experience unpleasant, debilitating motion sickness (such as throwing up) can hinder performance and become a safety concern.
30 hours isn’t a lot, so keep trying and perhaps you can overcome it, but be realistic in evaluating your chances and reasons why you are choosing to do this.
Good luck!
answered Nov 25, 2022 at 17:09
-
4$\begingroup$ Well, don’t be too hard. Some of the best pilots in the world suffered from severe air sickness when they began flight training, including Bob Hoover and Chuck Yeager. $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 26, 2022 at 0:54
-
4$\begingroup$ For every Hoover and Yeager there are numerous pilots-to-be who never got accustomed to flying. $\endgroup$– Jpe61Commented Nov 26, 2022 at 15:06
$\begingroup$
$\endgroup$
1
This has indeed potential to be lot subjective, but my five cents ... (disclaimer: I have no first-hand experience of motion sickness myself, so following is more guessing what could be useful):
- Look out (all the time, ignore instruments), try to not lost outside references during whole motion and be constantly aware what is attitude of the airplane by visually tracking surrounding. Experiment with suitable point/direction too look in order to not get lost. Lifting your eyes up and keeping them at horizon while airplane nose drops could be a good starting point, at least if roof won't get in the way.
- Be the one who is actively flying and controlling the airplane all the time. Don't get you catch by surprise that "things happening by themself". You can try for example to hold airplane flying low speed at the edge of stall (which is good practice regardless) and then intentionally nudge it into full stall in the moment when you decide to (not waiting for it to happen by chance). Have a plan what exactly should happen then and try actively to fly the airplane so. (It is not so important how precise your flying will be in reality, the important part is that you are not only passively carried by events but (mentally) in control.)
-
4$\begingroup$ makes some sense. When I drive a car, I have noticed that when I expect car to decelerate dues to brakes but it doesn't (for example being on ice or gravel or in mud), then I feel slightly as if my stomach turns. So physical sensation is very much related to mental anticipation of what's going on. $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 27, 2022 at 13:44