vertigo and queasiness

[DBZ1999]

Hello,

 

Ive taken a few fixed wing lessons. 

 

I took a helicopter ride as a passenger recently.

 

Each time I feel uncomfortable and queasy. Sweaty.  Stomach churns.  

 

Am I destined to not learn to fly?  Will this pass?

 

I have no symptoms when flying commercial.  

[pmccarthy]

Google Bob Hoover and read or watch a video about the start of his flying. Arguably the worlds greatest pilot, he overcame a serious airsickness problem

[Student Pilot]

Give it some time, after a while you should start to relax. I suffered from airsickness when maneuvering, got used to it and have been flying for a while now. 

[440032]

It should pass. Open any air vents available.

Spent most of your time looking outside the aircraft, particularly at the horizon and the big picture. This is so you will see what you feel in the seat. Each bump etc.

If you spend too much time looking at instruments and in the cockpit, concentrating hard on sticking to a height or whatever, what you feel and what you will see is a mismatch. Glance at instruments, don't gaze at them endlessly.

[skippydiesel]

Yeah! I still feel queasy when a passenger (no control). No proles in 30 years when in the position of  PIC.

[APenNameAndThatA]

I used to even get sick on commercial flights and overcame it. I started off by playing games on my phone as a car passenger. That got me used to the decoupling of acceleration with visual input. It will stop you associating the airplane with feeling sick. Thrill rides at theme parks are another option. I spent 2.5 months going to Dreamworld to overcome my fear of stalls. I could help with airsickness too.   

[facthunter]

Anxiety may have a bit to do with it. Also if the pilot /student flys badly. Uncoordinated and rough.. Keep cool, open air vents and loosen ties etc Ginger can help a bit and where you look. Have your "Proper" seat belt tight. You don't want engine fumes in the cockpit. either. Nev

[APenNameAndThatA]

So, you definitely can overcome your airsickness.  

[cscotthendry]

Anxiety will exacerbate motion sickness in a car, boat or airplane. The ONLY way to overcome that anxiety is with familiarity, knowledge and confidence and all that comes from sticking with it.
When I started flying in trikes, I got a few frights which built up a lot of anxiety for me to the point I didn't like flying. Then I developed a phobia about losing control of the trike because of the control forces required for manuvering. So I switched to three axis flying. It still took a while to overcome my anxiety in turbulence and I still get a tiny bit of it if I haven't flown for a while (like months). BUT, it's mostly gone now.
It WILL take time to overcome the anxiety, so be patient. It gets easier every time and the more you fly. Trust me, the reward of being able to get up in the air and the magnificent views make it all worthwhile in the end.

[facthunter]

No I  didn't say I can overcome airsickness. What I tried to convey was a few ways of minimising it's effects.. When I'm actually doing the flying it's much reduced because you are busy and I've never actually been airsick under those circumstances. I do know that if someone really tried hard I'd lose my lunch eventually but that's not uncommon. The way the plane is flown has a lot to do with it..IF it's very rough for long enough most people will get a bit queasy..  Once it came on about 20 minutes after I'd parked the plane after  an extended period of solo aeros. (Just mild to medium nausea).  No different to what I've had on boats. I'd call it motion sickness, not necessarily airsickness.. I also worried if that would be a  stopper to flying when I hadn't filled many pages   in a log book. .I think we are all a bit the  same from comments so far. Nev

[spacesailor]

I believe  it was ' Kay Cottee or Jessica Watson ' that was extremely sea sick when ever she started a journey.

spacesailor

Edited July 24, 2021 by spacesailor
Spelling

[planedriver]

Don't worry too much DBZ1999.

When I first started taking lessons many moons ago, I felt exactly the same when the instructor did the take offs etc;

As soon as he said "you have control", I concentrated hard on what he told me to do allowing me to do the flying, and the problem went away.

You are not alone, and i'm certain it will go away with a bit more flying.

Much the same in my boat.

[Student Pilot]

On 23/07/2021 at 5:42 PM, facthunter said:Also if the pilot /student flys badly. Uncoordinated and rough..Nev

I am trying to do better.......

[Yenn]

I have not suffered air sickness, but I used to get seasick on a sailing boat. This only happened when I was on someone elses boat. I had years of skippering my own boat with no seasickness, but on other peoples the first couple of days would be nasty. Itb is in my opinion a mental attitude. Having to make decisions stops it from getting serious.

[Jerry_Atrick]

I was doing an aero lesson one day and it ended up with me feeling quite ill. When I landed, my instructor asked what I had eaten beforehand, which was nothing (it was about an 11am flight and I never ate breakfast at that stage of my life). He said next time, a light breakfast beforehand would probably fix it.. and it did.

 

There are many reasons it could be happening and many ways to minimise the effects. The US military had designed a form of sunglasses to beat it for their pilots, I recall.. Quick google can't find anything, but there is a French firm that now sell glasses designed to beat motion sickness, though no idea how good or otherwise they are: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/could-these-glasses-cure-your-motion-sickness-180969722/

 

Also not sure if they are legal for use in flight.

 

[Flightrite]

Motion sickness can be brought on by a stomach bug or such other anomalies in the body, get a proper check up first then tackle the other reasons.

I knew a sheila who used to drive Airbus's in my company & when it came to doing Sim sessions she was a nervous wreck, often becoming quite ill even before she got in the black box of fear, medically she was fine but mentally it was too much for her, after 1 year she quit, never flew again! Oh & she owned a 50ft yacht:-)