A Pilot Faces his Fears

[Rooster Cruiser]

Man, I can relate to this!  I have had passengers barf into SickSacs, ice bags, the lavatory, even into a purse once!  Most recently I had a passenger barf into a drink cup, but it spilled onto the carpet.  Once they all left, I was faced with the task of cleaning up the puke off the carpet before it dried and left a permanent stain.  I understand the need for this, but man the smell makes me naseous!   

Another good one fellas!   

RC

[Stef]

I think you need an extra strong stomach to be able to tolerate people puking around you. Nothing quite makes you want to puke like the smell of puke!

[Rooster Cruiser]

I think you need an extra strong stomach to be able to tolerate people puking around you. Nothing quite makes you want to puke like the smell of puke!

Well said!   

RC

[cotejy]

I once went flying with my roomate and his girlfriend. It was a bumpy ride. I was flying the 172, he was on the right seat and she was behind him. When came the time for his lunch to go out, the guy just open the window, tryed to stuff his head outside and...

The window had this retainer bar that won't allow it to fully open. It only open half way up so his head can't go outside but a 100kts wind draft went straigt to his girlfriend face and from there, everywere else inside the small airplane habitacle. Imagine by yourselves...

It took us 2 hours to clean and the airplane still smelled bad one week later.

[Kilrah]

Nothing quite makes you want to puke like the smell of puke!

TBH, reading about it also has some effect...

[chuckar101]

I took one girl on a scenic flight and had to dump my flight bag out so she had a bag.  One of the few girls in all of california not to carry some sort of bag.  And of course I didnt get a chance for a date.

[Mike]

Over the years I seem to have developed a sixth sense about these things. Lately I just look at a passenger and know if they're a puker or not. Flew with this one girl this summer who had never been in a helicopter and was all excited about going and said she NEVER gets sick but she looked like a puker to me so I insisted she grab a bag anyways. When she got quiet 20min in and asked how much longer the flight will be 30min in (it was a 2hr wilderness recon) I knew I was right.
Long story short, I let her keep the bag . . . .   

[Fabo]

I would be curious as to how would you assess me... So far, I was good, not even a hint of air sickness, even in 15 minutes of aerobatics. Most motion sickness I get is when I read in a moving car/bus, and even then, I feel more dizzy than stomach sick. Funnily enough, I cant replicate the dizziness in a train.

[tundra_flier]

So far I've not had a passenger puke.  Had one intern from work I took up that warned me she was feeling queasy, so I climbed up to calmer air and had her take the controls for a bit.  For some reason once the focus on flying the plane they forget about their stomach.  I'm only gotten a little queasy once, that was doing simulated instruments on a hot bumpy day.

Also had a 13 year old girl on a young eagles flight that was terrified.  She was asking questions about everything I did as we started up and taxied out.  I thought she was really interested, turns out she was really nervous about everything.  On take off I hit a some wake from the previous plane which shook the plane for a second.  She grabbed the sides of her seat in a death grip that lasted till we got on the ground and shut down again.  At which point she literally fled the aircraft and ran to the car.   

Phil

[Mike]

Nice. Maybe it's pilot technique . . . 

I don't always have the option of letting passengers hold the controls. Even if I do, they freak themselves out in a helicopter if they're not into it and have never done it before.
I also had people jump out and run from the ship as soon as the skids touch the ground HA HA!

At one time I was showing a girl the Cobra we had been working on who was freaked out already by just sitting in the cockpit. I was standing outside and turned the master on to show here the instruments and when the gyros (this Cobra had huge old gyros who were pretty loud) started spooling up she jumped out of the aircraft and ran thinking I started the aircraft with only her in it ....
HA HA 
Like I'm gonna "trick" a girl who I just met and have her take off by herself for fun in a 2 million dollar helicopter......

[Oddball]

Worked on a old Royal Navy Whirlwind S.A.R helicopter while at Uni. Got it working so the turbines could spool up since the gear box to the blades was disconnected. One afternoon the Lecturer climbed into the cockpit and tried cranking it over. It sounded like a buzz saw and one of the other students (he was a right a&*e) nearly crapped himself hearing this and ran out of the hanger