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I recently developed mild agoraphobia and mild to moderate symptoms of panic disorder. ive also suffered from chronic nausea which has no medical basis (all medical tests come out negative).
Obviously i could never be a pilot with my mindset but im just curious.
1)can a pilot suddenly develop symptoms as i just mentioned or
2) would there be no such thing as a pilot developing them because pilot types "just don't develop symptoms that are not tied to any medical diagnosis" because they are not physically predisposed to or have no reason to since they have decades of experience flying at high altitudes?
before pilots trained are they asked medical questions?
just curious about this
for example do you think there have ever been pilots who felt ill during flight but actually weren't, rather just "one of those things" like we all get? sometimes from post nasal drip, sometimes from inner ear disturbances or food allergies and intolerances(ie the things that usually don't show on medical tests) if they experienced that would they be required to report it?
i always wonder how the pilot is feeling, like what if he gets a stomach cramp while landing or take off? the thought can be disturbing. like if that did happen could they handle it?
or are these things just what pilots ARE NOT made of?
a few years ago i drank too much coffee and had bad acid reflux prior to a flight. furthermore that was aggravated by a foul smell in the men's room and while boarding the plane the woman in the wheelchair in front of me had an accident and i started having the dry heaves in front of several perplexed passengers because of the odor and my nausea
the flight attendant acted like she didn't understand what my problem was so she had the captain talk to me. he understood that i simply felt ill from the odor and gagged, he comforted me and told me if i have any problem to just call the flight attendants
so from this i wondered if his conversation with me could have distracted him in any way from flying the plane
or if he himself had ever experienced this type of thing on a flight
The Aviation Safety Reporting System database has more accounts of in flight illnesses than you probably have time or energy to read. The reports are all written in the first person, so it's a first hand account of peoples' thoughts and actions. Sometimes there are multiple reports for the same incident written from different viewpoints. Toxic fumes, coming down with some illness, you name it.
In the Air Force we were required to report "physiological incidents". Often early in training a student will become actively or passively airsick. Passive is dry heaves, etc. Active is, well, you know. I was passively airsick my first flight in pilot training... not reportable. An emesis (fancy name for hurling into a sack) IS reportable to the flight surgeon. Too many times and it's grounds for removal from training. Most students are better after a few rides. Some, such as my first roommate, fail to improve and are removed from further training pending medical evaluation.
It's interesting how many pilots I know are acrophobes, afraid of heights.
In the Air Force we were required to report "physiological incidents". Often early in training a student will become actively or passively airsick. Passive is dry heaves, etc. Active is, well, you know. I was passively airsick my first flight in pilot training... not reportable. An emesis (fancy name for hurling into a sack) IS reportable to the flight surgeon. Too many times and it's grounds for removal from training. Most students are better after a few rides. Some, such as my first roommate, fail to improve and are removed from further training pending medical evaluation.
It's interesting how many pilots I know are acrophobes, afraid of heights.
When I was in college we administered Initial Flight Screening (IFS) for air force pilot candidates. I was often surprised by how many of them got air sick. We'd carry sick sacks typically for passengers, but I had never encountered a pilot get sick...on the contrary, the pilot candidates from IFS ALL seemed to get sick. To build their stomachs up prior to going to the airforce flight training we'd really try to push to get them sick...often switching from negative to positive G's, spins, and zero G demonstrations, not to mention lots of unusual attitudes.
About a quarter of the FIP (which was the precursor to FIS) candidates in my college ROTC program got sick at least once. I didn't go through FIP, which was a 10-12 hour program to get a candidate through solo; I already had a private certificate from when I was a senior in HS, and so was exempt from FIP.
I never had a person get sick in the back of seat of any of the military aircraft I flew. That included one incentive ride passenger in the back seat of an F-16D. The maintenance flight officer, he wanted to pull 9 Gs. I let HIM do it so as to control the G he pulled. He got to 9 that day, and loved it. Not everyone would, though, and some riders wanted more benign missions. Also had one Chief Master Sergeant who was retiring and endured a 1.8 hour mission complete with air refueling, a low level and an air intercept... no problems at all. Only people I ever had lose it were in GA aircraft, a C-172 and a Piper Arrow.
Regrading the OP's post, pilots are encouraged to not fly when sick, especially with anything that affects their sinuses and inner ears. WHen I was a flight commander I had a student fly when he shouldn't, and he ruptured an ear drum during a descent. It quickly healed in about a week, but it could have just as easily taken him out of the cockpit for a few months (or longer).
I think the airline captain genuinely understood why the OP's symptoms were manifested when the other passenger was ill. It is the captain's perogative to deny boarding if he or she feels that a passenger may make others ill, or otherwise interfere with the safe conduct of the flight.
yes, i think the female flight attendant had no idea what i was going thru and she probably figured i was contagious but the captain understood. i actually go thru that quite often with no fever or actual illness. i do believe its sinus or ear based too.
do those people you speak of who got airsick get better and return to normal?
i obsess that if i started heaving for any reason (from an anxiety attack) on a plane or if somebody else got sick it would cause a chain reaction on the plane. and being enclosed with no escape bothers me more than any other worry i had about the flight. thats what worried me that day.
i remember 2 years ago a little kid let loose in his pants during take off. wisely i had a package of wet ones on my lap. as soon as i smelled it i held one up to my nose and inhaled the perfumed odor from the wipe. it worked.
My experience, limited as it is with airsick passengers, is that once the episode is over, the person gets better. However, I have been on a very rough ferry from St. Martin to St. Barts and some people were so overwhelmed with seasickness that they were incapacitated, couldn't walk, had to fly back to St. Martin. So it varies from person-to-person.
The military allowed us to carry Afrin spray in the event of an ear or sinus block. An effective valsalva (pinch your nose, close your mouth, and blow GENTLY [note emphasis]) can reduce the buildup of pressure. Afrin was a one-time deal, it can be addictive and lose its effectiveness with prolonged use.
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