Eair Pain / Pressure Relief

When children are that age, their eustachian tubes are more vertical than those of an adult. This results in more ear infections.

I am glad she got past it as she did.
 
I think it's the other way around, with kids having the shorter and more horizontally oriented tubes, hence less effective protection of the middle ear.

MBDiagMan said:
When children are that age, their eustachian tubes are more vertical than those of an adult. This results in more ear infections.

I am glad she got past it as she did.
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IIRC from my Air Force altitude chamber rides, the pressure changes from 5K to the ground are the worst. Afrin squirts before the descent can help assuming the Afrin is given enough time. Don't want to use it before takeoff, though--it's there to get you down, not to get you in the air.


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TCABM said:
IIRC from my Air Force altitude chamber rides, the pressure changes from 5K to the ground are the worst. Afrin squirts before the descent can help assuming the Afrin is given enough time. Don't want to use it before takeoff, though--it's there to get you down, not to get you in the air.


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Just don't get hooked on the stuff.
 
That is correct. I've taken two shots in 18+ years.


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SixPapaCharlie said:
Took our first family flight in the new plane yesterday and It couldn't have been more perfect.

Until we started our descent back home

It was night, ATC was busy, There was a 150 hobbling back on one magnito and my little girl starts screaming. I mean she was in major pain.
I am struggling to not be a dad at this point and just be PIC (That is hard) I wanted to climb back up, hold her hand, and tell her sweet things but I hit the iso switch to put her on ignore.

I could hear her screaming still just in the plane as we got lower and lower on final. You just want to reach back and hold their hand or something.

She is at this point too young to understand a valasalva. We tried but she just held her nose and blew air out her mouth (which was funny. I mean "hold your nose and blow"... She did.) We gave her gum thinking swallowing would help but no dice there.

I know she was having sinus issues earlier in the day but it has been years since I have had that experience. I recall having major ear pain as a kid but that was on SWA so we are talking what 8k feet pressurized?

Last night we were 5500 descending to ~1000 field elevation. She is not a drama queen so I know she must have really been hurting.


Any tips for little ears on planes?



On the flight out she slept so it was pleasant. Gave big brother a chance to have some fun w/ the selfie too.

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Oh holy **** please don't tell me you are serious. Climb 500' as fast as you can at that pain level and keep climbing at Vy till the pain goes away, then limit descent to 200fpm and hold if required to allow to clear.

Get a tub of Vick's to keep in the plane.

If I had been your daughter I would have been strangling you with your headset cord if you did that to me, seriously, I would have killed you and took it up from the back seat, that is a ****ed up thing to do to someone.

ATC is never a problem, tell them you have someone with ear problems and they will let you do whatever you need.
 
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Henning said:
Oh holy **** please don't tell me you are serious. Climb 500' as fast as you can at that pain level and keep climbing at Vy till the pain goes away, then limit descent to 200fpm and hold if required to allow to clear.
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Yeah, that was kind of my reaction too... my posted response was a little more muted, maybe too muted.

Bottom line is -- DON'T do this to your child, or anyone else for that matter. The only justifiable reason to do it is if you're on fire or out of gas, and you shouldn't be in either position (out of gas, at least, is no excuse).
 
If she can't equalize the pressure at all, does descending more slowly actually do much for her? Wouldn't the pressure still build? Honest question.
 
You owe her an apology and a promise to never do it agin. You have just made a huge inroads to creating a reluctant flier. You need to square it away with her and make sure she tells you before it gets to screaming pain. Like I said, a tub of Vick's in the plane and the problem usually clears in a couple of minutes and you can continue down. If it doesn't, it's 200fpm to threshold of pain and hold.
 
lighten up Francisco....do you really think he meant harm to his daughter?:rolleyes2:
 
asechrest said:
If she can't equalize the pressure at all, does descending more slowly actually do much for her? Wouldn't the pressure still build? Honest question.
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Yes, if it will not clear at all, you have to stop descent until you clear it. Typically, if you can keep the descent to <200fpm, even a pretty congested person will be able to pass that through their eustacian tubes by wiggling their jaw and doing the blow and go. Also advising people before you start descent so they can pre charge a hold and blow, that is effective at increase the discharge rate.

Anybody ever screams in pain during a change in altitude though, that calls for an instant reversal under emergency authority, you would not be dinged if you had to declare for it.
 
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Checkout_my_Six said:
lighten up Francisco....do you really think he meant harm to his daughter?:rolleyes2:
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No, he did it by consciously denying his instincts and conscience, that makes it worse! I'm not judging him on it, but no, I will not lighten up, what he did is inexcusable and he needs to make it right with his daughter if he has hopes of enjoying family vacations in the plane.

Saying anything else is not doing him any favors. We all **** up, and I'm calling him on this one. It's not a personal dig, but it is a big **** up not only as a parent but as a pilot, he did not put the welfare of the f his passengers first, very likely the biggest he has made as a parent and pilot to date.

I don't expect he will repeat it.
 
Henning said:
Oh holy **** please don't tell me you are serious. Climb 500' as fast as you can at that pain level and keep climbing at Vy till the pain goes away, then limit descent to 200fpm and hold if required to allow to clear.

Get a tub of Vick's to keep in the plane.

If I had been your daughter I would have been strangling you with your headset cord if you did that to me, seriously, I would have killed you and took it up from the back seat, that is a ****ed up thing to do to someone.

ATC is never a problem, tell them you have someone with ear problems and they will let you do whatever you need.
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Yep. That is almost exactly what I was going to say. Only bingo fuel would have intervened.
 
Or, knowing 6PC, it happened nothing like he said it did, and he suckered you all hook, line, and sinker.

A picture of gas cans stored next to a water heater ring a bell?
 
That's a lot of flak for something I didn't know. Hence posing the thread as a question inferring I was unsure what to do.

EdFred, thinks for the Get out of Jail free card but I don't need it.

Henning, If I recall, you don't have children, and you certainly don't have mine.
Whether I made a good call or a bad call, doesn't matter at this point. What matters is I know how to handle it next time. And of course I explained to her what the pain was after and explained that next time we fly we will have her do some of the same self checks that daddy does. I also stated that if they don't want to fly, they don't have to. Neither of them have ever been particularly fond of it. No fear, just that they both find it boring.

Anything you think I should have done or need to do to make it it right, "square it away", etc between me and my daughter is moot as it not your field of expertise.
I am sure you raised orphans in Guyana and have nieces that call you pops and you may have a whole village of pigmeys you saved from devastation and raised as your own. And while I really do appreciate the piloting advice and I will certainly take it to heart, you know what you can do with the parenting advice.
You can't scratch the surface of all the things I do to make it right with my daughter after I caused her pain.
NONE of it has anything to do with whether or not she is a reluctant flyer in the future either. That part isn't about flying.

And for the record, I doubt this was my worst mistake as a pilot.
 
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Let us not forget, Six is the man who sacrificed his thumb in the pursuit of Yuletide micro-aviation, AKA trampoline. His opposable thumb, the thing that makes him human, separating him from the animals and primordial ooze, and facilitates texting. Seriously though, he has a long track record on this board of being a very solicitous dad (and uxorious to boot). The aviation advice is all great, but the harsh parenting criticism is gratuitous. Kids scream for all kinds of reasons, some of which call for getting down fast, not slow. Good job keeping your wits about you, Bryan. Those screams can be unnerving. [end of rant]
 
Don't take it personal Bryan. Saying that you shouldn't keep descending when a pax ears are hurting due to the descent is not "parenting" advice.

I know that you are probably 10 times the Dad that I could ever be and it shows in almost all of your posts. But even if you didn't know what to do at the time, I just felt really bad for your little girl going through pain like that while knowing what could have alleviated it.

SixPapaCharlie said:
That's a lot of flak for something I didn't know. Hence posing the thread as a question inferring I was unsure what to do.

EdFred, thinks for the Get out of Jail free card but I don't need it.

Henning, If I recall, you don't have children, and you certainly don't have mine.
Whether I made a good call or a bad call, doesn't matter at this point. What matters is I know how to handle it next time. And of course I explained to her what the pain was after and explained that next time we fly we will have her do some of the same self checks that daddy does. I also stated that if they don't want to fly, they don't have to. Neither of them have ever been particularly fond of it. No fear, just that they both find it boring.

Anything you think I should have done or need to do to make it it right, "square it away", etc between me and my daughter is moot as it not your field of expertise.
I am sure you raised orphans in Guyana and have nieces that call you pops and you may have a whole village of pigmeys you saved from devastation and raised as your own. And while I really do appreciate the piloting advice and I will certainly take it to heart, you know what you can do with the parenting advice.
You can't scratch the surface of all the things I do to make it right with my daughter after I caused her pain.
NONE of it has anything to do with whether or not she is a reluctant flyer in the future either. That part isn't about flying.

And for the record, I doubt this was my worst mistake as a pilot.
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don't let him off so easy, he hasn't posted a pic of boobs all day, I mean c'mon.
 
This is parenting advice and what got my panties in a wad

Henning said:
You owe her an apology and a promise to never do it agin.
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Henning said:
You need to square it away with her
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Henning said:
he did it by consciously denying his instincts and conscience, that makes it worse! ...what he did is inexcusable and he needs to make it right with his daughter
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Henning said:
it is a big **** up not only as a parent but as a pilot
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As if piloting trumps parenting ...



Henning said:
very likely the biggest he has made as a parent and pilot to date.
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^ That's some serious s**t right there from someone with no kids (or even someone w/ kids).

It's out of line. period.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
This is parenting advice and what got my panties in a wad


As if piloting trumps parenting ...


^ That's some serious s**t right there from someone with no kids (or even someone w/ kids).

It's out of line. period.
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Uh, I missed that post.

I agree that you could have handled the situation better, but I also feel that you are a wonderful Father and your daughter is lucky to have you. And I'm sure she knows it. Of course, this is coming from someone with no kids though.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
This is parenting advice and what got my panties in a wad



As if piloting trumps parenting ...



^ That's some serious s**t right there from someone with no kids (or even someone w/ kids).

It's out of line. period.
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Look at it this way: You got into a situation you had never been in, handled it the best way you knew how, and asked how to handle it better if it ever happens again.

Take the emotion out of these responses and understand that others may have also made the same mistakes/decisions, learned their own lessons, and are trying to pass along how serious they think something like this is.

One thing a CFI told me: If you do something, and something bad happens, undo what you just did. You descended, her ears hurt, so undo what you just did. That's not what you asked about, though, you asked about clearing her ears. Some of us were trying to help with the question you asked, at least one of us commented on your decision to continue to descend. Either way, there are valuable lessons here for all of us.
 
some gum never hurts. I kinda taught my kid the hold your nose and blow one time when it bothered him pretty bad. Thankfully, it worked.

That's the method I use. I logged quite a few carrier TO/Landings back in the day in the back of a C2 so was no stranger to figuring out ways to equalize the pressure in various conditions. That always worked for me...unless I was stopped up in which case there wasn't much to do and it just sucked.
 
As a man that suffers from sinus issues from time to time I feel her pain and sorry you had to go through that dad. Agree with the water I think that would help
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
This is parenting advice and what got my panties in a wad









As if piloting trumps parenting ...







^ That's some serious s**t right there from someone with no kids (or even someone w/ kids).

It's out of line. period.
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Your not new here Bryan....this is Henning....the greatest all knowing troll of the interweb universe. Henning walks on water and does not require any TP......disappointing the Charmin factory....(imagine if Charmin could get just 10% of that opinion??... GOLDMINE!!!)

You either feed the troll....or smile.....

I realize it's hard not to feed the troll after that reply.....but trust me...he's full....(of himself):yes:
 
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If causing his daughter some ear pain is the "biggest mistake" he makes as a parent, he'll be the luckiest father alive.
 
6PC, I'm taking your side on this. As a flying family also, we know that you can take your kids up 1000 times without problem and then that one flight happens where one has a bad experience. You can't predict that. **** happens. These pilots who are jacking you around are the same ones who also say they'll never have any type of incident flying because they _____.

We always pack some bottled water and gum. Those two things help greatly.

We were once on a commercial flight once where my daughter was in tears crying from the pain. She was really hurting bad. She never wanted to fly again. I suppose that pilot should have apologized and "made it right" with her, as well.
 
ahkahn said:
6PC, I'm taking your side on this. As a flying family also, we know that you can take your kids up 1000 times without problem and then that one flight happens where one has a bad experience. You can't predict that. **** happens. These pilots who are jacking you around are the same ones who also say they'll never have any type of incident flying because they _____.

We always pack some bottled water and gum. Those two things help greatly.

We were once on a commercial flight once where my daughter was in tears crying from the pain. She was really hurting bad. She never wanted to fly again. I suppose that pilot should have apologized and "made it right" with her, as well.
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He owed it to her it was the worst mistake he ever made.
 
Just noticed this...

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The guy is a little "out there" on some ideas, but I know he has his reasons. Some are to stimulate conversation and thought. I'm guessing that part of it is to tweak some attitudes, too, maybe that caught up to him?
 
:lol:

I'm amazed it took this long. He was an obvious troll.
 
narchee said:
I'm amazed it took this long. He was an obvious troll.
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It is a tough decision to make and I'm sure those responsible here didn't make that decision lightly. In another forum where I've been a front-line moderator and am now part of the next-level-up committee, we've only perma-banned two people. It's unfortunate but sometimes necessary for the good of the forum.
 
Henning said:
Since you're young I'll give you a piece of advice; when you limit thinking, you limit opportunity. Your attitude does not serve you well, and the way you project yourself is probably why you can't get a job. You don't even know me, and you believe you have earned the right to insult me. **** you you little inbred ****.
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Henning said:
Are you really just that stupid? Seriously? Holy ****, and they gave you a pilot's license? **** me dead.
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Henning said:
Gon**** yourself you retarded ****.
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Maybe stuff like this? He went way over the line in this thread as well.
 
Maybe so, but I will miss his crazy ideas and unorthodox opinions. I hope the moderators reconsider at some point.
 
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