Aviator’s Sickness.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLVIII, Issue 21, 20 November 1912, Page 48

Aviator’s Sickness.

Aside from the mountain sickness, due to the rarefaction of the air and the muscular work done by climbers, and also

the balloon disease with analogous symptoms, but which does not appear except at very high altitudes, we now have to take account of aeroplane or aviators* sickness. This is due to the rapidity with which the maximum height is reached and the still greater speed at the descent, that is, the passage from a low-air pressure to a higher one. M. Berget, a French aeronaut, after speaking of the conditions of the atmosphere in general, also brings out some points on this question. Aeroplanes sometimes reach altitudes of 10,000 ft. in an hour, and here the effects on the ear such as humming or cracking noise are about the same as in a balloon, but the effect on the respiratory organs is different.

The pilot is sooner out of breath, and he feels a special kind of uneasiness. During the descent the heart beats arc of greater amplitude, but without accelerating. A quick descent in a sailing flight at a speed of I,oooft. or 1,200 ft. a minute or even more, since Morane descended at Harve from B,oooft. height in six minutes, causes a feeling of a special kind of uneasiness, accompanied with humming in the ears. Burning in the face is also felt, and a severe headache, also a great tendency to sleep. The movements of the body are sluggish and unskilful. These symptoms continue for some time after the landing', and the tension in the arteries is noticed to be higher than the normal.