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Motion Sickness When New?


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Well I went to demo flight a CTLSi on Monday. I loved the plane. Just looking at it, it seems much taller and roomier than the Skycatcher. Looks really nice.

 

We had a lot of winds and the owner was iffy on going up.. but he seemed like it would be ok... And for the most part it was.. He demonstrated the A/P, let me take controls for awhile, and i really enjoyed it.

 

BUT.. I was feeling a bit lightheaded and a wee little bit queasy. Now, I know it was windy and that certainly didnt help, but I felt this way flying the Skycather as well.. So anyways, I didnt get sick sick but by the time we landed, I was sweaty, and really ready to get out of that plane..

 

Started having that feeling of "Is this really for me"... So I drove home, but had to pullover within 10 minutes, and found myself sleeping like a rock in a burger king parking lot of I95 for about 40 minutes... Drove home, relaxed, and felt fine again...

 

So I am curious as to how many of you experienced this. I talked to a close friend of mine who is a pilot and said he basically had the same issues. He bought one of those wrist bands (which I just ordered today) and told me NOT to give up - give it 10 hours in the air, with the band, and thinks i'll overcome it..

 

If you would, please share your experience as I am really curious, and I need a little encouragement!! Thanks gang

 

David

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If I get queasy it happens when I am a passenger in rough conditions, even sometimes when a student is gyrating all over the place. As soon as I am on the controls, it goes away.

 

Your test will be "does it happen when you are at the controls"? If so, you may have a problem to overcome.

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I have been like this a lot of time sin my life. I'm prone to motion sickness in air or on the water or in the back of a car. I can turn some pretty cool colors. Green mostly. :lol: If you are the pilot verses tha passenger you are less likely to get sick. If I know I'm going in rough air or on water or carnival rides I taker Merazine (cyclizine). One of the side affects listed is a little blurred vision, but I don't know of anyone that has happened to. It's from dilated pupils. It is over the counter and a little white pill. good for 6-8 hrs. I have tried everything over the years since I was a little kid. This works very well with little to know side affects. Once in a while a get a little more tired by the end of the day, but that's it. I have had others try this and they all seem to like it.

Motion sick comes from the hair follicles in the middle ear becoming hyper sensitive. This pill desensitizes them so you don't get an un-settled stomach, headache, sweaty and down right sick. All things like Dramamine does id help the upset stomach, but Bonine (meclizine)and Merazine and Atropine (ear patch) work on the middle ear to stop any symptoms. take the pill 1-1.5 hours before a flight and if you can be the pilot.

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ET,

I just started flight training in a CTSW in May, and for the first 3-4 flights I would experience some queasiness, and turns around a point seemed to set it off for me. I mentioned it to my instructor, and he said we'd do turns at a little higher altitude and that seemed to help. Each flight I would be less queasy, and it's now been 4-5 flights without any problems. The last lesson I started practicing turns around a point at lower altitudes and I haven't had any issue.

 

I was very worried at first and thought it'd be a major bummer to have to give up flying because of motion sickness, and after doing some googling learned most people can "grow" out of it (only 5-10% of people will experience "persistant" motion sickness). So while it is a concern, chances are you'll be fine.

 

Re: medication, even though we aren't required to have a medical, I don't think you can use any meds not on the FAA approved list prior to flight (http://www.leftseat.com/medcat1.htm). The only medication approved for motion sickness is ginger root (http://www.leftseat.com/ginger.htm). Conversely, if you can use meds not on the FAA approved list, be wary of anything that mentions drowsiness, or not driving while using the meds, because if there were an accident i'd guess you could get in trouble since you can get a DUI if driving using meds.

 

Good luck out there.

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I think every pilot does or will go through this. My time was through central Oregon getting broadsided by a mountain wave for 2 hours. I didn't get sick, but I knew if I so much as took a sip of Gatorade I would be. Stick it out. It's much easier if you're flying the airplane.

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Not to be Captain Bringdown, but the reality is, many people start training and never finish... around 80%! The reasons vary, but motion sickness/vertigo are one reason. Sometimes it's a mental uncertainty/anxiety brought on by the overwhelming realization of the responsibility associated with being a pilot.

Stick with it... try some of the motion-sickness remedies like these: http://health.howstu...on-sickness.htm

tim

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I am almost never prone to motion sickness, but my first training flight in the CTSW I got queasy enough that after four touch and goes I asked the instructor if we could park on the ramp for ten minutes. After that I was okay, and later flights have been fine. You probably just need to get your "sea legs" a bit. Many motion sickness meds will make you drowsy, so they are not appropriate if you acting as PIC...check the labels carefully. You are probably better off wearing "Sea-Bands" which stimulate known pressure points on your wrist to stop motion sickness. Sounds new-agey, but they really do work. Also focus outside the cockpit toward the horizon as much as possible; that provides the least apparent movement to the eye and will help also.

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I know of a guy when he sarted flying that says he couldn't fly for more than 15-20 minutes at a time. He worked throught it to later become an airshow pilot and factory test pilot. I'm lucky because I rarely have problems unless there are other factors involved. Tom

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The reason you get sick as a passenger and less so as the pilot is because your better understand the forces acting on your inner ear and your butt. As a pilot if you trim the nose up a small amount the forces created by the pitching moment make sense and don't bother you but your passenger misses it and the forces contribute to their queasiness.

 

When you yaw the obvious visual clue is the nose moving left or right and that is not an available clue in the CT so the passenger and even unaware pilot realizes yaw forces that they can't make sense out of and get sick. Keeping the ball centered goes a long way towards keeping your passenger from getting sick.

 

Why would you say that the CT is one of the most stable of all LSAs out there for wind turbulence? What do you mean exactly by stability for wind turbulence? I like the CTs tendency towards neutral stability, when I put the nose somewhere it wants to stay there, I never feel like I'm fighting the plane's tendency to return to a neutral

 

Is a CT really more stable than a Skycatcher?

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The CT is no more or less involved in motion sickness than any other plane.

 

 

 

My hangar mate Bill flies a Cesnna 208

300px-Cessna.208b.n208nj.arp.jpg (file photo)

 

We could meet in Bridgeport on a windy day and do a stability in wind turbulence test. I'm sure you will be persuaded.

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The Tecnam P92 and Sport Cruiser I trained in I would characterize as more stable than the CTSW. The P92 especially just didn't move or get squirrelly in any conditions, but then it is designed with more positive stablity. The CTSW because of the large tail surfaces and short coupling tends to want to 'wander' a bit, mostly in yaw. That's not bad, it just handles a bit differently...but I would not exactly call it rock stable. You can't have everything, snappy handling and super stability...everything is a trade off. The CT is a pretty great compromise overall, IMO.

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Some years ago the RAF did a study on motion sickness and found there there are a few people who seem genetically programmed never to get sick no matter what you do to them, unsuprisingly quite a proportion of the fast jet pilots fall into this category :)

 

For us mere mortals, I've found that the effect does reduce with age (possibly one of the few positives to being the wrong side of 60), as a child I would throw up a 2 mile bus ride into the city (I was very popular with bus drivers) and for years as a "young" adult I found travelling by sea a nightmare.

 

I think with regard to flying then apprehension can cause you to be much more susceptible, so as you fly more, train more and gain more experience that element of it tends to reduce. These days I never feel remotely queasy when P1, but very occasionally if I'm navigating and it's a tad bumpy then I still can feel uncomfortable but not to the point of actually seeing my breakfast again!

 

My advice? Try to relax and try NOT to think about it (but that's much easier said than done) ;)

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Why would you say that the CT is one of the most stable of all LSAs out there for wind turbulence? What do you mean exactly by stability for wind turbulence? I like the CTs tendency towards neutral stability, when I put the nose somewhere it wants to stay there, I never feel like I'm fighting the plane's tendency to return to a neutral

 

Is a CT really more stable than a Skycatcher?

 

I've flown in my friend's Sting Sport a couple of times. It has a yaw oscillation that's totally lacking in my CT. Don't know anything about a Skycatcher.

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Having put in a number of hours in both a Skycatcher and a CTLS, I would say that there is a bit more stability in the Skycatcher. Here are my guesses for the reason why - the rudder size makes yawing motion more noticeable, and the stabilator is a bit touchier than the Skycatcher. The third thing that has an effect is the visibility in the CT is much better which tends to make the motion more noticable.

Having said that, the difference is not much, but there is a difference in flying the two planes, the three obvious ones to me were: 1) the engine RPM from the O-200 to the Rotax took some getting used to, 2) the slipperyness of the CT makes it more of a concious effort to slow down (until you get accusomed to it), and, 3) altough the weight difference is not great, that concious effort to slow also brings momentum into play and unless you are paying attention you can run out of airspeed quickly on final.

I love my LS and don't feel there is really much comparison between it an the Skycatcher.Comfort, reliability, oil consumption, fuel consumption, steerable nosewheel, etc., etc. go to the CT.

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I wore wristbands during my check flight. I always have a Chuk-It bag in my foot locker. I am very prone to motion sickness and can't take too much stall practice. However, once I started flying on my own, I've been good so far (not perfect, but good).

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i went up today and i wore the wristband. i actually felt pretty good! its 94 today so it was hot. so i was sweating alot towards the end but that could have been the heat . We did a go around, then a touch and go. cfi was flying and i felt my worse then but it wasnt untolerable. after the touch and go he wanted me to land. hahaahha. wow that was a blast. good thing he was there!!

 

but i felt a little better at the controls.

 

i was coming in too high so he took over and slipped it down quite rapidly. i did the flare and pulled back wayyy too much. fun times. but i feel better about the motion sickness at least!!

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I listen to a podcast called "Skeptoid".

 

Coincidentally, there was a segment (the second, I think) about the wristbands in the latest episode, where Brian Dunning answers some student questions.

 

Listen here, if you like:

 

http://ec.libsyn.com/p/7/d/e/7de948db3d598aac/skeptoid-4369.mp3?d13a76d516d9dec20c3d276ce028ed5089ab1ce3dae902ea1d01cf8435d2c855c7bc&c_id=5823632

 

Probably worth a listen.

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Thanks Fast Eddie, I listened.. They are taking about the Sea Bank Acupuncture one. The one I use needs a prescription and does not work on acupuncture, but I hear your point loud and clear..I am honest enough to say that its entirely possible that the placebo effect happened on me and/or maybe I am acclimating.... But I felt better - So i'll be wearing it next week :)

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