Pilot Sickness?

Question

How do I relax during training and release my Kung-Fu grip on the yoke? Any breathing excersizes before flight? I only have a few hours but I got sick and yacked the other day for some odd reason doing Touch and Go's.

Is it airsickness?

Sleep deprivation?

Eating before flying?

The touch and go's?

Hazy weather? (No reference points outside cockpit)

Any advice on how to prevent in the future would be appreciated!!!

Do most pilots go through this?

Thank you very much for your answers my friends!!

Answer 1

Great question!  You sound like a great student - trying to understand and overcome problems instead of succumbing to resignation or placing the blame somewhere else.  Keep up that attitude and you'll do great!

You already have some great answers, so I'll try not to repeat anything.

I concur that it's most likely nerves, although many pilots deal with airsickness in the beginning.  People get airsick when the visual cues don't match the sensory cues.  Hazy weather can contribute to this, but the biggest contributing factor is not feeling in control of the airplane.  Only having a few hours, you probably feel like the airplane is sometimes taking you on a ride instead of you controlling the airplane, especially in crosswinds and turbulence.  This is normal in the beginning.  Those feelings should subside pretty soon.

I always had a problem with airsickness in the beginning during ground reference maneuvers.  Patterns would be very similar.  You're focusing a lot right in front of you and turning your head a lot while close to the ground.  You're much more aware of motion at low altitudes.  Sometimes it's just a matter of having to give your body a bit of a break.  Instead of doing multiple touch-and-goes, after every 2 or 3 landings, do a full stop landing and taxi back.  Give your body a break.  It will help clear your mind as well - there's a lot to think about in traffic patterns.

As for the nerves issue, that's a matter of practicing the things that make you the most nervous.  Without fail, I had most students get sick on me during the first lesson of stalls - again, the feeling of not being in control.  There are several exercises you can do to prove to yourself that you're in complete control and all it takes is a little pressure.  For example, when approaching a stall with the stall warning device sounding, just ease up on the back pressure.  Stall warning goes away immediately.  Now add the back pressure again - stall warning comes back.  You are in complete control the whole time.  Another exercise I'll do with students is I'll take control of the yoke and hold the plane in a stall.  The student's job is to keep a wing from dropping by using the rudders.  The rudder is still very effective even though the wings are stalled, so even during the stall, you're still in complete control.

Once you are feeling more in control, it will become easier to loosen that grip.  As somebody else mentioned, make sure you have mastery over using the elevator trim.  Work with the plane, don't fight it.  Especially in training airplanes, you should be able to accomplish entire flights using just 2 or 3 fingertips.  When you get to that point, things will fall into place that much faster.

Bottom line: keep practicing, be conscious about relaxing.  When you start feeling sick, give your body a little break.  Stop maneuvering for a bit.  If you are doing pattern work, make a full stop landing before continuing.  Give your body and mind a chance to recuperate.  And keep having fun!

Answer 2

I think a lot of pilots going threw training suffer in different degrees. Most put it behind them. I think that most air sickness that persists is a mental state that can be defeated. Sort of like if you think you will get sick ,,,,, you will get sick. If you think you got the kung-fu thing , look at the guy sitting next to you.

Answer 3

Make sure you have adequate air flow in the cabin. . . I closed the fresh air vent on a flight once, because I was getting cold. . . Then I yacked. . . felt like a million bucks when I opened that vent again.  I recommend having cabin heat turned on for your legs, and open the fresh air vent up high.  You'll figure it out soon, good luck with your training!

Answer 4

Sounds like nerves. Just fly through it. There's a lot of good advice previously mentioned. I'll just add that you can always hold a pencil between your middle finger and index and ring finger of the hand that you're using for the yoke. When you grip the yoke too hard, your middle finger will start to hurt. When you relax, your finger will stop hurting.

Give it a try. It works.

Answer 5

Sounds like airsickness. The sudden changes in air pressure as you climb and descend are probably messing with your body~

Answer 6

Thumb and index finger on the yoke. That's all you need isn't it. Do not allow yourself to touch the yoke with more than those two fingers. The rest you'll have to just push through and get beyond it. Chewing gum used to help me. Keep going back up until you feel more comfortable in the sky than on the ground. I sure do.

Answer 7

Yes, some pilots go through this. One problem is obviously anxiety and you really do need to relax. Tell your instructor about your problem and ask for ways you can work this problem out together. I suggest that when you feel yourself getting tense, give the controls to your instructor, yawn, stretch, wiggle your limbs, fingers and toes, take slow deep breaths, rest your eyes, and maybe just look around and enjoy the sights for a minute or three without much talking, then go back to flying. It should be fun, not work! My particular problem when I was first starting out is that my feet would get so tense on the rudder pedals my legs would cramp. It took a lot of conscious effort to get over that, but I did..

Your second problem is most likely your use, or non-use of elevator trim. If improperly trimmed, the airplane will tend to get away from you even if you let go of the controls for a couple seconds. This is not a good thing and leads to fear that you'll lose control if you don't maintain a death-grip on it. A common student problem. You should be able to let go of the yoke with absolutely nothing exciting happening, even in slightly bumpy air, no matter whether you're taking off, landing, climbing, descending, turning, gliding, whatever.

If you have a decent instructor, he / she would have already clearly demonstrated how to properly keep the airplane trimmed at all times so that it flies virtually hands off, so that you only need to grip the yoke very lightly between your thumb and forefinger with your feet resting lightly on the rudder pedals. A good pilot really flies the airplane with trim most of the time. Every power change, every pitch change, every airspeed change, every change in flap settings is accompanied by retrimming.

You should be able to do this automatically without thinking about it, otherwise it makes flying hard work and it is difficult to relax. I could teach you how to fly an entire circuit from just after lift-off all the way to the point you have to flare, without more than one finger touching the yoke, and I demonstrate this for all my students very early in training, just to show how effortless flying can be.

Think of it this way. Flying a training airplane (and most other types) is like riding a well-trained horse. If you keep the reigns slack, or even let go, the animal knows exactly what to do with only very subtle coaxing. If you grip the reigns tight and keep tension on them, it hasn't a clue what you want from it and becomes hard to control, making you more uptight which worsens the situation.

Hope this helps.

Answer 8

Hi, im 17 years of age and currently have 30 + flying hours. I was pretty much the same and as my flight instructor said it is all natural; all pilots go through this. My first few hours of flying were very stressful because I had NO SELF CONFIDENCE as my flight instructor said . I would stress pretty much over the littlest things. When I done my first solo flight this changed I had heaps of confidence and i still do.

Cameron, murrumbidgee aero club. YNAR.

Answer 9

probably just nerves.. take a deep breath and release the vulcan death grip on the yoke.  you should fly a plane with a couple of fingers lightly on the controls.. one hand on the yoke, the other on the throttle!

Sounds like you only have a couple of hours.. you will be a little up tight until you get more comfortable with your skills.  after a few more hours you will start to do the right things without even thinking about it.

just remember dont take too long of breaks between lessons when you are just getting started.. twice a week is good, that way you dont spend too much time reviewing things and learn more.  You'll get to solo time much quicker.

Ive never been sick in a plane in my life, but from what you described i think its just that youre nervouse.. nothing to worry about!

Answer 10

just calm kung fu!