I'm a sophmore in college and am hoping to do ocs in the future ...i'm writing this because i've had trouble with motion sickness my entire life...mostly in a car when i was younger, which has gotten alot better...but now that i am flying it seems to come back...i threw up in the back of a dam beechcraft king air 90 the other day while it was doing some maneuvers...im just wondering if there is anyone who has had this problem as a pilot and was able to deal with it and got better?? to the point where it didn't phase them...and with that said...should i even look into jets because of this...thats what im hoping to fly..but i dont know if its an option because of this problem...thanks...
If you have somebody that will take you up, try sitting in the right (copilot) seat and see if that makes a difference. If you don't get bothered by that, have them do so aerobatics (if they are qualified) and see if you can handle it.
I've had some minor seasickness at times as a passenger but never had any issues when I was standing lookout or driving a boat. And I've never had any issues when piloting a plane.
Don't worry about motion sickness too much. Things to know: - You can attrite for motion sickness - It takes a LOT to attrite for this--the Navy will put you in the spin-and-puke every day, multiple times a day, for weeks to acclimate you (this is after it's determined that you have a problem). - If after this you still haven't acclimated, you will probably attrite, and you will probably at that point WANT to attrite (or DOR).
I've had my share of throwing up in planes. A few times it was for real motion sickness; a few times it was simply nerves.
Bottom line: if you want it bad enough, chances are good that it won't be a problem for you.
One of my pilots has thrown up a couple of times. She takes some kind of ginger root. If she doesn't have a bag she just throws up in her glove. Her callsigns = spew, ralph, puke, upchuck, barf, blowchunks, ect
Reminds me of my time with VT-3 at Whiting Field. Was a plane captain when they were training noobs in the T-28 Trojan. Many a hop the student pilots would come back with puke down the front of them and occasionally on the instrument panel or canopy. The cool instructors would make the student go back out and clean the cockpit.
It happens to a fair amount of them. The worst of it will be the embarrassment and teasing you'll get.
Saw many puke faced kids graduate as good aviators
Originally posted by flynavynfo: Don't worry about motion sickness too much. ........................................... Bottom line: if you want it bad enough, chances are good that it won't be a problem for you.
Good advice, Norris. Don't worry about it. Being too small to see out of the window of your parent's car and sitting in the back of a King Air doing 'maneuvers' are classic motion sickness inducing events. The ability to stabilize by looking at something stable (the horizon) will decrease the onset. And familiarity will eventually cause it to not be a problem at all. However, 'under the bag' with an instructor smoking a cigar or crawling around in the bilges of a bobbing sailboat working on the engine may always cause an episode, however slight. Just fixate on the horizon until things stabilize and you will be fine.
Originally posted by FearlessFosdick: Have bananas for breakfast. They taste the same coming up as they do going down.
Fresh bannanas may not be available on a ship. I find doritos don't taste too bad on the return trip either.
quote:
Originally posted by owenmclean: Just fixate on the horizon until things stabilize and you will be fine.
People kept telling me things like that: focus on the horizon, eat a lot of starch, just breath deeply. None of it works if you're really bad. I met a former SNFO who turned METOC on account of being unable to get over his motion sickness so he became a METOC. He was TAD to my ship one underway. It was one of those underways where I was dry heaving about every 15 minutes because I didn't have anything left to throw up but the occasional bit of bile. He seemed to take it alright though. Guess it's a good thing I never had an urge to be an aviator.
Perhaps the reason the OP asked for the perspective of a pilot is that he suspected, or even realized, that there are aspects of motion sickness unique to pilots. There are. The ability to stabilize with the horizon is a well known well proven method. It is one thing for a pilot to stabilize himself at the first signs of initial onset. It is entirely another for someone on watch in an engine room. He very most likely, given his examples, will not have a problem in the air. However, his first sea duty might be an entirely different story.
