• Please take a moment and update your account profile. If you have an updated account profile with basic information on why you are on Air Warriors it will help other people respond to your posts. How do you update your profile you ask?

    Go here:

    Edit Account Details and Profile

Motion Sickness: a barrier for a potential aviator?

U

USMC_Sparky

New Member
I have recently been seriously contemplating beginning the process to apply for a USMC OCS slot and then an Air contract. It seems that I only get motion sickness when I'm sitting still and not actively doing anything (sitting on a commercial plane, riding as a passenger) I'm prior service and I used to crew on CH53E's. As a crew member it only hit me my first few flights then it seems like afterwards as long as I was distracted or moving around I was fine. It seemed that after the first few flights I wasn't affected as long as I was doing something or occupied. At my current job I fly every so often as a passenger on Huey's and I get nausea pretty bad. So my question is, does anyone think this will be a barrier to becoming a pilot? I spoke to some of the pilots at my job and they said you get used to it after flying awhile, is this true? Are pilots allowed to take motion sickness medicine? I know the regs on taking any kind of meds are pretty strict. Thanks!
 
Gatordev

Gatordev

Well-Known Member
pilot
Site Admin
Contributor
Summed up...

You can take motion sickness pills for a little while in flight school, but you have to be off of them before you solo. You do get used to motion-related issues the more you are exposed. A large portion of motion sickness is mental. Certainly not all of it, but a good part of it.
 
BACONATOR

BACONATOR

Well-Known Member
pilot
Contributor
...or do like folks I know did and vomit every day in flight school (NAVY only... AF frowns on that, apparently if you go vance) and then pick HERCs or helos.
 
srqwho

srqwho

Active Member
pilot
Feeling ill sucks, especially when you're tasked with something, and even more so when that includes flying. I struggled with airsickness in Primary for a while... it sucks from the standpoint that 1) you feel awful, and 2) you still have to preform. I never was given any meds. The IPs are usually pretty good about flying straight and level to let you get your head on straight, but it never really went away for me until about an hour after landing. Like you, it was the worst for me when I wasn't at the controls. But, like others have told you, it does tend to go away. I'm in Kingsville now and had a couple flights where I felt a little sick, but nowhere near what I felt in the 34. It gets better...
 
bunk22

bunk22

Super *********
pilot
Super Moderator
In my inexpert opinion, the T-34C doesn't always help those with air sickness issues as the exhaust fumes spill into the cockpit on the ground and in flight. As an IP in the 34, I would get nauseas sometimes, not from airsickness but from those goddamn fumes. I know some studs went on to the 45, including me as I'm now a Goshawk IP, who don't get sick in the 45. I think nervousness, combined with those fumes, some air sickness issues and it leads to some barfing. Not always the case of course.
 
Swanee

Swanee

Cereal Killer
pilot
None
Contributor
bunk22 said:
In my inexpert opinion, the T-34C doesn't always help those with air sickness issues as the exhaust fumes spill into the cockpit on the ground and in flight. As an IP in the 34, I would get nauseas sometimes, not from airsickness but from those goddamn fumes. I know some studs went on to the 45, including me as I'm now a Goshawk IP, who don't get sick in the 45. I think nervousness, combined with those fumes, some air sickness issues and it leads to some barfing. Not always the case of course.
Click to expand...


A buddy of mine here would get sick from the fumes during the flight. He started going on O2 for the flight. He got made fun of a lot for it, but he says he had zero problems once he starting doing it. Makes sense.
 
helolumpy

helolumpy

Apprentice School Principal
pilot
Contributor
bunk22 said:
In my inexpert opinion, the T-34C doesn't always help those with air sickness issues as the exhaust fumes spill into the cockpit on the ground and in flight. As an IP in the 34, I would get nauseas sometimes, not from airsickness but from those goddamn fumes.
Click to expand...

I remember the smell, I'd say it could be described as 1/3 vomit, 1/3 exhaust and 1/3 pure fear....
 
Morgan81

Morgan81

It's not my lawn. It's OUR lawn.
pilot
Contributor
I got queasy a lot of the time I did low work in the 34, never in the 45 and a few times in the landing pattern in the 44.
For me it was all about temperature. Down low doing LAPLs in the 34 made me hate life with that pathetic a/c spiting condensation all over me mixed with vomit from countless generations of SNA's. That and I was that guy who always made sure to have my flight suit rolled down and velcro'ed over my gloves b/c I didn't want anyone to yell at me.
In the 45 the airvents were at a perfect location for me and I never rolled my sleeves down allowing the air to shoot up my arms, plus I was a weirdo who liked having a mask on for the airflow as well. I survived everything that was thrown at me including 4 WEPS hops I was able to trunk. I love that little jet with a passion.
In the 44 it was sitting in the back while my fellow E2/C2 classmate figured out what that thing called a "rudder" was.... I still have no idea either, but it made me a little uneasy after bounce number 30 or so but never as bad as the 34.
 
Gatordev

Gatordev

Well-Known Member
pilot
Site Admin
Contributor
OttoWrote8 said:
...or do like folks I know did and vomit every day in flight school (NAVY only... AF frowns on that, apparently if you go vance) and then pick HERCs or helos.
Click to expand...

Probably not the best idea to go into it with this plan.
 
flaps

flaps

happy to be here
None
Contributor
eat bananas before you go flying.
...
they taste the same comming up as they did going down.

good luck, kid.
(been there done that a time or three)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top