Never skip the passenger briefing.

DaleB

DaleB

Final Approach
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DaleB
A couple of weeks ago I flew my 8 year old grandson down to drop him off with his dad and other grandparents. It was about an hour each way, and it allowed him to go to a friend's birthday party in the morning and go to the fair or whatever it was that evening. Good times.

Last weekend I gave his 6 year old brother his ride. We flew out to KOFK for lunch; it's about a 45 minute trip each way. The trip out went well, as did lunch. Then we loaded up and headed home. About 10 miles out he says he wants to go back down. He wants to land. Hmm. Sorry, buddy, no place to land right here. Then I look over... just as his entire lunch slowly redecorates the pax seat, harness, and his clothes. Awesome. Turned around, landed back at OFK and spent half an hour or so cleaning up him and the airplane enough to get back home. Not to get too descriptive, but thank God for the absorbency of French fries.

There was a hospital barf bag not more than six inches from him that would have saved him and me both a whole lot of unpleasantness. So why didn't he use it? Because some dummy got complacent and didn't tell him it was there, or how and when to use it. I've flown him and his brother before, their little cousins, and dozens of Young Eagles as well as numerous non-pilot adults. Nobody's ever barfed before, and it wasn't a particularly bumpy flight. Just a 6-year-old who sometimes gets motion sickness, which I didn't know. And why didn't I know that? Because I hadn't asked. Duh.

Lesson learned!! Never again. Everyone gets the full pax brief now. Here's how to unbuckle, here's when to unbuckle and when not to, here's the barf bags, here's when (BEFORE you need it!!) and how to use it. And everyone gets asked if they ever get motion sickness... ever. De-barfing the inside of a plane is not something I ever want to do again.
 
lol. Been there. Done that. Now we review where the bags are among a few other things.
 
Twice I've had backseat passengers yak in my cars; both tended toward car sickness, neither mentioned it. In the plane, I always asked; cleanup tends to make me need a bag!
 
Kenny Phillips said:
cleanup tends to make me need a bag!
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I have close to zero tolerance for dealing with that. I'm amazed that I managed to get the plane cleaned out without yakking all over it myself. There was a 15 kt or so wind and I stayed upwind... that helped.
 
Didn’t we just cover this topic not long ago? Seemed like the consensus was that passenger briefs are useless because the information tends to fly right over their head (pun intended).

I’m with you though, passenger briefs are very important, especially for first time flyers.
 
Bill Jennings said:
Gallon ziplocks, plenty, stuffed into the seat back pockets.
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Too much potential for missing. We have a couple of emesis bags from the hospital... I've picked up a few at the hospital but you can buy them on line cheap. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00839SNUE Two of them live in the pax side pocket, right next to their legs. Within easy reach, if only the passenger knows they're there and what they're for.
 
bnt83 said:
Where is a dog when you need one?
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Thanks.... I WAS eating breakfast until I read this.....:lol::lol:
th
 
I've had adults that couldn't find the barf bags that I showed them on the preflight brief. I've learned to assume that will always be the case.

While I still have them accessible to passengers, I always keep a couple within my reach, easily deployable. The couple of times I've needed them, it's been faster and more reliable for me to pull the bag and hand it to them already opened.
 
Don't forget briefing the "if all else fails" trick of pulling your shirt collar up over your nose. Will still make the passenger a huge mess, but should save most of the aircraft...
 
I carry a large trash bag in my nav bag, have for years. It opens really wide and in a pinch you can pull it over your head, headset, helmet, torso, etc. I’ve never used one but I’ve had several people ask for it. I always let them keep it afterwards.

Nauga,
hefty
 
nauga said:
I carry a large trash bag in my nav bag, have for years. It opens really wide and in a pinch you can pull it over your head, headset, helmet, torso, etc. I’ve never used one but I’ve had several people ask for it. I always let them keep it afterwards.

Nauga,
hefty
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You're such a caring, generous person . . . . .
 
Where the bags are..and the dramamine i keep in my bag for people that cant stomach a flight.
 
idahoflier said:
Don't forget briefing the "if all else fails" trick of pulling your shirt collar up over your nose. Will still make the passenger a huge mess, but should save most of the aircraft...
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At least require the t-shirt rule....

All first flyers that 'may' get motion sick.... I explain where the barf bag is and how/when to use it. If you barf, I'll barf, and then it could get interesting landing the plane. If all else fails I instruct pax to use their shirt as idahoflier mentioned.

So far, knock on wood, no pukesters
 
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:vomit:
Ryanb said:
Didn’t we just cover this topic not long ago? Seemed like the consensus was that passenger briefs are useless because the information tends to fly right over their head (pun intended).

I’m with you though, passenger briefs are very important, especially for first time flyers.
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Their briefs fly over their heads? LOL! Acrobatic Yakking! :rollercoaster: :vomit: :hairraise:
 
When getting ready to do a Young Eagle flight I always asked two questions, Do you get car sick and do you like roller coasters. Usually gave me a hint. Fortunately never had one puke in the plane having flown over two hundred Young Eagles.
 
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EppyGA said:
When getting ready to do a Young Eagle flight I always asked two questions, Do you get car sick and do you like roller coasters. Usually gave me a hint. Fortunately never had one puke in the plan having flown over two hundred Young Eagles.
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I hope you were at or above the regulation altitude when you flew over those Young'uns. That's always a good plan. Planning to puke is never a good plan.
 
Only puker I have ever had, I was giving a “fall color tour” to a couple friend of mine, we were circling their house and it was a bit bumpy, I noticed the guy setting passenger seat up front was white as a ghost, I said “we need to head back to airport bud” he says “I’m fine one more time around the house” and as we circle he pulls a ring out, turns to her,proposes and she barely had “yes” out before he had his face buried in the puke sack I had given him!

Made for a really romantic first engaged kiss! Lol.
 
For first time kids, I explain that they have to be a crew member sitting in the back, and that they are assigned and important job. I point out a screw in the ceiling and explain that if we go through a cloud water may drip from this screw. their job is to catch the water, So they ride with a large Tupperware container in their laps. No mention of motion sickness.
 
Huckster79 said:
Only puker I have ever had, I was giving a “fall color tour” to a couple friend of mine, we were circling their house and it was a bit bumpy, I noticed the guy setting passenger seat up front was white as a ghost, I said “we need to head back to airport bud” he says “I’m fine one more time around the house” and as we circle he pulls a ring out, turns to her,proposes and she barely had “yes” out before he had his face buried in the puke sack I had given him!

Made for a really romantic first engaged kiss! Lol.
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Wait, you might be on YouToob! :D
 
Where is the best place to keep the puke bag while proceeding to land?
 
Flying on a full stomach is not a great idea. For adults or kids. Few weeks ago my wife and I flew to visit one of her friends. She ate some sticky rice right before departure. I didn’t really think anything of it because she never had problems in the air. No, she didn’t huck in the plane but as soon as we landed she said she was going to. Thank goodness a ramp guy with a cart showed up.
 
Had that happen to me as a kid about 10 or 11, I made a nice mess on the right panel of my dads 337, on takeoff about 500' AGL. I don't remember why I got sick, as I had been flying with him since I was in diapers. But I clearly remember cleaning up my lunch from the panel, floor, seats, glareshield etc.
 
Took my fam from Ft Lauderdale to New Orleans Lakefront one winter on the way to Ruidoso, NM. Wife and 4 kids at that time. One of the fuel pumps on my Seneca II took a dump. Rented a car and drove to San Antonio, TX to make sure the trip was not a bust. Rented a LG Full Sized car, this being +/- 1988 it was a Chevy Caprice. Long story short, my the 12 yr old daughter, (now 40), performed voluminous projectile vomiting from the middle back seat position to cover the entire inner side of the windshield with hypermalodorous puke. Except of note, for the area shielded by the back of my head. Take home message: NEVER trust young children to handle motion sickness. They can’t help themselves. Either do not fly with them unless they are well-known/tried and tested or sit them in the front seat within arm reach and depend on your own reflexes to intervene with rapid puke bag deployment. OR......Rent the Airplane!
 
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