How can a pilot Minimize passenger Motion Sickness

Keane

Keane

Pre-takeoff checklist
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ErichKeane
Hi all-
I have a good friend of mine that is interested in flying with me, but mentioned that she suffers from some pretty bad motion sickness and claims it is 'physical, not mental', though I don't know the difference.

I was wondering what I could do as a pilot to minimize this problem? I've been told that Yaw can cause motion sickness, so I would imagine minimizing yaw would help, but what else?

Would moving the seat matter? Would seat selection matter in a 4 seater? Does top vs bottom wing change anything?

Thanks guys!
 
Buy her a season ticket to Six Flags. Once she's signed off as a non-puker on all the rides, think about taking her for a ride in the airplane.

Keane said:
Hi all-
I have a good friend of mine that is interested in flying with me, but mentioned that she suffers from some pretty bad motion sickness and claims it is 'physical, not mental', though I don't know the difference.

I was wondering what I could do as a pilot to minimize this problem? I've been told that Yaw can cause motion sickness, so I would imagine minimizing yaw would help, but what else?

Would moving the seat matter? Would seat selection matter in a 4 seater? Does top vs bottom wing change anything?

Thanks guys!
Click to expand...
 
Try candied ginger.

Don't fly on a too full or empty stomach. Fly when it's calm (morning is good). Gentle with the turns.

Try keeping her busy and occupied (looking for traffic, etc).

Seach the threads for "motion sickness" since I'm pretty sure this has been asked before.
 
Keane said:
Hi all-
I have a good friend of mine that is interested in flying with me, but mentioned that she suffers from some pretty bad motion sickness and claims it is 'physical, not mental', though I don't know the difference.

I was wondering what I could do as a pilot to minimize this problem? I've been told that Yaw can cause motion sickness, so I would imagine minimizing yaw would help, but what else?

Would moving the seat matter? Would seat selection matter in a 4 seater? Does top vs bottom wing change anything?

Thanks guys!
Click to expand...

There are several factors involved. First is comfort. Make absolutely sure you have the vents open enough to supply fresh air for her. Being stifled and hot will quicken airsickness onset.

The second factor is confidence. The quickest way to have a new passenger experience air sickness is to allow their bodies to "feel" the movement of the aircraft AFTER the motion occurs. One of the best things you can do for a new passenger is to talk to them gently and with confidence explaining what to expect in the way of motion and aircraft behavior all through the flight. Doing this allows them the element expectation. That alone takes a lot of the apprehension out of the equation.
Watch your turns. Plan well ahead whenever possible so that all your turns can be executed with a minimum amount of bank. This keeps the g down as well.
Remember, the greatest contributor to air sickness is apprehension and stress. Lower the stress quotient and you lower the air sickness co-efficient :)
Bottom line, talk to her all through the flight, point out familiar landmarks. Let her know by every action and every word that you are confident and enjoying the flight yourself. This transfers to her and lowers the apprehension.
These are random thoughts from lectures I've given in seminars in the past.
Hope it helps, and enjoy the flight.
Dudley Henriques
 
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Motion sickness is caused by a conflict between visual input and equilibrial input to the brain. It takes time to learn to associate the bizarre accelerations with what the eye sees. It's totally manageable with care and time. Simply toughing it out may eventually work but unless a person is unusually motivated to learn to fly it's more likely to put them off flying for good. Minimizing flight in turbulence is number one. Coordinated flight helps too but G loading from pitch excursions is the biggest contributor. Keeping turns gentle and brief also helps. The most helpful thing for the individual to do is to minimize head movements, especially in pitch. This seems trivial but it is huge. Using eye movement to "look around", turning the head slowly side to side, and again, strictly limiting head down and up movements makes a HUGE difference in onset and extent of motion sickness. Stay close to a landing zone and at the slightest hint of motion sickness land. Leave cameras at home. Looking all over with a viewfinder gets the head moving too much. After several flights with no nausia actually taking the controls and learning to fly helps a lot too. Who gets car sick while driving? Same with flying.
 
Dudley what do you feel about making sure that you do no maneuvers over 1g and not unloading of g's too?

I like all of you ideas. I have flown with a few people who are apprehensive and claim to be sick but never actually need the bag and found this helps a little.
 
smigaldi said:
Dudley what do you feel about making sure that you do no maneuvers over 1g and not unloading of g's too?

I like all of you ideas. I have flown with a few people who are apprehensive and claim to be sick but never actually need the bag and found this helps a little.
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My general advice would be to avoid unloading the airplane at all costs. Keeping things as close to 1g as possible which allows the pax to experience what they feel on the ground is optimum. Of course turns, and pitch excursion enter your flight equation and the accompanying g is difficult to avoid. The good pilot "reads" the air, and "helps" the aircraft a bit keeping it as stable as possible for the new pax.
It's for this reason you "bring the pax in" on what to expect thus aiding with the pax's expectation factor.
As an aside; teaching aerobatics, even highly experienced instructors can experience airsickness when the STUDENT is flying the airplane. The bottom line here is that whoever is BEHIND the airplane's motion has the greater chance of developing airsickness.........even aerobatic instructors.
Dudley Henriques
 
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The first use of the term "that's just awful" is thought by some of my friends to have been on the day in the 1970's when a group including Tom Chase (thereafter known as "vomiting Tommy") visited the observation deck of the Empire State Building on a windy spring day. Tommy had experienced motion sickness as a child, but thought he had outgrown it. He was wrong.

After lunch and drinnks and an hour or so of sightseeing and experiencing the sway that is common to tall buildings, they boarded the express elevator to the bottom floor. The door closed and the car lurched as it began its descent, whereupon Tommy became ill. Profusely and repeatedly. Those who have expereinced such events will testify that there has never been only one sick person on a crowded elevator. They said the floor was covered, as well as some of the walls, and most of the shoes.
 
Fly high, go early in the day, make the first few flights short ones, avoid stressful situations, make her eat a large helping of Nacho cheese and beans with jalapenos just before. Oh, drop that last one, it was proven ineffective.
 
Sea-Bands work. I have no idea why, but they do.

Ginger gum also helps a lot.

-Rich
 
One of my students and I have been working on her boyfriend who has the same problem.

What's been said is good advice, but I'll add a few of my fact-free opinions.

Control or lack of it is a factor. I like to start with short flights and let them know that we will return as soon as they start to feel uncomfortable. It's also a good idea to give them the controls.

I see it as a process of desensitization and should be done over multiple flights and land as soon as the passenger begins to feel uncomfortable.

Joe
 
Slip some dramamine in her drink 30 minutes before the flight and the problem is solved. She might fall asleep -- but better asleep than puking.
 
bbchien said:
Boy has this group got you nailed. "She"!
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:):):)

I've been trying to avoid using Dramamine since I want to take her to the coast to enjoy the afternoon (~45 min flight), but everything else has been very helpful!
 
Dudley Henriques said:
As an aside; teaching aerobatics, even highly experienced instructors can experience airsickness when the STUDENT is flying the airplane. The bottom line here is that whoever is BEHIND the airplane's motion has the greater chance of developing airsickness.........even aerobatic instructors.
Dudley Henriques
Click to expand...

Absolutely -- and not just aerobatic instructors -- Lots of steep turns or flying with a "what's the rudder for...?" pilots that make me just a bit queasy. I'll ask to fly a bit and demonstrate something and it goes away.
 
And, if push comes to shove, use a sick sack - don't have said passenger stick their head out the window. It doesn't work.

Trust me.
 
Keane said:
Hi all-
I have a good friend of mine that is interested in flying with me, but mentioned that she suffers from some pretty bad motion sickness and claims it is 'physical, not mental', though I don't know the difference.
Click to expand...

I feel her pain! No issues when flying but when I was doing alot of Dive charters and the seas started rocking, I used to be over the side feeding the fishes! :yikes: None of the OTC stuff worked for me!

Did my research, spoke w/ other divers and Instructors and found Transderm scoplimine.It is a small time release patch that is placed behind the ear. It is not OTC so her Doc will need to write a script.

http://www.transdermscop.com/

That was over 18 years ago and it's still part of my travel checklist today!:yesnod:
 
1) ReliefBand works for me.
2) Eat lightly.
3) If (1) isn't available, looking outside, and keeping a hand on the yoke and feet on rudders helps.
4) Minimize G changes -- climbs, descents at 250 fpm, coordinated turns.
5) If above fails, close eyes, relax, sleep.
6) Several gallon size zip-lock bags. Each one contains a moist towelette and sheet from towel roll. Remove contents before use. Quart-size bags will just barely hold stomach contents, but gallon-size ones are obviously large enough. Towel and towelette are a nice touch for freshening up.

Do not read. Do not look to the side. Looking down outside the plane sometimes helps.
 
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Make sure to not be hungry. Some food is good.

Go when the air is smooth. Windy days are bad. Flying high is better, the air's smoother up there. Be smooth. There's no reason for you to be making excessive climbs or descents. Pretend this is a paying customer on a commercial airline. Such people are looking for a comfortable, safe, uneventful flight.

Know where the barf-bags are, but don't tell the passenger. Make sure the passenger is confident in everything. "Hmm, it's never done that before" is not a phrase to be used.
 
Keane said:
I was wondering what I could do as a pilot to minimize this problem? I've been told that Yaw can cause motion sickness, so I would imagine minimizing yaw would help, but what else?
Click to expand...

Yaw is a big one.. I do fine in the front seat, or when I'm on the stick. Put me in the back and then get uncoordinated and you better have a sack on hand.

Turbulence is another big one (for back seaters, behind the axis of yaw/pitch).

Climb quickly to cooler, stable air, Ensure vents can give plenty of cool air to the back passengers, in the face if necessary. Keep turns coordinated. Avoid the area under popcorn cumulus (turbulent updrafts live here). Keep the turns coordinated. And avoid any abrupt pushovers or anything intentionally less than 1g.. 0g, even for a moment, is a big trigger.
 
Watch episodes of the A-Team for other options that haven't been mentioned.
 
EdFred said:
Watch episodes of the A-Team for other options that haven't been mentioned.
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I pity the fool who gets motion sickness in my plane!

MrT15.jpg
 
The best way I have found is to let the person fly the plane! When I have a passenger that gets queezy I tell them to grab the stick and fly for a while, and watch the horizon to keep the plane level. Seems when the mind is in control it understands what is going on and hense no motion sickness. Try it.

When I was in the Navy all I had to do to get over motion sickness at sea was to go up and watch the horizon for 10-15 mins. Fresh air, steady horizon, after 3 days I could handle anything.
 
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