almost got sick

simtech

simtech

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Simtech
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Im in a 10 day program in texas. Yesterday was my first flight. Very windy and an airmet tango was in effect for moderate turbulence. After unusual attitudes under the hood I started to feel sick. The turbulence was awful and I had to scrub the rest of the flight. I really hope I get used to this!
 
simtech said:
Im in a 10 day program in texas. Yesterday was my first flight. Very windy and an airmet tango was in effect for moderate turbulence. After unusual attitudes under the hood I started to feel sick. The turbulence was awful and I had to scrub the rest of the flight. I really hope I get used to this!
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A) You will
B) I got a little sick during some of my unusual attitude training too. I got better as I did more of it.
C) Putting my head down during attitude entry made it worse for me. Would it be better if you kept your head upright and closed your eyes during unusual attitude entry?
D) Ginger pills, ginger snacks, seasickness wristbands
 
Hang in there. The under the hood thing will do it with turbulance. Next one will be better. Your mind gets use to it after a couple of exposures.
 
I've only made a CFI sick once on a similar (hot, bumpy day) doing repeated chandelles, stalls & ground maneuvers. :vomit: :D
 
Stick with it ,always give the instructor a heads up on how you feel. Working under the hood gets better with time. Some of your illness is probably due to anxiety.
 
The part of unusual attitudes when you can't see the instruments (or outside) is a bit upsetting to some. The longer the instructor has me with my head down/eyes closed the worse I feel. It dissapates quickly when I
can see the instruments again.
 
mtuomi said:
Oh come on...
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I think they're complete BS, but they work for some people. I suspect they give the wearer something to focus on, but that's just my theory. My son has been using them for months now and hasn't been sick since I started that and ginger pills. It might be completely in his head, but that's where his sickness starts too, so something is working!
 
Don't doubt the effectiveness of the psychosomatic effect.
 
simtech said:
Im in a 10 day program in texas. Yesterday was my first flight. Very windy and an airmet tango was in effect for moderate turbulence. After unusual attitudes under the hood I started to feel sick. The turbulence was awful and I had to scrub the rest of the flight. I really hope I get used to this!
Click to expand...

OP, was this your first day in an accelerated IR course? If so, can we assume you've had a fair number of hours under the hood?

Personally, while I'm good at unusual attitudes, I hate them, and they do make me feel nauseous. I don't try to be brave; if I feel like crap, we knock it off, turn the vent on my face, and fly straight and level with the hood off. Works every time. Good luck.
 
ChrisK said:
A) You will
B) I got a little sick during some of my unusual attitude training too. I got better as I did more of it.
C) Putting my head down during attitude entry made it worse for me. Would it be better if you kept your head upright and closed your eyes during unusual attitude entry?
D) Ginger pills, ginger snacks, seasickness wristbands
Click to expand...

Chris has a good point. When I was getting my instrument ticket (20 years ago) putting my head down would guarantee sickness. After a while I learned to keep my head straight and it helped tremendously. Regardless, you'll get used to it eventually. Stick with it.


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Crystallized/Candied Ginger in the spice dept or from Penzey's works nice too.
 
Thanks everyone. I did get me some ginger snacks as those are my favorite. It was my second day first flight. Yesterday I was fine flying but no unusual attitudes. I think it will take some time to get used to being under the hood for hours! I used foggles yesterday and liked them WAY better than the hood.

Now my problem lies with being messy in the cockpit and when being task saturated I can't hold altitude or heading to save my life. I mean really??? In VFR I can why is this any different? In the sim I fly great in the plane not so much. I passed my stage 1 check yesterday in the sim and heading and alt were spot on...the plane.......:mad:
 
I hope you won't mind some advice from an almost-finished instrument student =) I have had three good instructors along the way. I take no personal credit for any of this.
simtech said:
Thanks everyone. I did get me some ginger snacks as those are my favorite. It was my second day first flight. Yesterday I was fine flying but no unusual attitudes. I think it will take some time to get used to being under the hood for hours! I used foggles yesterday and liked them WAY better than the hood.
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I use Vibans (http://www.viban.com/). Love them, but I wear glasses, which make foggles impractical for me.

simtech said:
Now my problem lies with being messy in the cockpit and when being task saturated I can't hold altitude or heading to save my life. I mean really??? In VFR I can why is this any different? In the sim I fly great in the plane not so much. I passed my stage 1 check yesterday in the sim and heading and alt were spot on...the plane.......:mad:
Click to expand...
This sounds like standard bullcrap but it totally isn't. (1) Keep up your scan, (2) When you look down, in reasonably calm air, let go of the yoke, and (3) keep up your scan. Did I mention keeping up your scan? =D If I am not holding heading and altitude, it is probably because I'm fixating.

Also, learn to fly with your feet. Make heading corrections without touching the yoke. Unless there are turbulence induced roll upsets (and sometimes even when these occur but are relatively minor) you can fly hands off if trimmed. This lets you know that you ARE properly trimmed, lets you focus on the panel a bit without being distracted by the yoke, is much easier to make minor heading changes, and will keep your ride a lot smoother for you and your passengers (eventually). Remember that making minor corrections with the rudder means you are actually rolling the aircraft too. You don't need ailerons to roll!

In closing, keep up your scan. It is my understanding having flown with some experienced instrument pilots that even THEY get fixated once in a while.
 
ChrisK said:
I hope you won't mind some advice from an almost-finished instrument student =) I have had three good instructors along the way. I take no personal credit for any of this.

I use Vibans (http://www.viban.com/). Love them, but I wear glasses, which make foggles impractical for me.

This sounds like standard bullcrap but it totally isn't. (1) Keep up your scan, (2) When you look down, in reasonably calm air, let go of the yoke, and (3) keep up your scan. Did I mention keeping up your scan? =D If I am not holding heading and altitude, it is probably because I'm fixating.

Also, learn to fly with your feet. Make heading corrections without touching the yoke. Unless there are turbulence induced roll upsets (and sometimes even when these occur but are relatively minor) you can fly hands off if trimmed. This lets you know that you ARE properly trimmed, lets you focus on the panel a bit without being distracted by the yoke, is much easier to make minor heading changes, and will keep your ride a lot smoother for you and your passengers (eventually). Remember that making minor corrections with the rudder means you are actually rolling the aircraft too. You don't need ailerons to roll!

In closing, keep up your scan. It is my understanding having flown with some experienced instrument pilots that even THEY get fixated once in a while.
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I don't mind the advice at all, I welcome it! Yeah I fixate on the ai and alt to much and it doesn't help since this training I have developed a death grip on the yoke. I normally fly with finger tips. So today I'm gonna relax, try to get my trim down as it's been bumpy, and go light and use the feet more when hands off. I was getting so discouraged yesterday but today is a new day.
 
simtech said:
Im in a 10 day program in texas. Yesterday was my first flight. Very windy and an airmet tango was in effect for moderate turbulence. After unusual attitudes under the hood I started to feel sick. The turbulence was awful and I had to scrub the rest of the flight. I really hope I get used to this!
Click to expand...

Are you at Redbird?
 
One morning I was flying under the hood, and the sun hit it just so that I got the sudden feeling of turning sharply - I took it off, landed, and called it a day - never had a problem in 30 hours of actual (never even got the leans) but that hood made me feel yucky and claustrophobic. I only flew at night from then on out.
 
ChrisK said:
I think they're complete BS, but they work for some people. I suspect they give the wearer something to focus on, but that's just my theory. My son has been using them for months now and hasn't been sick since I started that and ginger pills. It might be completely in his head, but that's where his sickness starts too, so something is working!
Click to expand...

I can't think of a reason why they should work, but they do. Based on nothing but my own observations over the years, they also seem to work best when placed on the person before the flight / trip, oriented with the little bump over the median nerve (basically, in the center of the wrist on the palm side).

They also seem to work even for people who are skeptical. So who knows... maybe there may be some physiological thing going on, or maybe it's all psychological. I really have no idea. But for whatever reason, they do seem to work.

Ginger in any form at all also works, but at least we know there's some biochemical activity going on there. The wrist traps, to me at least, are a mystery.

Maybe one of the docs here has some insight about it -- maybe there's some connection between the median never and the vestibular system, or maybe the slight pressure provides some sort of proprioceptive input that helps maintain equilibrium. Whatever the case, I no longer scoff at the silly things. The consistency of effectiveness has been too convincing.

-Rich
 
The wrist bands are simply a form of acupressure. The Chinese have been using this therapy for hundreds of years. I used them when I started IFR training and they worked for me. I don't believe it's simply a placebo.
 
This stuff works 100% for me. I had times early on that I was feeling sick during my training. My instructor told me about these. I still use them if its going to be bumpy or if I know I will be doing maneuvers. Heck, I keep them with me for passengers now too. Just the other day my bud was feeling a little motion sickness and he took 2 of these and started feeling better. Just make sure its non-drowsy. These are basically ginger pills.

I last bought some at a Walgreens. I'm sure most pharmacy's have them.

Good luck. Stick with it! :D

NAUZENE NON-DROWSY MOTION
1759950L.jpg
 
asgcpa said:
Are you at Redbird?
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Nope, american flyers. Got my stage 2 tomorrow and check ride monday. But I have a feeling weather will prevent that. I hope not though.

I have not been sick since that one time. Thank goodness!
 
I got queasy the first time I did S turns and turns about a point. Not real bad with S turns but turns about a point set me off. When I was in control I was fine it was only when my CFI was flying. It was a hot day and no cool air at 800-1000' was the main culprit. Empty stomach too. Did them again the other day and no issues. Ginger helps me more than anything.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk
 
The point of unusual attitude training is to disorient the student.
 
95% of pilots get over being airsick. I'm in the 5%. Along with Richard Bong.

I have one of those electro-shock wristbands that they advertise on AvWeb. It's kind of a distraction I guess, I haven't worn it in a couple of years. None of the pills ever did anything for me.

After 40 years I've just accepted that occasional queasiness is just part of the experience.
 
48dodge said:
I got queasy the first time I did S turns and turns about a point. Not real bad with S turns but turns about a point set me off. When I was in control I was fine it was only when my CFI was flying. It was a hot day and no cool air at 800-1000' was the main culprit. Empty stomach too. Did them again the other day and no issues. Ginger helps me more than anything.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Empty stomach is the primary culprit for me. I always make sure to eat something 30-60 minutes before a flight. The only two times I felt queasy were 1) unusual attitudes under the hood and 2) low level, bouncy flying in Florida summer. Both instances were on an empty stomach. Doesn't bother me now that I am sure to eat something before a flight.
 
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