Slight congestion

[Insomneo]

I recently went to sick call for a head cold I was having. Due to them being quite busy, they put me on LLD and told me to come back when I was feeling better. I feel fine now, but am I good enough to fly? The congestion's much less, and the sore throat is gone, but from hearing horror stories of sinus blocks I am wondering if I should go in for an up-chit now or if I should wait till it's 100% gone (on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the worst, I'd say I'm at a 2). The altitudes that I will be flying at will not exceed 5,000 ft.

I kinda feel like a wuss being on LLD with such a minor issue, but from stories I've read other pilots felt the same, went up, and were down for many weeks after because they felt the same way.

 

[Moc1Sig]

as just a civi pilot, if I am only slightly congested (ie can still breath 70+ percent through my nose fine and dont believe I would have problem equalizing any preassure) I'll go. Granted im not doing any split s' or cuban 8's or even climbing to pattern alt at near the same vertical speed. Often, If I feel healthy other than congestion I'll go for a run and it will seem to open up. I just wouldn?t take to the skies fatigued or with my equilibrium off, that case maybe muscinex (sp) and sleep??

 

[zab1001]

Or he could follow procedure, not self medicate, and GO SEE THE DOC.

 

[HooverPilot]

DON'T FLY CONGESTED! That is unless you want 3-6 months off (read permanent SDO) to heal the blown sinus/eardrum/etc.

 

[rrpilot]

I definitely would not fly with any congestion, go see the doc before flying again, at worse the effects from a blockage could be permanent...

 

[Uncle Fester]

DO NOT risk flying with congestion!!! If you were working a desk job, it'd be a minor issue, but not when flying. At the very least, it'll hurt like a motherfrabber on descent. At worst, you can blow out your eardrums and/or sinuses and you'll be riding the SDO desk for a long, long time while they heal (if they heal).

Go see the Doc. Doc knows when you'll be okay to fly. A few days med-down beats a few months, or permanent NPQ due to holes in your eardrums.

 

[picklesuit]

I'm sure you have sims you can do...don't fly AFU...not a good idea...

 

[Flugelman]

On a P-3 X-cntry we started our descent into NUW and an off-duty 3P standing in the cockpit was literally driven to his knees by the pain of a sinus blockage. We had to climb back to altitude and FE had to play with cabin pressure to get the guy some relief. He was med down for some time afterwards. The PPC was pissed the guy had not told anyone he had any problems prior to takeoff.

Moral: You'll feel just great on the way up, not so much on the way down. Go see the Doc...