Do you ever freak out in the air?

TexasAviation said:
I don't know if "freak out" is the right term to use, but I can think of three things:

1. I struggled with motion sickness BIG TIME as a student pilot. That's more about your body freaking out than your brain, but it still wrecked the end of my first dozen or so lessons. You just can't function as a pilot while barfing.

2. Closely related to that, I had a couple of student solo flights on those hot, turbulent Texas afternoons where my palms would start to clam up and I'd death-grip the yoke, trying not to get queasy and feeling nervous on landings after all the bouncing around. My brain would freeze up a bit thinking and worrying about it — if just for a few seconds.

Even today, motion sickness is in the back of my mind when I hit turbulence. I haven't had a bit of trouble with it since getting my license two years ago. But there's still a sort of Pavlovian response when the plane starts to bounce around and for a split second all those thoughts of barf bags come flooding in. "What if I get sick? Is the autopilot ready to go? What will I tell the controllers?" Probably a good safety mechanism in my brain, I guess.

3. I do get nervous when I first get in the plane, but I think it's a healthy kind of nervous. It's a "did I miss anything in pre-flight" kind of nervous. And it usually goes away as soon as I start the engine. Just butterflies in my tummy, as Mom used to call it. And I hope it never goes away.
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Point one, have you actually thrown up, or just near?

I'm struggling a little with this now. I do feel some of it is the real feeling, but after the first time it is more the fear of it that sets it off.

I work in IT and since I grew up with planes (as passenger) I've always had a healthy respect for having to do things right. Just in general it seems like in our culture today people in all kinds of situations seem too eager to "rewrite the book" and drop all the procedures and checklists for mundane things. In flying I have s really healthy respect for the checklists that have been developed over time. It saves reinventing the wheel.

I've only had a short time flying with my CFI, no solo yet, but I got a new CFI recently and he was kind of pushing me on everything (I got a good review after the flight, but at the time felt like I wasn't doing anything to his satisfaction) and at the worst as he (it felt like) was throwing all kinds of instructions at once to me, like you I realized I had a total death grip, holding the stick for dear life, so I tuned him out, relaxed and did my best. I felt like just me realizing I was seizing up on the stick was a good thing, that I became aware of it and did the right thing by relaxing even through stressed out.
Not quite the same as soloing and realizing it, but I take it as a good sign.

It's encouraging that mostly you overcame the queasy feelings, I'm hoping that happens with me too.
 
azure said:
Had this happen to me once as a student pilot. The pilot with me was my CFI and he definitely freaked, started flailing around wildly at the thing. My main fear was that he would get us both stung and neither of us would be in any shape to land the plane safely. He eventually killed it around the time I turned final. Whew.
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Jeez. You continued a pattern with a hornet in the cabin? Unless your engine had quit (for real), that's not something to be messing with close to the ground.

Personally, I never freaked out, but I've had a few memorable lessons. Like, flaps go to 20 on a 172 during a go-around for a reason. The most recent was that misreading a localizer approach plate and using the minimum for a lower stepdown is a really bad idea (good thing it was VFR and there was an instructor on board). Neither of those has happened a second time.
 
I get the preflight nerves, every time.

Once I'm flying, it goes away - but I wouldn't say I ever get comfortable, there is always the thought in the back of my mind of "what could go wrong". I don't think there's anything bad about that, it keeps me from getting complacent, and keeps me sharp.

Anytime my spidey-sense tingles, or something doesn't seem right, that's the time to focus on the task at hand and fly the airplane. Work through everything, double-check everything, and keep your mind busy.

We've all been over inhospitable areas, but other than not flying there isn't much you can do about it other than pay attention to the airplane.

After flying, yeah, there are times where I say to myself, "Self, you really messed up that landing... or radio call... or position report... or failed to see that other aircraft earlier... or whatever" and sometimes that brings on some nerves again.
 
LongRoadBob said:
Point one, have you actually thrown up, or just near?
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I actually threw up on probably 12 of my first 15 flights as a student pilot. It was absolutely awful.

And I can't believe how patient my instructor was. If I had a student who got that sick on every flight (sometimes pretty early in the flight), I'd probably tell 'em, "Maybe you're not cut out for this flying thing!" But my CFI kept saying how my body would eventually adjust to it. He saw that in the military all the time. And sure enough, it did. A switch flipped and it wasn't a problem any more.

Bad turbulence still triggers those memories, though.
 
MAKG1 said:
Jeez. You continued a pattern with a hornet in the cabin? Unless your engine had quit (for real), that's not something to be messing with close to the ground.
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Yeah, I even asked the CFI whether I should get the hell out of there and wait for him to get things under control. He said no, he apparently figured it would be easy. It wasn't, and if I had been alone or it had been a passenger instead of the CFI (after I got my ticket, of course), I would not have even entered, much less continued, the pattern. The last place I want to be with distractions going on is in a crowded airspace.

I have to wonder, though, whether you missed the part where I said I was a student pilot with a CFI? Your critical attitude implies that you thought it was my decision.
 
had the hornet in the cabin one before, but was lucky enough to be on the taxi way waiting for takeoff clearance but the controller was kind enough
to wait for us to rid our stowaway passenger.
 
Easy to get freaked out. Early on, I was scared to land when we would get bounced around.

One particularly bouncy cross-country, I told my CFI "We don't have to actually land this thing at our destination if it gets any rougher than this." I remember the look he gave me, like I was crazy. "Are you kidding me? Yeah, we're going to land there, no problem!"

I guess it was through repetition (flying in bouncy conditions) that I finally started to feel better about things.

Still I hate getting bounced and yawed around. Not fun at all. Smooth air, sitting there almost not touching the yoke, enjoying the view, sign me right up! :)
 
Some.......only once did it cause me to take action. When I was training and was going on my long XC, it was broken at @ 4000 as I recall with a forecast to improve. My instructor and I talked about it and he said, it's fine. So I took off and as I was climbing out I got in a little turbulence, really just chop. Anyway, I'm climbing, looking at the broken layer, bouncing and I got the heebs. Couldn't shake it and just turned around and landed. My instructor asked what was up, I told him the truth and he offered to go ride along some to help me get over it. We took off and just flew around a little. That hasn't happened since. I still have a heightened awareness that flying is unforgiving though.
 
Landshark said:
You could pop the door open and cinch down the harness right before any off airport landing.
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Didn't work for me. I fumbled with it until it was time to flare :)
 
Closest I've had is the moment when you feel that stomach churn, and pray to got you can clinch long enough make it down.
 
Anyone who says they haven't looked down upon the Earth from 10,000', whilst floating in a little aluminum box with wings, and thought "Holy crap, this is INSANE!" is either lying or brain dead.

That said, when it has happened to me, that feeling has quickly been replaced by joyous wonder at my situation. And then I laugh.

The only time I get anxious is when I'm giving a newbie a plane ride. I fly a tandem seat aircraft, with full controls in the aft cockpit. I always let the newbie fly as much as possible, but I always have a creeping fear that they might do something stupid with the controls when I'm landing. I therefore always tell them repeatedly that when I say "my airplane" they are to place their hands on their knees and touch NOTHING.

So far, so good, after 22 years. :)
 
Jay Honeck said:
The only time I get anxious is when I'm giving a newbie a plane ride. I fly a tandem seat aircraft, with full controls in the aft cockpit.
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You need to switch around. At least you can slap the hell out of the front-seater then.
 
TexasAviation said:
I actually threw up on probably 12 of my first 15 flights as a student pilot. It was absolutely awful.

And I can't believe how patient my instructor was. If I had a student who got that sick on every flight (sometimes pretty early in the flight), I'd probably tell 'em, "Maybe you're not cut out for this flying thing!" But my CFI kept saying how my body would eventually adjust to it. He saw that in the military all the time. And sure enough, it did. A switch flipped and it wasn't a problem any more.

Bad turbulence still triggers those memories, though.
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Wow. I thought I was perservering just getting queasy and being "determined" to keep on hoping it would go away..., but you put REALLY were dedicated.
I don't know how many in a row I'd be able to handle and still keep on. You've got my respect for sure!

I don't know if you saw it, I had read in that book I think it was "Thinking student pilots guide" or something and he had written a whole section about this issue and claimed there were studies that show if a person starts to feel ill while flying (pilot or passenger) and they land before it gets as far as throwing up, the person would have a higher tolerance the next time. IF on the other hand they kept flying until they got sick it would lower their tolerence on the next flight. I don't know if it is true.

I have a few sick bags in my flight bag. Always transfer one to a pocket in my pants. But I also get that about bad turbulence triggering.
It may just be the turbulence, but I seem to notice even talking about it here, I can almost make myself feel air sickness sitting here at my keyboard. It's as if I can go "looking" for the feeling and there it is. So you seem to be hinting also that you feel it is not "real" but more brought on by memories and worries about getting sick?

I've never tried it, but a hypnotist might be able to help? Also read of a trick (if you don't have ginger tablets, gum, or whatever) where you press your thumb on the inside of the opposite arm down the wrist a little between the two bones. No idea if it helps, but of course, if you are in turbulence when it happens you don't have hands free...

I really am amazed at what you went through. Glad it worked out!
 
Jay Honeck said:
Anyone who says they haven't looked down upon the Earth from 10,000', whilst floating in a little aluminum box with wings, and thought "Holy crap, this is INSANE!" is either lying or brain dead.
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Not IN the plane but Ive thought this ON the plane. While skydiving we have a small (very small) step aft of the door and a handhold on top of the plane. Once youre on the step and holding the handle, youre completely outside the plane and its VERY difficult to get back inside if needed. This is mainly for the video guy who is waiting for the group to get in place. Ive often wondered what I looked like hanging on outside the airplane to a passing plane. Crazy when you think about some random passenger of a passing jet watching that.
 
Matthew said:
I get the preflight nerves, every time.
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I'm the same way. It tends to be even more prevalent when I have other "precious cargo" coming along. It subsides after the wheels are rolling down the runway.

Matthew said:
After flying, yeah, there are times where I say to myself, "Self, you really messed up that landing... or radio call... or position report... or failed to see that other aircraft earlier... or whatever" and sometimes that brings on some nerves again.
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Again - same here. Although not sure if it's nerves striking again or just something I'm sure to be very cognizant of the next time I fly. I'll add that it's one thing to immediately KNOW you messed up somehow. I've found things while debriefing the videos of flights I take - and even missed them on the first debrief and found them subsequently while putting together a YouTube video of the flight. That's pretty damn humbling, too. I've found a few head slappers that way.
 
DrewG said:
Again - same here. Although not sure if it's nerves striking again or just something I'm sure to be very cognizant of the next time I fly. I'll add that it's one thing to immediately KNOW you messed up somehow. I've found things while debriefing the videos of flights I take - and even missed them on the first debrief and found them subsequently while putting together a YouTube video of the flight. That's pretty damn humbling, too. I've found a few head slappers that way.
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I make it a point to see if I make the same mistake on two flights. If I do, then it wasn't a one-time brain-fart, so I write it down and pay closer attention to it. I know I can't be perfect, but that doesn't mean I want to settle for "good enough".
 
Matthew said:
I make it a point to see if I make the same mistake on two flights. If I do, then it wasn't a one-time brain-fart, so I write it down and pay closer attention to it. I know I can't be perfect, but that doesn't mean I want to settle for "good enough".
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Very wise. My flying has been so sporadic over the past year, so I find myself regressing in certain areas. Armchair flying is a tremendous help, though.
 
DrewG said:
I'm the same way. It tends to be even more prevalent when I have other "precious cargo" coming along. It subsides after the wheels are rolling down the runway
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Man, I hope so. I'm just starting to go for my PPL, and I know or hope it is just my first impressions and because I am not competent yet, but my grandkids (and kids) know I am learning and already are looking forward to getting to fly, and I just can't imagine a time, even though I feel safe for myself, where I would feel confident enough to take them up.

I hope that changes.
 
LongRoadBob said:
Man, I hope so. I'm just starting to go for my PPL, and I know or hope it is just my first impressions and because I am not competent yet, but my grandkids (and kids) know I am learning and already are looking forward to getting to fly, and I just can't imagine a time, even though I feel safe for myself, where I would feel confident enough to take them up.

I hope that changes.
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It will.
 
LongRoadBob said:
Man, I hope so. I'm just starting to go for my PPL, and I know or hope it is just my first impressions and because I am not competent yet, but my grandkids (and kids) know I am learning and already are looking forward to getting to fly, and I just can't imagine a time, even though I feel safe for myself, where I would feel confident enough to take them up.

I hope that changes.
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I initially felt that way during my training, but your confidence and competency should only increase. A healthy concern and awareness for the risk involved in our chosen endeavor is good to have (and as stated above, I do), but you should hopefully have enough faith in your training and abilities by the time you get your certificate that you'll be more than eager to share the joy of flight with your family.
 
LongRoadBob said:
Man, I hope so. I'm just starting to go for my PPL, and I know or hope it is just my first impressions and because I am not competent yet, but my grandkids (and kids) know I am learning and already are looking forward to getting to fly, and I just can't imagine a time, even though I feel safe for myself, where I would feel confident enough to take them up.

I hope that changes.
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It'll change. A little at a time, as you gain experience you'll gain confidence.

And think about this -- when you take your checkride, you'll be as sharp as you are going to be for a long time. Celebrate with a couple of rides over the next few days or weeks. It will give you a chance to use your PP, and a chance to "burn in" all that training you just finished getting.
 
Matthew said:
It'll change. A little at a time, as you gain experience you'll gain confidence.

And think about this -- when you take your checkride, you'll be as sharp as you are going to be for a long time. Celebrate with a couple of rides over the next few days or weeks. It will give you a chance to use your PP, and a chance to "burn in" all that training you just finished getting.
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THIS^^^^^^^ I havent been able to fly enough to really keep my proficiency up. I was the best pilot the day of my checkride. I "know" more today. but I was sharper then.
 
charheep said:
Doesnt it bang into the tail feathers and cause dents? Or is that just me?
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I think it's just you. I was referring to my "stick" hanging out in the slipstream. (I'll be honest- it barely reaches much past the aft baggage door...) I'm pretty sure that your method of tying a string to your pee jug and hanging it out the window is a bit less common. :D
 
Lachlan said:
I think it's just you. I was referring to my "stick" hanging out in the slipstream. (I'll be honest- it barely reaches much past the aft baggage door...) I'm pretty sure that your method of tying a string to your pee jug and hanging it out the window is a bit less common. :D
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Oh no! It's becoming a stick pic thread!
 
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Only once...first solo. Turned crosswind after my first takeoff, looked back at the airport and my heart started pounding. I told myself to take a few deep breaths and after about 15 seconds was good to go. Scared myself pretty good at least a couple other times early on, but learned from each experience and never did it again. Now that it's been a few years and almost 200 hours later, I'm cautiously confident and love every minute in the air.
 
midlifeflyer said:
No. Not even when we lost power in the clouds over the Rocky Mountains. Just too busy trying to get down alive. After we landed, of course, a whole 'nother story!
Yikes.png
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Yikes! Have you ever posted that story? I missed it. Got a link?
 
I now recall freaking a little the first time I encountered chop. I was on a short, supervised solo cross country at the time. It was early morning. Felt just like hitting closely spaced waves in a boat. "Bam-bam-bam!" Whatever caused it was gone on the return leg.
 
Landshark said:
Never freaked out but I did get startled one time. I was practicing a soft field takeoff and tried for the first time to combine it with a crosswind correction full lock. I was expecting to straighten the yoke right before my usual 50 knots rotation speed. Of course the plane actually lifted off the ground sooner while I still had full lock and it started to roll when I was as low to the ground as possible. I corrected quickly and avoided scraping the wing but it scared the crap out of me for a nanosecond!
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You shouldn't hold full deflection all the way to rotation - Think of it as control pressure, keep the necessary amount of pressure on the controls through the process. Deflection will lessen as you accelerate and airspeed increases if you keep pressure constant. As you lift off, you'll roll a bit into the wind and you can let go of the roll pressure and the plane will point into the wind and keep your track roughly down the centerline. Of course, you may have been flying for years in between that event and now and already know this, if so I'll just leave this here as a hint for the students. :)
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Yikes! Have you ever posted that story? I missed it. Got a link?
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I have told parts of story as part of some of my aviation talks, but have never written out the whole thing. If I do, I will be able to include the ATC communications since I got the tapes about a year later. One of these days...
 
LongRoadBob said:
I do have that feeling that even if something bad happened there are things to do to make the best out of it, and one is not helpless even if the propeller falls off (as happened to a 79-year old Norwegian pilot a few weeks ago. He landed safely as he was a kilometer out from the airport. I tried telling my wife, and hope I was right, that you can glide better without the propeller than if the engine quits and it is still on)
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As long as your CG is still within limits after the prop departs! :eek:
 
I was on my first long x-c after achieving my ppl, maybe 200 miles straight line. About 3/4 to destination, I began hearing the beat of my pulse in my ears! Lub-dub....Lub-dub.... LUB-DUB louder and louder. I was searching for the nearest airport (long before there was a "Nearest" button) when in all of the head swiveling I hit my headset earcup on the door or window. Lubdubbing gone. It turns out my ANR headset was running out of battery, whew! Yes I had spares along so before too long I was back in the peace and quiet....

-Skip
 
I wouldn't say I've "freaked out" but I've had a few instances that got my blood pumping. Usually it's when my last engine sputters. :eek:

As I've gotten older, I've gotten more afraid of heights. Never bugged me at all as a kid, but I'm a lot more cautious these days and even a picture of someone next to a canyon gives me the willies. Maybe it's because I'm tall enough that my CG is higher than most fences!

I normally don't feel that in the airplane at all, but I've had two instances where I felt hyper-aware of being really far off the ground. One was flying at night in a snowstorm in a C182 where the landing light would shine not only forward but also straight up and straight down. Seeing that downward beam of light reflecting off snowflakes farther and farther down made it look like a giant abyss. The other was flying into Palo Alto from the east. Descending out of 9 or 10 thousand feet after passing over the mountains on the eastern part of the central valley with the one remaining ridge and all the lights also gave an interesting perspective on how far down it was to terra firma.
 
I had a fed with me on a route check this week. At one stop we had a few bees get into the cockpit. I here to tell ya a fed with my checklist makes a very effective bee killer. Forget sterile cockpit, I was laughing too much...!!!!

He was cool about it, even mentioned how well I performed with unrealistic distractions.
 
Skip Miller said:
I was on my first long x-c after achieving my ppl, maybe 200 miles straight line. About 3/4 to destination, I began hearing the beat of my pulse in my ears! Lub-dub....Lub-dub.... LUB-DUB louder and louder. I was searching for the nearest airport (long before there was a "Nearest" button) when in all of the head swiveling I hit my headset earcup on the door or window. Lubdubbing gone. It turns out my ANR headset was running out of battery, whew! Yes I had spares along so before too long I was back in the peace and quiet....

-Skip
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That reminded of The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe. Gave me a chuckle.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
I wouldn't say I've "freaked out" but I've had a few instances that got my blood pumping. Usually it's when my last engine sputters. :eek:

As I've gotten older, I've gotten more afraid of heights. Never bugged me at all as a kid, but I'm a lot more cautious these days and even a picture of someone next to a canyon gives me the willies. Maybe it's because I'm tall enough that my CG is higher than most fences!

I normally don't feel that in the airplane at all, but I've had two instances where I felt hyper-aware of being really far off the ground. One was flying at night in a snowstorm in a C182 where the landing light would shine not only forward but also straight up and straight down. Seeing that downward beam of light reflecting off snowflakes farther and farther down made it look like a giant abyss. The other was flying into Palo Alto from the east. Descending out of 9 or 10 thousand feet after passing over the mountains on the eastern part of the central valley with the one remaining ridge and all the lights also gave an interesting perspective on how far down it was to terra firma.
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Yeah, the shaft of light provides the perception of depth necessary to trigger the fear of heights. Looking down from 1000 AGL in the pattern, no problem; look over the edge of a building, the structure provides the sense of depth, and "connects" you to the ground. Noticed it flying through a car dealer's spot light once. . .
 
Somebody spilled a sugar drink of some kind on the floor of a Cessna I was renting, there was 100s of ants, didn't realize till climbing out...when they started to bite my leg...that's when I decided I needed to buy my own plane.
 
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