Bryan Wood
Well Known Member
Yesterday my son helped me wash the airplane and afterwards we did the only sure technique known to thoroughly dry the plane. We went for a ride. Because of the cloud build ups and bumps underneath we went up to 7500' to get on top for the short 45 or so mile flight to get gas. (You gotta love RV's. Could you imagine climbing this high from sea level in a Cessna or a Cherokee for a 45 mile trip?) When we got 20 miles out from the destination I started a rather steep decent of around 1000 fpm and both of us were having a blast. As I entered downwind my son started complaining that his right eye felt like it was going to pop out of his head and that his sinus cavity and right ear felt like they were going to explode. He is 17 years old and has never complained about anything like this before but he was convincing me this was real and was getting serious. As I turned base his head was leaned forward and both hands were cupping his face and he was moaning. I asked if he needed to go straight to the doctor when on the ground he said no, but he was in terrable pain. I showed him how to clear his ear on the right side which helped some, but he was still in pain. While filling the tank I started realizing that maybe instead of landing I should have went back up to altitude to let his head equalize and then come back down slowly. With this in mind when we left I went to 4500' for the way home and had him chewing gum, yawning, and stretching his jaw open which seemed to help even more. I didn't go up to 7500' which I'm wondering if was a mistake or if it would have made a significant difference to help him. This time when decending I came down at 300fpm and he did much better. However, when he went to bed last night he was still complaining of some pressure in his head. He does not have a cold, and no apparent allergies or sinus problems, at least not prior to this flight.
This situation was new to me. Not only did I not know what to do, he brought it up at a time when I was trying to slow down from a 1000 fpm decent while on downwind and had my hands full. (This airport was in podink, nowheresville and had nobody else in the pattern) It is amazing how flying seems to expose things every once in a while that our passengers should have the benifit of our knowing about, even when the thoughts have never crossed our minds. This was certainly one of those cases. With this in mind, I owe it to anybody else who is willing to sit next to me in my RV to know what to do if this ever happens again.
So fellow RV'ers, please educate me. Other than not decending so quickly what can we as pilots do to help a passenger with sinus pain in flight? Is it dangerous for the person experiencing this or just extremely uncomfortable? Will going back up to altitude and coming back down slowly help? Is there anything that we can have the person do that will help them through this?
All advice greatly appreciated,
This situation was new to me. Not only did I not know what to do, he brought it up at a time when I was trying to slow down from a 1000 fpm decent while on downwind and had my hands full. (This airport was in podink, nowheresville and had nobody else in the pattern) It is amazing how flying seems to expose things every once in a while that our passengers should have the benifit of our knowing about, even when the thoughts have never crossed our minds. This was certainly one of those cases. With this in mind, I owe it to anybody else who is willing to sit next to me in my RV to know what to do if this ever happens again.
So fellow RV'ers, please educate me. Other than not decending so quickly what can we as pilots do to help a passenger with sinus pain in flight? Is it dangerous for the person experiencing this or just extremely uncomfortable? Will going back up to altitude and coming back down slowly help? Is there anything that we can have the person do that will help them through this?
All advice greatly appreciated,