Solutions foot getting sick due to heat/turbulence?

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Athena

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Athena
I like to fly with my husband in his flight club Piper Archer, but I’ve gotten sick once and almost gotten sick twice when BOTH of these conditions are present
1) Medium or higher turbulence (as defined by him)
2) The cabin is warm (air conditioner not working)

We’ve looked into a portable air conditioner, but I’m wondering if there are other ways to solve this?

Would taking an ice pack and holding it to my body work? Or something else?

Other helpful info:
  • Overall I’m very healthy.
  • I’m very thin and am usually cold. It’s not uncommon for me to wear a jacket and long pants on 75 degree days, so overheating isn’t something I experience often.
  • I fly commercially for work all of the time (pre-covid) and have never gotten sick. Probably because Im usually freezing with the high AC and it’s a bigger plane.
  • There are other instances where I’ve gotten motion sick, but it’s almost always when I’m overheated and there is a lot of motion (example: rocky boat ride on a very warm & sunny day).
 
Scopolamine patches work for me to prevent motion sickness when I go offshore fishing.
I’ll give you credit for trying to fix this rather than just walking away.
 
A search for ice neck wrap on Amazon will yield a wide range of products. Any ice wrap on the neck will reduce body temperature. You might also suggest early morning flights before the turb gets going.
 
Morgan3820 said:
Scopolamine patches work for me to prevent motion sickness when I go offshore fishing.
I’ll give you credit for trying to fix this rather than just walking away.
Click to expand...

I tried them, but they made me sick. Whatever medicine you try, make sure to try it first at home to see if there’s any side effects.
 
Athena said:
I like to fly with my husband in his flight club Piper Archer, but I’ve gotten sick once and almost gotten sick twice when BOTH of these conditions are present
1) Medium or higher turbulence (as defined by him)
2) The cabin is warm (air conditioner not working)

We’ve looked into a portable air conditioner, but I’m wondering if there are other ways to solve this?

Would taking an ice pack and holding it to my body work? Or something else?

Other helpful info:
  • Overall I’m very healthy.
  • I’m very thin and am usually cold. It’s not uncommon for me to wear a jacket and long pants on 75 degree days, so overheating isn’t something I experience often.
  • I fly commercially for work all of the time (pre-covid) and have never gotten sick. Probably because Im usually freezing with the high AC and it’s a bigger plane.
  • There are other instances where I’ve gotten motion sick, but it’s almost always when I’m overheated and there is a lot of motion (example: rocky boat ride on a very warm & sunny day).
Click to expand...

For the overheating one of the simplest remedies Mrs. GRG55 uses is to carry a couple of well dampened terry face cloths in a sealed ziploc bag. Pull one out, fold in thirds and apply like a "headband" across forehead. The evaporative cooling can be very effective and soothing. And it can be "recharged" on a longer flight by putting a few drops from a water bottle in the ziploc bag and resoaking it. Much less hassle than carrying ice packs.

For the motion sickness suggest focusing through the windshield at the far horizon. Some people find closing their eyes and covering their eyelids with the damp cloth helps, but others find not seeing a horizon makes it worse.

Depending on the altitude you are typically flying you may want to try using an oxygen cannula to see if that helps (say above 8000 ASL).

And don't let yourself become dehydrated if you are at altitude for an extended time.
 
My wife gets motion sickness often when we fly. She uses acupressure wrist bands similar to these and they help a lot. Placement is critical so be sure to follow the directions.
iu


You can buy them at your local drug store.
 
I won't take my wife flying if it's any more than light chop unless absolutely necessary. Then if it gets worse than that, I work to get out of it. If it's hot, open all the vents and climb to a cooler altitude. Most importantly, don't read while flying, don't look at stuff inside the airplane while it's choppy, focus outside to the horizon.
 
GRG55 said:
For the motion sickness suggest focusing through the windshield at the far horizon.
Click to expand...
This. (From a guy who almost tossed his cookies while tied up at the dock awaiting cast off for a glass bottom boat ride in Key West.) It's the rockin' back and forth what does ya in. You need a solid-steady reference for your eyes, namely the horizon ahead.
 
I was getting ill on every IR training flight. Stress, warm temps, turbulence, lack of visual clues, etc. Wife bought me a cheap neck cooling wrap. Like the damp terry face cloths mentioned above, it worked great. Left both hands free to fly, too.
 
I used to get motion sick when I first started my PPL training. If you can use these aids to take away the motion sickness now, you'll get desensitized to the 3d movement, and you'll soon not need these anymore.
  • Relief Band already mentioned above works great. Turn it on before you get in the plane, and should help a lot.
  • Peppermint candy. The peppermint oil kills motion sickness as well.
  • Look forward / outside, and take the controls - even if you're not really flying. Can't tell you exactly why, but it helps.
 
Morgan3820 said:
Scopolamine patches work for me to prevent motion sickness when I go offshore fishing.
I’ll give you credit for trying to fix this rather than just walking away.
Click to expand...
Thanks. I'm trying to keep flying with him
 
Thank you so much to everyone who responded. I've ordered a Relief Band and am also looking into the neck coolers
 
Obviously you need to buy yourselves a Mooney. ;).

serious, this is one of my biggest gripes with Piper airplanes. Being overheated is a major contributor to motion sickness, almost everyone will get motion sickness if they get too hot. The air duct is on the floor at your ankles, so when you get warm, you cannot blow air in your face. Perhaps consider clothing that you can adjust to to stay slightly on the cool side. Even in the middle of winter, you’re likely to find me flying in a short sleeve shirt.

The #2 best way is looking outside at the horizon. A part of motion sickness is your brain’s confusion of the motion. Looking out at the horizon definitely helps.

I have never had success with medicine or wrist straps, but some people swear by them.
 
Ha! That's his preferred solution too. Thanks for reminding me about focusing on the horizon. I need to do that too; I've been looking down.

bflynn said:
Obviously you need to buy yourselves a Mooney. ;).

serious, this is one of my biggest gripes with Piper airplanes. Being overheated is a major contributor to motion sickness, almost everyone will get motion sickness if they get too hot. The air duct is on the floor at your ankles, so when you get warm, you cannot blow air in your face. Perhaps consider clothing that you can adjust to to stay slightly on the cool side. Even in the middle of winter, you’re likely to find me flying in a short sleeve shirt.

The #2 best way is looking outside at the horizon. A part of motion sickness is your brain’s confusion of the motion. Looking out at the horizon definitely helps.

I have never had success with medicine or wrist straps, but some people swear by them.
Click to expand...
 
My wife used to get sick early on, best remedy was to give her the flight controls for awhile, nausea would go away, can't tell you why. Thankfully she hasn't experienced any problems for many years.
 
Athena said:
Thank you so much to everyone who responded. I've ordered a Relief Band and am also looking into the neck coolers
Click to expand...
The neck coolers are pretty much required when summer rolls around. Back in the Good Ol’ Days, when we were flying Young Eagles, I wore mine and kept another one handy for any kids that got queasy. Not so much in flight where it was cooler, but on the ground and during TO/L at lower altitudes.
 
MooneyDriver78 said:
Try flying higher or fly in the morning when atmosphere is more likely to be stable.
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This is exactly it. There's generally cooler and smoother air up high. That's why I usually chose 8–10,000 ft for family trips when my kids were young, even if it meant a stronger headwind.

The downside is that you sometimes need an instrument rating to get up above the cloud tops. Also, smokers don't do well up there without supplemental oxygen (if that's an issue here).
 
I get carsick if I try to read a book as a passenger in a moving vehicle on twisty roads. If I put that book down, and look out the window, fine. Our equilibrium system is complex, and it demands visual reference when anticipating inertial moves. Ask any gymnast or Olympic diver.
 
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