Airliners.net

Hi!

My name is Øystein S., a 16 year old boy from Stavanger, Norway.
I seriously plan on taking an education aiming for becoming a commercial pilot, or trying to educate via the Norwegian Air Force.

Some time ago I did some acrobatics with a pilot friend of mine.
We did loops, rolls, immelmanns+++and had 4g's at the most.
Shortly before landing I puked 
This came as a slight surprise, since I actually enjoyed the acrobatics, and didn't feel unpleasant while performing them. The pilot told me that this could happen to anyone, and that I should not cancel my plans of becoming a pilot..

What do you think about this matter?

I have done several jumpseat commercial flights and never had any problems..



Kindest regards
Øystein S.

Well as you have done several jumpseat rides in a jet aircraft (I presume) and weren't sick, then you should be OK. You could always take travel sickness tablets anyway. It could be that you ate before your aerobatical flight and your food couldn't stay down, you are not likely to experience any rolls in a commercial aircraft (I hope!)

LHR340

Many people get sick in the beginning and never have a problem after that. Don't worry about it!

Cheers,
Fred

Most travel sickness medications are not approved for use by pilots while flying (at least in the US). Most pilots have gotten sick at one point or another, it's nothing to dwell on.

I assume it's not a personal fault if your stomach gets upset when you practice recovery from stall, either. Shouldn't be a problem.

Your friend put you though a blender... of course your going to puke.

JET

I have my US private license and about 100 hours of flight time in Beech Skippers and Cessna 172s. A friend of mine just yesterday took me up in his new Vans RV-8A... That's a powerful, sporty, aerobatic homebuilt. He let me have the controls over the practice area and I got to do some mild aerobatics (nothing legally aerobatic though, just steep turns, 0 G pushovers, stuff like that). I felt like I was going to puke when I was done, and I had the controls the whole time. I think that it was the final 0G pushover that made me feel like that. I just adjusted the air vent to put a lot of cold air on my face, and I got over it within about 30 seconds...

Just goes to show that if you do something that your body is not used to, it can cause airsickness. When you first start flight training, your body is not used to uncoordinated turns and 3 dimensional movement, so it is expected that you will have a little bout of airsickness but you should get over it with time and a little experience as your body gets used to the maneuvers.

Dude, don't worry about it.

There are three kinds of pilots in this world: Those that have been sick, those that will and those that lie about not being sick. You'll get over it just fine!

Honestly, I am an airline pilot with around 6000 hours of flight time, and it has been so long since I have done aerobatics I would probably feel a tad off myself!

YOu know, I asked my self the same thing when I was thinkeing whether or not I would do surgery.

But passing out in the midst of surgery wouldn;t be a great outcome  

Least you are conscious after you puke. Besides, you won;t be doing rolls (I hope) in a civil airliner  

Hiya Øystein:

I reflect what's been said above - I hope you won't be too concerned about your little episode. Here are 3 little anecdotes to reassure and encourage you to continue with your dream:

1. I had a student many years ago who so desperately wanted to fly yet got SOOOO airsick during his first 30 hours he used to bring not sick-sacks, but full size garbage bags for him to "use" during his lessons. He eventually got over his misgivings and later received his flying licence. He was also an EMS tech so had lots of exposure to other unsightly things during the course of his average day;

2. A flight attendant I had the honour of working with a few years ago wanted to do the job so badly, she persisted for about 4 months of airsickness on every flight she made and like in example 1, she got over it and had a successful career; lastly

3. The Canadian Armed Forces Air Demonstration Team, known also as The Snowbirds start their season every year in late spring. When they go to different cities to perform their exhibition, they will usually take one or more local journalists along for a "ride". Internally within the Snowbird pilots, the object of the exercise is to make the journalist puke into his O2 mask. It usually happens.

Moral of stories - your story makes you perfectly normal. Better still, your candor makes you a good candidate for a flight deck somewhere.

Go for it!

To add to Yikes!'s comments,

The fact that you admitted your fault already puts you above most of the cocky airline captains I know (and I know more than a few...), so at least you won't be self-absorbed.

Good luck with your flying career!!

People get sick doing acrobatic flights, at times, because -
Being too hot, or bad ventilation -
Being a little (or a lot) nervous -
Empty stomach -
Full stomach with heavy or "wrong food" -
xxx
If you fly acrobatics again, suggest you try what "works best" for you...
Normal flights, you probably will never be sick...
xxx
Happy contrails  
(s) Skipper

I'm asking myself the same thing, it's just in my case it's becoming the damn pilot. Here in the US, becoming a pilot now is almost impossible, unless if you get lucky and get to fly for Mesaba for $17,000 a year. I'm still going to get all my licenses, but I plan to get a degree in something unrelated to aviation, so when the airlines start kickin' people out again, I'd have somewhere to go to!

co

There are heaps of First Class Flying Schools in Australia. One of them is Aerospace Aviation at Sydney (Where I fly at).

http://www.aerospaceaviation.com

Hope this helps.

Just go on lots of roller coasters and get used to it. I get sea sick pretty easy. only need the seas to be and 7-9 feet. But i have not got even an head ache on an plane since i was 8 years old. That was when i hated flying. Besides unless you want to be a fighter pilot you not going to be doing many flips any way. And when in the cockpit of an plane just like when you are driving an boat i find it that you are to worried or concentrated about driving or flying that you dont get sick.

And just to add to all the overwhelming yeses so far. Of course you can!

I meet many F-16 and F-15 pilots and this is a qeustion they hear often. The majority threw up on their first multi G rides. I know a major air show performer that told me that she carried barf bags for quite a while after learning aerobatics.

BTW, if I'm a passenger in a car that is being driven in a somewhat less than smooth manner, I still get nauseous and I've been driving for 30 years with no problems. When you are the one making the aircraft flip and roll things are different.

Your dream lives young man, go for it!

PS: When you throw up the ground crew will clean it up.  

I enjoy aerobatics, but I'm really not a fan of roller coasters. In aerobatics, I am in control of what happens. On a roller coaster the car and the track are in control.

So...from the other way, you can get sick on roller coasters and have no problem with aerobatics.

AOPA Flight Training magazine recently printed an article that explained that airsickness is mostly in one's head. If airsickness is brought up before a flight, the passenger will most likely get airsick.


When the thunderbirds came to town, they mentioned to the media person that they should eat bananas for the meals before the flight for one reason: they taste the same coming out as they do going down.

Thanks guys for the overwhelming and positive response!
I really appreciate the comments and the positive answers.
I'll see if I can arrange one more trip, and se what that brings, following your advices.  

Cheers
Øystein S.