when students turn green!
 

im new too the job, loving it in general! BUT - How do u react when a student gets ill, happenend to me a couple of days ago and wasnt 100% sure what too say. I tried not to make a big deal of it and took over control, then started to give him bits to do to get him focused, like FREDA checks etc.

:uhoh: :uhoh: :uhoh:

Give them a sick bag
Get them to look outside
Turn the vents on - plenty of fresh air
and land ASAP
Giving them things to do is always a good idea to take their mind of feeling ill.
TJ

If they fly - or at least put their hands on the controls and go through the motions - they'll tend to feel better. But I'd then land ASAP, but assure them it's normal and will tend to disappear with practice; some people go into panic mode and think they'll never be pilots because they get airsick!

Turning green
 

Motion sickness I'm sure is as a result of the confusion of the senses. What the eyes see, the balance sensers within the ear sense and the feelings the body receives from 'g' become at odds with each other. Nothing adds up and confusion reigns, the brain, as if to say it must be what you have eaten, orders the stomach to get rid. A swell, in my experience, is worse than turbulance in so many cases.
The sufferer must not focus on one thing nor sit motionless. Get them to move about in their seat and continously move their head and body to break the cycle.
Having not eaten and being low in sugar is often the cause and of course so is tiredness. I always check whether a Trial flight has eaten recently and if not get them to have a Mars Bar or similar, particularly before an aerobatic trip.
Seems to work for me.

I have been instructing for less than a year now myself and despite having the odd queasy student, nobody has blown chunks on me yet.

With the ones that have come close (generally trial lessons) I tend to open the vents/apply cabin air. Try to get them to concentrate on something like flying the aircraft, or as a last resort get them to close their eyes while I return to the airfield by the shortest possible means.

As homeguard says, it's caused by the difference in sensations percieved by the eyes and semi-circular canals in the ears. If you get them to shut their eyes, the possibility of them being sick is reduced.

I have flown with a student who suffers quite badly with airsickness. He has one of the anti-sickness wristwatch style devices and it seems to work with him. When the time came to do steep turns, I thought my luck had ran out. However, he was absolutely fine. :O

No-one! you've been lucky. I must have had half a dozen and when it's going to happen make sure you open the bag for them, get the microphone out of projectile range and then get another bag ready for when the first bag leaks. All that about getting them to fly the plane has never worked for me.

A few thing I have learned are
1) Make sure they weren't on the pop last night
2) Make sure they have eaten something
3) If they are not 100% up for the loop don't do it, let them come back for it.
4) If they are 100% up for the loop don't push it and do another.
5) Don't show them how fast the plane can roll, it might impress you but not them.
6) If aeros are on the cards do it immediately before you land don't get it out of the way at the start.
7) Get them to divest as many clothes as possible before they get in. There is no way they will get cold but they will certainly get too hot.
8) When they go quiet start worrying.

I personally think 30-40 minutes is ideal. Any longer they get bored and then....

I'd reinforce everything that 18Greens has said - especially the bit about moving the microphone (they don't like it up 'em and sound a bit muffled ever after :-) )
A cautionary tale from my more naive days. An Aerobatic trial lesson, a very "up for it" young lady, everything going well until quite suddenly she feels ill so we calm down and start to RTB. The bag is used and she then says she feels much better and could I show her one more loop while she holds the bag.
I discovered that bags aren't apparently designed for 4g when 1/2 full :O .
She also threw-up again before we could land.
Moral(s) of the story:

• RTB when they start to feel ill,
• don't believe them when they say they feel better,
• always have at least 2 bags (I slide one under my thigh so I can find it in a hurry)

HFD

agree with all thats been said...especially the fresh air...

its easy for you to '' come up in sympathy '':eek: ...so get those vents open and lots of cold air for your pax...

always carry more than one bag,,,just in case and at the first signs of you pax looking unwell get one ready but keep it discreetly hidden so as now to encourage but have it ready to hand....

barf on the radios is a bitch...and apart from the mess it does'nt do them any good at all...!!!:}

the dean.

I threw up over my FI for my first full lesson, great way to start a relationship. :ugh: The cause was though performing "secondary effects of controls" each resulting in a spiral dive. This was repeated six times. Then a jolt up following by a jolt down though setting the trim totally out. Throw in some turbulent mixing with the ground on a gusty late Autumn day and I felt quite ill... The bags had been forgotten and we almost made it until we had to go around on short final. My body just gave up there and then.

Too warm clothing also didn't help. My tip as a Master Chunder, epxnading on 18greens's comment, would be to make sure you are cool enough but not freezing. I wouldn't be surprised if the additional stress of learning to fly puts your body temperature up.

Ultimatley it was combatted by continution of learning so more control coudl be taken away from the instructor. The body imo combats vestibular effects better when it can knows and can anticipate events.

my way
 

I just tell them to stop being such a girl (unless they are one, then i replace that with 'emotional') and pull themselves together like any normal human.

Quickly followed by informing them that if it's their vomit, they'll clean it up. And, if i smell vomit I WILL chunder and they can clear that up as well.

It's only a few unusual attitudes and G loads. A spell in the army or prison is what thse people need to toughen them up. I know, I've done both.

I def agree with the point about the smell! was making me ill!

Workload must come into the eqation somewhere! i have stocked up my knee board with bags!:\

Cpt Kirk

I take it that with such a sympathtic attitude you have plenty of sick students returning for more of the same ? :ok:

TJ

Not you again
 

Trust you not to realise that the post was a joke.

Are you an FI

Turboj
 

Sorry, did not see the smiley face at the end of the post. So just when i thought you were turning into my nemesis. i take the last post back.

Bite
 

Nearly a bite then.

Yes

:eek:

I've been instructing for 12 months now and, touch wood, only got through 3 sick bags, and one of those simply wore out from being in my pocket for so long.

The first time was a very lucky escape. I was told during my FIC as I'm sure we all were:always carry a sick-bag. Anyway, for a couple of months into instructing I kept meaning to get one but never quite got around to it. One morning the CFI was talking about barfing and I mentioned I meant to start carrying a sick bag and he gave me his, there and then.

That VERY AFTERNOON, one of my students turns green and throws up, into my new bag. Very lucky escape, I learnt my lesson and always had one from then on.

The second guy (trial lesson) got the bag, but also the mic, another lesson learnt!

ah, i love it when green instructors forget the mic. The looks on their faces when they get back to base are always top shelf. :D

Is This A Record?
 

My luck finally ran out just a few days ago. There was no early warning, just a mumbled "I'm going to be sick". There was enough time for me to pass him a souvenir bag but no sooner had I done that, the 5 minute long chunder began.

So anyway, sad as I am, I worked in out: 1 year and 71 days not out :}

Beat it if you can.

I am doing okay, two near misses.

One a young girl wanted to see her house. Looking down in a steep turn she got tunnel vision and nearly passed out, spent most of the way home gagging.
I kept looking out of the side window as everytime she wretched I dry wretched.
I got home with a very sore stomach from dry wretching and tears in my eyes.
I laugh now, however at the time I would rather have crashed than landed covered in vom.

Another was a young chap, wanted to know what it was like inside of the cloud and have some fun.
Danced around the Cu s for a bit. He did most of the flying and was rather good. (I just kept everything in balance) I suggested that he had great co-ordination and that he might like to be a pilot after his "A" levels.

At that point he went very green and didn't speak again.
I am unsure if it was the thought of doing "A" Levels, being a pilot, or watching me dry wretch in the RH seat that made him green.

Hi there!
I want to share my motion sickness experience with you!
First of all:
Good one, indeed!
Second:
It really is for sure. I spent everlonging 10 miles apologizing, and was quite worried wether if I'd be able to overcome it. Good thing about the 172 are those big upward opening windows, but the instructor got his share while holding it (his watch looked nice!), and the final result was not so bad taking into account that I was "on short final" when I "reported". The guy had been quite nice with me.
Third and last!:
Maybe it doesn't affect everyone the same way, but heat really makes me feel sick. If I am to be sick, heat really increases the effect, if not the only cause. For me... some times that I'm hot inside a moving vehicle I end up quite sick.
Yet another one is getting my head down to read. Even I can't stand up while reading something into a table for a "long period", like reading a newspeparer or so. Getting my head down to read sometimes helps sicknss to appear.
And another cause, that may seem ridiculous, is smell. If I smell something disgusting, I have a chance to be sick. For instance, the mix of exhaust, oil, gas and ages of not cleaning that we can find in the average general aviation airplane is specially disgusting for me. Even more disgusting is the smell that sticks to your clothes, I feel really uncomfortable after flying some airplanes. So I'm quite scared of having the type of guy that forgets to go for a touch and go into the bathtube once in a while. More than the smells themselves, I think the problem is that if I keep smelling something, I get distracted from what I'm doing, so it may be kinda increasing workload or reducing concetration that helps getting sick. My sisters' godmother is also prone to get sick due to smells.
Just a final thought. Although I didn't visit the doctor I guess my "trend" to become sick has to do something with the little equilibrium I have and vertigo. Since I remember, I have always had little equilibrium to stand on one foot or over a wall, and when pushing, pulling and so was normally the first to fall. Even practising taekwondo I have problems sometimes to roll and so. And then I have always had vertigo. Although it seems a paradox, whenever there's not a barrier or something that makes me feel safe, I really have a bad feeling. Even I discovered that dropping skydivers, for the runs I have flown as passeger, as soon I saw the guys open the door and jump I felt quite strange, and I realized I was grabbing the handle too stiff unconciosly. If I'm sit and tied, it's gone. And of course I dislike climbing to places where I have to maintain equilibrium by myself like standing on top of a ladder or being close to a high edge like cliffs and buildings or riding a horse.
By the way, I've never felt sick riding in a rollercoaster (I love them!), in a boat (small and big boats with all sorts of waves), train, bus or airliner. But... in the car I used to feel sick quite often when I was a child, and once in a while I still have the odd day.
Hope this helps you understand how some people get sick. I think it's particular to each individual.
Regards / Pablo