What is Motion sickness? It is a sensation of vomiting or puking when you are traveling by plane car or boat. Have you ever tried using your mobile phone or reading a book in a car?Your body’s sensory organs send mixed messages to your brain, causing dizziness, lightheadedness, or nausea. Some people learn early in their lives that they’re prone to the condition.
This is very common among people. The inner ear is disturbed caused by the repeated motion from a moving vehicle.
Are you fit to be a pilot if you are suffering from motion sickness?
The answer is yes and it depends on the severity of your condition. During the start of training 15% of the students who come into training suffer with terrible motion sickness . Especially during the first 10 flights which introduces to the effects of control and basic manoeuvres.
About 5% will have these severe enough to interfere with their flying performance. Especially when you backseat.
The situation worsens when you are about to land and the warm air rushes in with the smell of burnt Avgas. I have experience this during my 2nd flight. Even though I flew with empty stomach the urge to vomit was still there.
The symptoms that include increased breathing rate (hyperventilation), cold sweats, dizziness, increased salivation, headache, fatigue, and general discomfort.
Although we don’t know a great deal about “aviation nausea,” there have been some studies that suggest that motion sickness occurs in a relatively high percentage of aviation participants, both passengers and pilots. Some surveys indicate that more than 25% of airline pilots have experienced motion sickness. The symptoms most likely occur because of conflict caused by the stimulation of the vestibular apparatus in the inner ear (the semicircular canals) where the balance mechanisms reside and the resulting visual cues that send information to the brain. During the early stages of flight training when student pilots are introduced to shallow banked turns, these strange new sensory inputs often trigger at least the milder symptoms of motion sickness ~ Av Exchange
I think there is no straight yes or no answer to this question. It all depends on the level of one’s sickness.
“To suffer from motion sickness” is a relatively loose definition. I would say everyone suffers from it, once the motion is rough enough. The key is how much can one take and how much it affects one’s ability to pilot the aircraft. A pilot shouldn’t get sick in normal operation.
With regular practice, your body may become used to the motion so that motion sickness lessens or goes away (also going on roller coasters etc may help – although I personally don’t like roller coasters and have never tried it).
