kevinh
Well Known Member
Hi ya'll,
So I've given a lot of rides (at least one a week?) and most of them include some amount of aerobatics. In this process I've learned a few things and of course I still have some questions.
Things I've learned (I'd be curious what others have found):
Fortunately I've only had two people barf and both nicely in the bag.
I've had a couple of passengers get really sick (on the ground) after repeatedly saying "I feel fine" to my questions in the air. When I asked about this they said "I thought you would make us stop if I said I was feeling sick and other than feeling like I was going to barf, I was having a great time." I wasn't quite sure what to say to that.
What have you learned about how to keep a passenger comfortable?
So I've given a lot of rides (at least one a week?) and most of them include some amount of aerobatics. In this process I've learned a few things and of course I still have some questions.
Things I've learned (I'd be curious what others have found):
- 60% of passengers feel a 'little funny' after just a few aileron rolls.
- Make sure the air vent is blasting on their face - it makes a huge difference.
- As soon as the passenger "feels funny" give them the controls for some mellow straight and level flying - and possibly start heading home.
- A quiet passenger is a potential sick passenger. Even if they say they are fine. This is especially true for males.
- Only 20% of passengers don't "feel funny" after a few loops (in other words 80% feel slightly queasy after rolls + loops).
- Very few passengers enjoy practicing spins.
- Those little wrist pressure things seem to actually work.
- Non aerobatic pilots are much more likely than regular passengers to get queasy. (I suspect because their eyes/ears are telling them to 'fix' things when it is looking strange outside. Where regular passengers just think of it as a roller-coaster.)
- People with a poor sense of balance don't get airsick. This is totally a theory, but I've been asking the following before flying with any passenger: "Would you say you have a good sense of balance?" The folks who say yes seem to be much more likely to get sick than those that say no. I'm guessing that mucous inside the ear of 'poor balance' people keeps the inner ear more heavily damped.
- I tell passengers to eat only a small amount before the flight. I've heard that a little bit is better than empty, but not sure about this.
Fortunately I've only had two people barf and both nicely in the bag.
I've had a couple of passengers get really sick (on the ground) after repeatedly saying "I feel fine" to my questions in the air. When I asked about this they said "I thought you would make us stop if I said I was feeling sick and other than feeling like I was going to barf, I was having a great time." I wasn't quite sure what to say to that.
What have you learned about how to keep a passenger comfortable?
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