Taking newbies flying...

Dudley Henriques wrote:
There was nothing "wrong" or dangerous in what Dan did Stefan. Pilots do
this all the time, and few of them are instructors. In fact, the first time
I went up for a ride, (AT-6G) I did what could be stretched into (if I was
REALLY stretching that is :-) a reasonable facsimile of a decent slow roll.


My first time at the controls was with a Navy recruiter in a T-34B after I took
the NFO test and scored reasonably well. We took off after a safety briefing
that left me with the impression that if anything went wrong, well, it'd been a
good life. I mean, the pilot was going to get out OK but I sure as hell wasn't
going to remember a word of what he told me.

That being done, we took off and the fellow showed me what an airplane could do.
It went up and down (we looped) and it went around (we rolled). So far so
good... he probably did several other things but all I really remember was this
was the first time I'd ever experienced G in an airplane. I didn't disgrace
either myself or my ancestors by redecorating the cockpit.

Then the fellow let me take the controls. We went up and down (gingerly) and
turned left and right (gingerly). Now that we were straight and level (more or
less) I began to get a little green around the gills.

I was never so glad to get down on the ground. Of course, I claimed the ride
was the greatest experience of my life as I wiped the sweat from my brow and
swallowed frequently. But I didn't disgrace myself.

Here it is some 30 years later and the only time I've ever gotten nauseated in
an airplane since was riding in the back of an Arrow while somebody else flew
it. But I've never puked. There's a few times I almost **** my pants but
that's a different story.

Now, with newbies, I give my best airline ride. I figure any fool can jerk an
airplane around but it takes talent to be smooth. But I don't explain
everything in advance... I just do what needs to be done and answer questions as
they come up. I haven't lost a passenger yet or had anybody refuse to ride with
me a second time.



--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN
mschnerdatcarolina.rr.com

On Tue, 12 Dec 2006 22:57:37 -0500, Mortimer Schnerd, RN wrote:

hen the fellow let me take the controls. We went up and down (gingerly)
and turned left and right (gingerly). Now that we were straight and level
(more or less) I began to get a little green around the gills.

That's pretty odd. One sure-fire cure for nausea I've found is to have
the ill passenger take the controls. The only time it didn't work is
when the passenger in question refused.

This is the first time I've heard of someone feeling ill from taking the
controls.

Any idea why?

- Andrew

On 12/13/06 12:26, Andrew Gideon wrote:
On Tue, 12 Dec 2006 22:57:37 -0500, Mortimer Schnerd, RN wrote:

hen the fellow let me take the controls. We went up and down (gingerly)
and turned left and right (gingerly). Now that we were straight and level
(more or less) I began to get a little green around the gills.

That's pretty odd. One sure-fire cure for nausea I've found is to have
the ill passenger take the controls. The only time it didn't work is
when the passenger in question refused.

This is the first time I've heard of someone feeling ill from taking the
controls.

Any idea why?

- Andrew


When I was first practicing maneuvers (especially steep turns), I would
get really airsick - I remember asking my instructor to leave that practice
for the end of the flight, so I could get on the ground quickly after we
finished them. - I was at the controls the entire time.

I did get over it, though, but it took a while.



--
Mark Hansen, PP-ASEL, Instrument Airplane
Cal Aggie Flying Farmers
Sacramento, CA

Mark Hansen writes:

When I was first practicing maneuvers (especially steep turns), I would
get really airsick - I remember asking my instructor to leave that practice
for the end of the flight, so I could get on the ground quickly after we
finished them. - I was at the controls the entire time.

Did you turn your head in banks so that you were still normal to the
aircraft, or did you tilt it so that it was actually upright and the
aircraft tilted below you?

And did this change after you got over the airsickness?

--
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.

I've been lucky in that I've never suffered from motion sickness being
it in a car, on a boat or in a plane. One thing that surprised me was I
was acting as a safety pilot for a PP who was an instrument student. He
wanted to practice some under the hood and fly some approaches. The
airport was busy when we launched so I suggested we head to the practice
area and do some steep turns. We did the steep turns, very well from
what I saw and gave approach a call to request a few approaches. On the
way towards the FAF on a vector the student asked me if he could take
off the foggles for a bit as the steep turns had left him a bit queasy.
It didn't take long to get to the FAF at which point the foggles went
back on and he flew 3 decent ILS's and a reasonable VOR to a landing.

It's been a few years since I was undergoing my IR training so you
forget that some of this stuff can be a bit rough on the inner ear until
you've got more hood hours under your belt.

Experience is a great teacher.

Robert

Mark Hansen wrote:
On 12/13/06 12:26, Andrew Gideon wrote:

On Tue, 12 Dec 2006 22:57:37 -0500, Mortimer Schnerd, RN wrote:


hen the fellow let me take the controls. We went up and down (gingerly)
and turned left and right (gingerly). Now that we were straight and level
(more or less) I began to get a little green around the gills.

That's pretty odd. One sure-fire cure for nausea I've found is to have
the ill passenger take the controls. The only time it didn't work is
when the passenger in question refused.

This is the first time I've heard of someone feeling ill from taking the
controls.

Any idea why?

- Andrew



When I was first practicing maneuvers (especially steep turns), I would
get really airsick - I remember asking my instructor to leave that practice
for the end of the flight, so I could get on the ground quickly after we
finished them. - I was at the controls the entire time.

I did get over it, though, but it took a while.

Andrew Gideon wrote:
hen the fellow let me take the controls. We went up and down (gingerly)
and turned left and right (gingerly). Now that we were straight and level
(more or less) I began to get a little green around the gills.

That's pretty odd. One sure-fire cure for nausea I've found is to have
the ill passenger take the controls. The only time it didn't work is
when the passenger in question refused.

This is the first time I've heard of someone feeling ill from taking the
controls.

Any idea why?


I don't think it had anything to do with me taking the controls. I think it was
the end of the aerobatics (and the adrenalin rush) that caused it. I have a
mental image of fluid swishing around the semicircular canals in my inner ear
during the aerobatics, but at least it agreed with what was happening. Then we
were straight and level, but the fluid was still swishing around. The
incongruity caused the nausea.

At least that's my theory. It may just be so much crap.



--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN
mschnerdatcarolina.rr.com

On 12/13/06 14:07, Mortimer Schnerd, RN wrote:
Andrew Gideon wrote:
hen the fellow let me take the controls. We went up and down (gingerly)
and turned left and right (gingerly). Now that we were straight and level
(more or less) I began to get a little green around the gills.

That's pretty odd. One sure-fire cure for nausea I've found is to have
the ill passenger take the controls. The only time it didn't work is
when the passenger in question refused.

This is the first time I've heard of someone feeling ill from taking the
controls.

Any idea why?


I don't think it had anything to do with me taking the controls. I think it was
the end of the aerobatics (and the adrenalin rush) that caused it. I have a
mental image of fluid swishing around the semicircular canals in my inner ear
during the aerobatics, but at least it agreed with what was happening. Then we
were straight and level, but the fluid was still swishing around. The
incongruity caused the nausea.

At least that's my theory. It may just be so much crap.

Maybe, but craps been known to cause nausea as well ;-)


--
Mark Hansen, PP-ASEL, Instrument Airplane
Cal Aggie Flying Farmers
Sacramento, CA

Mark Hansen wrote:

At least that's my theory. It may just be so much crap.


Maybe, but craps been known to cause nausea as well ;-)



Spoken by someone that sounds like they've changed a diaper or two.

Robert Chambers wrote:
Mark Hansen wrote:

At least that's my theory. It may just be so much crap.


Maybe, but craps been known to cause nausea as well ;-)



Spoken by someone that sounds like they've changed a diaper or two.



Or stood downwind from me.




--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN
mschnerdatcarolina.rr.com

My rules for newby flights -
1) Only in smooth air
2) Plan a short flight (make it too short)
3) Don't hand the controls over to a newby if there is another newby on
board.
4) No banks over 20 degrees.