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I have seen an exercise program on the internet that is supposed to cure motion sickness. I struggle with this from time to time, and can't even consider any aerobatic maneuver as a result. Is anyone familiar with any such thing, or can they recommend any methods for coping with motion sickness, outside of medication or devices?
Don't fly on an empty stomach, don't worry about getting sick, and fly often. If you want the experience, find a friend or better yet an experienced acro instructor, and focus on having fun and flying the maneuvers yourself. A good instructor will know when to knock-off, and can help you with where to look which helps a lot.
I find that ginger ale before a flight tends to help minimize the nausea associated with turbulence, etc. A light meal also tends to help but you want to stay away from massive or greasy meals or anything that tends to produce gas. Staying fully hydrated will also tend to help.
The one medication that might be an option for you is Zofran as I know some flight attendants who use it before flights in rough weather. It's non-sedating and works pretty well for them. I carry it with me when I fly as a passenger and there's any chance of rough weather. Talk to your local AME to see if it's OK per the FAA when flying as a pilot though.
As much as I hate to say it, some people just aren't cut out for aerobatics. I happen to be one of them because of my tendency to get sick (and a little scared) as soon as things get beyond the point of a stall or spin.
One thing we found when taking people for their first acro in the SF-260's, was to make sure that there was sufficient air flow in the cockpit and try to do the rides as early after sunrise or as late as possible prior to sunset. The air was the smoothest then and the indistinct horizon helped quite a bit. Also, being as smooth as possible in the manuevers and allowing a little settling after each helped. For those that had real problems, a description of what was going to be done on the next manuever and having them follow on the stick helped too. For those that got too queasy, an immediate return to straight and level flight with max airflow in the cockpit usually calmed things down.
It takes a bit of time for most people to acclimate to the sensations from acro. I know that if I were to go do some with a friend now, it wouldn't take long for me to have to stop and catchup.
Tex, I suggest you consult with a physician, preferrably one that understands your needs. Modern medicine has all kind of tricks to cope with motion sickness. Not really a one size fits all cure. Some motion sickness is not related to motion, so they need to figure out exactly what you're experiencing.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tex Sonex
I have indeed found that flying frequently makes it better, and if I'm really concerned about it, a couple of cheese crackers and a sip of drink before the flight is best. It's just that I'd like to be better than I am about it bothering me and it sure seems like I heard about routines airshow pilots did to keep them at the top of their game where motion sickness is concerned.... wondered what they did. That said, even Sean D. Tucker takes a break in his awesome show to let his innards re-settle into their correct locations!
Thanks all, for the responses, but still wondering about any exercises specific to the issue.... if there are such things.
Tex , make sure you do the flying; don't let some instructor or expert do a manuever "to show you how it is done" or you may be on the verge of sickness before you even get to your time to fly.
Any good instructor can tell you how to do a simple roll. Just make sure you go real high and wear a chute. It may be that you can only do one roll per flight, and then you must come down or fly level. So be it,maybe your tolerance will build up, maybe you can even try a loop. I'd avoid spins and any negative gs. But do know how to get out of a spin if needed.
I have read that Bob Hoover would get sick if he had to ride with another acro pilot.
I have a low level acro waiver, mostly I do rolls, no problem. But one day I decided to do two rolls in sucession without level out between and suddenly I was hit with big veritgo for a few seconds. I don't know whether I let it yaw or what, but I never did 2 in a row again.
I know it sounds like hokey patent medicine, but I found eating a little ginger removes almost all motion sickness if done 20 minutes before doing a tilt-a-whirl.
Make that ginger a ginger ale and mix with about 3 oz of Smirnoff and you'll never feel a thing!
I have never been really airsick, but have been seasick and it is awful.
Back in the 1800s a famous English lady went on a vacation to South Africa. The ship voyage was so rough and she was so miserable that she never went back to England, she spent the rest of her life in Africa, since without airplanes there was no other way to get home other than by ship.
Mark Twain said that seasickness is the worst disease of all; that the others can only kill you,but seasickness can make you wish you were dead.
Years ago a drug co was trying to develop a better anti nausea medicine than dramamine. The used "volunteer" cadets at the Corpus Christie naval air station. The put the men in a flat bottom boat and went out and anchored sideways to the waves. Then they came in an loaded them into the back seat of a plane and went up and did acro. I am not sure what the used to induce these guys to volunteer, but I guess some survived it.
Out of this came a drug, scopalamine hydrobromide, brand name Triptone. I used it to go on a sailboat and to go out on a boat to scuba dive. As for as I can tell it worked and did not make you drowsy; but I think there were some side effects and it was taken off the market. I still have one tube of it left, often wonder about trying it.
One word for you: otoliths. Pretty much one of the levels of Dante's hell so far as I am concerned.Quote:
Some motion sickness is not related to motion, so they need to figure out exactly what you're experiencing.
...or keep your pilot's license. ;)Quote:
Make that ginger a ginger ale and mix with about 3 oz of Smirnoff and you'll never feel a thing!
That's one more reason why I think Sean is packing a big brass pair: not only does he do the stuff he does in an airplane but he owns up to not being invincible when it comes to nausea.Quote:
That said, even Sean D. Tucker takes a break in his awesome show to let his innards re-settle into their correct locations
Some data points.
Fresh cool air is a big help in the cockpit when you are sweating through learning the mechanics of a new maneuver.
Flying acro yourself is easier than sitting next to the guy flying the acro. If you are going to do a roll or a loop, you instinctively set yourself for the acceleration as you start to move the stick and rudder. Your body anticipates. The guy not flying is always half a beat behind. Once upon a time, when I was trying to get my snap rolls to stop on heading I did 6 in a row with a CFI on board. He asked to stop for a while as he was getting airsick. The good news is my snaps are much better now.
From performing in some of the same shows as Sean Tucker, I can report that he is extremely professional and knows the limits of himself and his machine. I once saw Sean abort his act halfway through because some drops of oil appeared on his windscreen. Turned out that one of the upper hoses of the inverted system needed a little tightening. He gets credit for not trying to carry on with the state of the airplane less than 100%. And his son Eric is a good stick too by the way.
If you want to ease into something like acro and build up your tolerance for non-level flight, I suggest starting with wing-overs, lazy-8's and chandelles. You can do these in any airplane. You can start flying your lazy-8's to 15 degrees of bank and work up to 90. Easy to do in any airplane and you have to use smooth skills to make them fly well. Chandelles teach you about flying at the low speed end of the performance envelope. A lot of acro involves finessing slow speed flight in attitudes that you don't fly in the pattern. If you are not skilled at slow flight, the top of a loop can be a more exciting place.
Most of all, you have to want to learn the new skills enough to persist at pushing the limit of your comfort. You have to keep at it.
In about 1981 I was standing on the OSH flight line for the afternoon airshow and then World Aerobatic Champion Leo Loudenslager zoomed to airshow center and ripped off what looked to my novice eyes a perfect rolling 360 about 200' in the air. 360 degrees of turn while executing 4 continuous integrated rolls to the inside of the circle. I thought "Wow! I want to be able to do that." It took a lot of work and practice. I can do that. Thank you Leo.
Best of luck,
Wes
N78PS
That he does. I'd never heard that one before but I did hear him once make a wisecrack about "almost leaving my lunch in that last loop" when a kid asked him if he ever got dizzy. The kid's dad asked him "Are you serious?" and his reply was "It happens even to better pilots than myself".Quote:
From performing in some of the same shows as Sean Tucker, I can report that he is extremely professional and knows the limits of himself and his machine. I once saw Sean abort his act halfway through because some drops of oil appeared on his windscreen. Turned out that one of the upper hoses of the inverted system needed a little tightening. He gets credit for not trying to carry on with the state of the airplane less than 100%.
Anyone who does professional airshow aerobatics has my respect. I do everything I can to keep the aircraft dirty side down at all times unless it's during upset recovery training.
Like others I think the more you fly the better it gets, all the more so when you are handling the controls. Back in the day I could do anything, including the 'rudder triplet' & inverted spins. Now days I'm content with much less.
What is that precisely?Quote:
'rudder triplet'
The 'rudder triplet' was a maneuver done in advance jet training in the Navy. You pointed your T-2C ''Buckeye" straight up in the vertical. At a certain airspeed you went full rudder one way, then the other & then back to the other side. On the last full rudder deflection you held in full cross controls as your airspeed bled to zero. As you lost all airspeed on top the plane would tumble like a leaf blowing in the wind. After a period of time you neutralized controls, built airspeed & recovered.
The idea being to develop confidence in the ability to recover from out of control flight in any attitude. The T-2 was used because it was much more forgiving than most of the swept wing jets for this type of training.
Yes, I was pretty gung-ho back in the day. I can still handle bumps & all but these days I strive to give as smooth a ride as possible.
Interesting. I don't know if I would want to try that even with someone who has a lot of experience at it in the right seat. At the same time, it sounds kind of fun but it also sounds like something that would make me shout at my shoes (or the ceiling depending on which way gravity would carry vomit at that particular moment in time). That said, it does sound like a damn good way to train for upset recovery which is one area where most pilots (including myself) are severely deficient as opposed to where they probably should be.Quote:
The idea being to develop confidence in the ability to recover from out of control flight in any attitude. The T-2 was used because it was much more forgiving than most of the swept wing jets for this type of training
This is another reason why I look at Navy pilots with a healthy sense of respect. Not only are they kind of crazy to do night instrument landings on carriers, they have to endure things like the rudder triplet to just get the chance to try the "crazier" stuff.