Hey yall,

Ive just started my flight training, im loving it, and i cant seem to get enough.

However during both: my first flight with instructor, and during my 3rd flight with instructor (earlier today), I came very close to blowing chunks.

Im hoping this is a temporary thing that has to do with the psychology of the excitement of first time to fly in a small aircraft and then force a perfectly good flight attitude into stall, respectively.

Im not going to say im not scared at all, I am at times (especially during the spin stall today), but im forcing myself to go on anyway, fear nausea, whatever.
I know I have a great instructor, I know they are keeping good planes.

Im curious if this breaking out into a soaked sweat followed by heavy nausea is a common thing that just goes away after a while?

Thanks

Hi Texas,

I owned a Cessna 150 and a 182RG that both allowed high quantities of exhaust into the cabin during certain climb or descent conditions. I tolerated it well, but my wife would get sick quickly. Both were well maintained planes, but the exhaust stack on the 150 was short, and the RG had some small openings in the main gear storage wells that would bring the exhaust in. There are some small battery powered CO detectors that give a good digital reading of the levels, and I always fly with one now (had one bad experience where a three hour flight got me very punchy from CO).

Just a possibility...

Good luck with the training.

Bob

I have had students get sick at the beginning of training I shortened the time in the air, one only made 20 minute flights. Seems a little early to be doing stall and spins. Plenty of other stuff to do before stalls and spins. Everyone is different and I worked with them as required. All who had this problem got over it before solo.

I am curious if the air was super turbulent the days you developed the nausea and near vomiting. Also was it really warm or hot in the cabin? A combination of good ventilation and the cabin not being too warm can help. I would focus your eyes outside and on the horizon. Stalls can be difficult because you don't have a forward reference point but can use a wingtip reference when the nose goes above any forward reference. Some of the nausea could also be due to mild anxiety especially if there is some apprehension about doing some of the maneuvers. I prefer to have eaten something a couple hours before training because I think having your blood sugars stable makes for less nausea and better performance. Just recently having something to eat or flying on an empty stomach are both equally bad. Lastly, I have given some Zofran (a prescription sublingual medicine) to some passengers who get nausea before flying with some success. It shouldn't be on the bad list of FAA medical medicines. I know others swear by the wrist bands but I have never used one. I think with continued lessons, familiarity, and confidence your nausea will improve. Some of the symptoms might be due to an aging vestibular system. When I was younger I had no problem doing aerobatic maneuvers - today a couple of rolls and I am not feeling quite right. Same with hard turbulence.


Josh

When I first started flying I did have trouble with nausea. Feeling hot and nauseas was quite common, especially if I wasn't on the controls. It should go away.

I would do as previously mentioned and start out with shorter flights as you get more accustomed to it. See if your diet has anything to do with it as well.

You are the customer. Communicate your concern. Flying is a learn by doing thing. You should be on the controls most of the time. I have found what others have mentioned helps, but you driving based on his instruction is critical for both learning and feeling well.

I was never nauseas in flight training, but I soaked the pits of my shirt with some regularity. That's a pretty normal reaction to stress, and nausea might be for some people, too.

Sometimes nausea is a reaction to not having any tangible control over what your body is experiencing. I flew passenger on some warbird aerobatic routines, and when I started getting queasy the pilot would have me take the stick without controlling it, and that settled things in my stomach, even though he was still flying the airplane and continuing the routine. That trick might only work if you know what holding the stick should accomplish...don't know.

It's possible that working on more rudimentary flight maneuvers until you have a better feel for controlling the aircraft will help. As others have said, you're paying the bills, so YOU are in charge of what you do during any given day of training.

As a side note...stalls scared the hell out of me in flight training. I hated them...each an every one of them. I asked to do spins during primary training and was denied (it's hard on the gyros, which are expensive). Once I had my ticket I hired a different instructor in a J-3 to teach me spin recovery, and it was a revolution...er...revelation. The only reason stalls were scary is because I didn't understand how easy and fun spin-recovery was.

It took about ten minutes to learn spin recovery to a level that it didn't bother me, and in twenty minutes I could spin and recover to within 10 degrees of any compass heading called out by the instructor. I got a little Cub pin for doing a 14-revolution spin prior to pulling out...an instructor record which had a lot more to do with ridge lift prior to spinning than anything else.

I left the ramp elated, and pissed as hell that I hadn't been taught spin recovery prior to being taught stalls. It's a totally back-assward way of doing things. I would HIGHLY recommend that you (and anyone else) get spin recovery training early on in primary flight training, even though it's not part of the curriculum and you'll have to pay extra for it.

And not to be a downer, but not everyone is cut out to be a pilot. The flight environment doesn't agree with everyone, and I'm not sure how much choice any given person has over that. Not saying that's you by any means...just something to consider if you just can't get a handle on your nausea. Even if you suck it up and get a license, if you don't enjoy flying, you won't fly, so be realistic.

I think there are some flight-approved nausea meds that can help you adjust to the new sensations.

We had a guy (~150-200 hr pilot) start puking on flights. I’m not sure what it was, but the flight docs gave him a little patch he wore behind one ear. He had to wear them for a little while but not permanently, and didn’t have nausea issues any longer.

I get queasy in the plane once in a while if it's hot & bumpy, but I puke my guts out on boats in the ocean (Which makes folks extremely entertained since I own a rafting co. and have spent most of my life on water). The behind the ear patch works wonders. I have no idea if it's approved for flying, but it might be worth looking into. Probably not a long term solution though. I think Chuck Yeager got sick his first few flights...

Pete

The patch is not approved for use by pilots in flight. And by the way, those things will put you to sleep....

Try wrist bands, or the wrist bands with electrical stimulation. Or, just keep at it, and as others have suggested, let your instructor know what’s going on. Shorten flights, minimize maneuvering for a bit, etc, until your gyros stabilize.

MTV

The patch is not approved for use by pilots in flight. And by the way, those things will put you to sleep....

Try wrist bands, or the wrist bands with electrical stimulation. Or, just keep at it, and as others have suggested, let your instructor know what’s going on. Shorten flights, minimize maneuvering for a bit, etc, until your gyros stabilize.

MTV

Turns out FAA doesn't permit Zofran even though there are no sedating effects of this medication. My guess is the FAA feels if you need to take Zofran to fly your underlying medical condition of nausea, vomiting, and likely dehydration would preclude you from being airworthy to operate an airplane. Slight thread drift here but if you need to check a medicine for safety you can use the AOPA medication checker link below.

https://www.aopa.org/members/databases/ ... ion=search

Bonine (Meclizine) worked well for me during initial training. Didn’t need it after 15 or so hrs.

It does seem real early to be doing spin stalls.... I had about 30 hours when we did the first spin recovery - hand to land at the nearest airport and wait about 45 minutes before I was ok - and even then it was just straight flight back to the home airport. I also got nausea on my very first flight - was more of an introductory flight and instructor seemed to think doing a hammerhead would be cool (I took all my leason in a citabria, and no we had no chutes on!), I didn't loose it - but was a shade of green when we landed - was not cool. Anywho.. just let your instructor know that you want to hold off spins till you got your wings under you - don't let deter you. I think after about the 100th practiced stall (not spin) recoveries you will be able to handle the spins and will be bored out of your mind of doing stall's

I thought you guys might enjoy this :

I bought these:



Im not disappointed in the slightest that we are doing stalls right now (i feel an surely undeserved sense of pride that he feels stall recovery is what we are ready for), Altough i must say i do appreciate the support from you guys! That means alot to know that you guys stand up for each other like that!

(that being said i secretly hope and pray we never have to do stall recovery again....but Im happily ready if we must)

I wish i could tell you more about my instructor, but it is an honor to learn from him, from what i hear: he is going to be a wright brothers award recipient most likely here in the next several years.

I cannot believe I am lucky enough to have this highly sought after, heavily booked, more veteran complex instruction pilot, teach me how to fly from knowing absolutely nothing.

He's a genuine airman, Iv got more trust in him than i do that plane.

Ill bet many on here have heard of him.


The nausea, on the other hand, can take a hike.....i hope

The trick with the bag is to have it easily accessible but out of sight. It is good you have complete confidence in your instructor. To teach effectively, however, he must have confidence in you. To have confidence in you, he must have confidence in his ability to take you from where you are to where you desire to be. We instructors are generally hired for our teaching, not flying, ability. If asked to serve as a air show performer we should decline.

On the first instructional flights, I manipulated the controls maybe five minutes demonstrating and with takeoff and landing. Air sickness mitigation was part of the reasoning, but not all. We learn best by doing, grossly at first and finer as we progress by doing. Instructions should mostly talk, students should mostly fly.

I guess I've been pretty fortunate that I just don't get nauseous very easily. In the almost 47 years I've been flying, I've had a slight case of the greens twice, once after a series of 8s on pylons and once after a series of aerobatic maneuvers. In neither case did I hurl--just leveling the wings and flying straight and level took care of it.

But when I was instructing, I had one particularly sensitive student, a man in his 50s, who regularly puked during each lesson with his previous instructor. That instructor had had enough, and palmed Jack off on me. We quickly hit it off as friends, but he had a serious nausea problem. So we shortened his lessons to maximum 20 minutes for awhile. Then we started extending them, and pretty soon they were a typical 45-50 minutes long. But every time I'd introduce something new, he'd get pukey again, although I always made a point in our prep talk to make sure he knew what we were going to do--no surprises.

The first day I had him put the hood on was his last bout with nausea. He put on the hood, had it on for about 30 seconds, and suddenly yanked off the hood, pushed the seat back and said he was going to hurl. I yelled at him, told him he hadn't thrown up in the last 30 hours, and by God, he wasn't going to now--or he was going to clean this airplane and every other airplane on the line. I think he was surprised at my tone--I tended to be pretty gentle with students, but I was anything but gentle then. Well, he didn't hurl, we didn't end the lesson then, and suddenly he took the hood, put it back on, and we flew on. He never had a bout of nausea again, went on to be a fine pilot, and we remained good friends.

Just incidentally, he turned out to be a truly excellent navigator, too. On one occasion, I had him under the hood flying in the plains area some 20-25 miles east of Cheyenne where there aren't a lot of visible markers, giving him vectors here and there, when I told him to take off the hood, handed him the sectional, and said, "find where we are". Within only a few moments, about 3/4 of a wide circle, he had found our location.

Jack died about 3 years ago, and I miss him. He was a good man.

That was the old school way, though. Today, I'd suggest the electronic wrist band. My SO has a very tender tummy, and before we rented a trawler in the Northwest one year, I bought one for her--and it made all the difference. We got into some pretty rough water, and she never had a problem. It has several levels of jolts, and she did have to turn it up a couple of times, but that was all. And unlike most every anti-nausea medicine, it's accepted by the FAA. Several catalog companies have them, but I got mine from Aeromedix in Jackson, WY.

Cary

Iv got some good news guys,

next two lessons were sweat and nausea free.

....Im almost certain its psychological, being entirely unknowing of the limits of the aerodynamic capability of the plane, and the knowing that we are going to approach them.

I do hope that for the duration of flight dictation from examiners :

If and when asked to force a stall, im hoping an acceptable answer might be

"Sir or madam, if you dont mind, i so dislike stalls that I will make absolutely sure one does not happen under my watch....:"

then again, if i must:

I'll promptly do it and then whip out the hurl-bag.

Well, all I can add is don't give up. I had it bad during my training. Learned to fly with a bucket between my knees. Had more than one instructor suggest I take up golf, but I persisted. With time and experience, it will get easier to manage. Personally, I think the pills and bands are all placebos.

Even after 30 years of flying (ATP, CFII, etc.), I can still feel it occasionally if I'm heads-down too long, doing paperwork, under the hood in turbulence, etc. If I'm heads-up, eyes-out with my hands on the controls (as I should be) - I'm totally immune even in the worst heat and bumps. For me it's got something to do with being in control vs. being along for the ride, and I've heard much the same from others. Being a primary student is the worst - you tend to get fixated on the instruments and radios, the instructor is jinking the plane around - it's the perfect storm. Once you're PIC, I'll bet you have no problem.

C.

If it is anxiety-related and stalls make you feel anxious, the solution is to fly more stalls. Lots of them. And talk with your instructor about how airplane design is intended to make stalls safe. That should help alleviate the subconscious psychological concern.

Stalls are how we learn the edge of the flight envelope and develop appropriate reflexes for safely managing them. They shouldn't be scary. But most pilots fly them during training only when required to do so, and then never again until forced to during a flight review or further training.