Sinus barotrauma has been recognised for some time. Extract from a recent review article in Current Neurology.......:
The rapid change of atmospheric pressure as a possible
cause of head pain was first described in 1783 when Jacques
Charles, a French engineer who, along with the Robert
brothers, built a hydrogen balloon, complained of a very
severe pain during a demonstrative ascent that forced him to
make a rapid landing; after that, he never flew again [1].
More than a century later, in December 1903, the Wright
brothers performed the first flight in their self-developed
flying machine, and the era of modern flight began. Since
that time, several people have reported their direct experiences
of excruciating pain related to flight. Among them,
Amelia Earhart (1897–1937), a pioneer among American
aviators, suffered from recurrent sinusitis episodes that significantly
affected her flying activities in later life [2]. Attention
was paid to this particular condition during the
Second World War, when fighter pilots, subjected to rapid
altitude changes, were exposed to an increased risk of sinus
barotrauma [3]. In an autobiography, the Japanese Zero
fighter pilot Saburo Sakai described his own experience that
occurred in 1940, when he was forced to suspend the descent
for the landing approach owing to the sudden onset of
a very severe pain in half of his head [4]. Another pilot,
Lieutenant Moore, a member of the crew in the first mission
to Saarbrucken, had his flying status removed because of his
“chronic sinusitis” problems: however, the X-ray evaluation
described by the flight surgeon was normal [5].