As a woman in my late 30s who not only cannot work, but also cannot fly due to a severe lung condition, I am a million worlds away from being in your target audience.Yet I never miss a video and look forward to every single one! Keep up the good work, you are interesting, to the point, knowledgeable........(and nice on the eye too!). Looking forward to more great videos!
When the external pressure is increasing (as when the aircraft is descending), hold your nose, purse your lips and GENTLY exhale. This will increase the pressure in lungs, throat, ears and sinuses and will push a little more air past the blockage in the eustachian tubes and bring the internal pressure into balance with the external pressure. If you wiggle your jaw back and forth as you do this, it will help temporarily relieve any blockages in the eustachian tubes. When climbing, closing the nose and mouth while swallowing will reduct the pressure in the system and allow the system to equalize the internal and external pressures.
Edgars Pavlovičs hope your problems/sadness or whatever is causing your hypersensitivity/anger has reduced. been using internet for well over two decades now. It still catches me by surprise or i am left in awe as to how people have such deep seated resentment or issues over the most inconsequential things while they go on-line. May be I'm mistaken, but it wasn't so bad even 14-15 years back.
I remember the first time I went on a high-altitude jet at the age of 11, as soon as we started to descend, my ears would not pop. The pain! It was awful. I seem to have grown out of it, but I'll never forget it. When you are on a plane descending and you hear a child crying, I know it's annoying, but be empathetic. They may be in pain, and it may be much worse for them than you realise.
I, too, had awful problems up to the age of about 16, then I also “grew out of it.” I think that’s fairly normal, as our Eustachian tubes do in fact widen as we grow to adulthood.
First time I was flying from Hungary to Denmark, I had severe ear pain for 3 days. I never realized it till now, but I got sick while we were gone and had a severe cold. I tend to get a cold when travelling, so I truly appreciate this video.
For scuba divers out there: Going from this 8,000ft/2400m down to 0 is about 0.25 ATM, or only 2.5 meters of depth under water. So 1 or 2 equalizations on the way down should be plenty to have no annoying ear problems.
If you're descending you can also use the divers trick of holding your nose and blowing through it. It will pop your ears. The best thing is to do it continuously while descending. I had earplugs in while in a military airplane and my ears were itching while I was descending and I had the bright idea of pulling the earplugs out, instantly burst one of my eardrums as soon as I pulled it out, the pain was very intense. My hearing didnt return 100% until 2-3 months later.
I was once on a flight where I just simply could not clear my ears. The decent was pretty bad and my ears hurt for several days after. I was to fly again about three days later and I was not looking forward to it, but Praise God it was ok.
if you have a bit of congestion at all (even a minor cold or allergies) that may not even be very noticeable on ground.... you will notice it on decent. felt like my eye was going to explode on one approach. Never fly sick
This happened to me on my last flight. I had a cold and could for the life of me not pressurize my ears. during T/O it was bad, but manageable. But during landing it got really bad. It hurt like hell, couldn't hear anything and my left eye was going blurry. A flight attendant gave me a saline solution. It didn't help much, but it was just enough to not go absolutely crazy from the pain. It took me a good 4 days before I fully recovered from that. One thing I learned, never again will I go on a flight without a nose spray, and I will use it vigorously if I feel it is needed. I have a fairly decent pain tolerance, but this was bad. Probably worse than the migraines I sometimes get.
Ascent is less of a problem as the air in the middle ear expands and can force its way down the eustachian tube with minimal help. During descent, the air shrinks and the tube is more likely to collapse closed and stay closed. That can take more conscious effort to prevent - yawning, blowing down pinched nostrils etc. For this reason, I'd never sleep during descent. I've been known to carry a xylometazoline metered-dose nasal spray - which is a powerful decongestant - more as "insurance" than anything else.
This is my #1 "fear" of flying right here, so I appreciate this video (despite how disturbing it was to watch 😅). Last time I was on a plane, I was 8 years old, and it took like five minutes after leaving the plane before my ears popped back to normal. I have no memory feeling this for multiple flights beforehand though. Since that day I've experienced two general forms of ear popping. Part of my daily commute to high school involved traveling over a hill on the city bus; sounds like this is closest to the ear popping on flights. You'll also experience this on elevators in tall buildings. But there's also another kind that you experience on trains when they go through tunnels. Essentially when a train suddenly hits a wall of air, it's a sudden pain in your ears. Covering ears with your fingers for a minute absolutely helps. I wonder whether something like this also exists when there's turbulence? Speaking of pressurization, I have slight trouble breathing onboard trains when all the windows and doors are closed. When the doors open (or I'm near an open window), I immediately breathe normally. Could this be a problem on any plane? (It's not claustrophobia. I breathe fine on elevators because they have good ventilation, not tightly sealed.)
I have sinus problems and sometimes when I’m in the deep end of a pool and I swim to the bottom; my inner ear can’t take the water pressure and I have to surface immediately. It’s too painful. When your underneath the water, it’s a totally different world.
I'm 54 and I only just recently took my first ever flight from Birmingham UK to Romania. I was a wee bit nervous particularly about the ear popping thing because I have bad ears. A friend advised me to chew gum etc and after take off and cruising I was actually quite bored by it all to be honest. Coming in to land at Bucharest was a different story however. My ears were popping like a fork lift truck driving over bubble wrap. It didn't hurt but it drove me nuts for a while. :D
Sometimes I would go to my aunt and uncles house where you would have to take Route 80 to get there. It's up a mountain, so whenever we go up my ears sometimes feel heavy, not really ear popping but something like that (especially going to PA), but when we come back down, my ears feel much heavier. In fact, once we arrive back home, I can't hear very well out of my right ear. I have to yawn to equalize my hearing again. It's annoying but I get through it. This is why I hate to fly, or else I'd go to Italy every year...
The way I learned to do it during descent is to close tight your lips and block your nose by pinching with fingers (using tongue doesn't work as it blocks the ear tube too), and push the air using your lungs (not your mouth, it needs to be relaxed). It's a similar feeling as to when you sneeze while you block your nose, but you can hear the air seeping back to your ear, and the bass comes back.
mysimpleprojects I guess an airline pilot has sat in more than one model airplane as a passenger, understatement LOL :) sverzec means as a pilot of course. Sitting in the back is no deal.
The Eustachian tube connects the middle ear to the throat. Scuba divers are taught this and are quite familiar with this part of the anatomy. Failure to equalize can ruin a divers day with a blown tympanic membrane commonly called the ear drum. A correction with s side-note LOL,
Jürgen Ruut's idea (below) of getting Capt. Petter & Capt. Joe piloting the same aircraft could be interesting, yes, but you'd first have to find out if they are both cross-rated on each other's aircraft type. Because someone can captain an A320 doesn't automatically mean they would be qualified to command or co-command a 737. Also, I've noticed that neither of their employers have taken out ads on their channels, indeed, they seem to take pains not to mention their airlines directly. If their employers thought it was a good idea to advertise or subsidise either channel I think they would have done that by now. It would also mean that they would have to become official 'spokespersons' for their airlines; that would take away some of their objectivity and independence. It's a nice idea until you start thinking about the detail. Cheers, BH
Depends on what you want to know really. The 737 in this video has a tank in each wing and a single tank in the fuselage, which I believe is between the wings. The center tank and both wing tanks have 2 fuelpumps each. Both wing tanks can be connected to eachother with a crossfeed valve, which can be controlled from the cockpit and is used to balance the plane if one wing carries more fuel then the other. The left engine gets fuel from the left wing, the right engine from the right wing. The APU in the tail uses the left wing tank and requires the left wingtank main fuelpump to be running in able to start. The center tank feeds both engines. When flying, the center tank is emptied first, on short flights where the center tank is not needed, only the wing tanks are filled. Disclaimer: I'm not a real pilot, I fly simulators, mostly the 737. For more detail, whatch the "AOA PMDG 737NGX Fuel Preview" video, here on TH-cam
As a military diver, I have developed techniques for equalising all airways in my body (incl sinuses and ears), so that I don't feel any discomfort. These techniques I perform without even thinking about it. What I do, however, is to swallow.
I just force myself to yawn by opening my mouth and adjusting my jaw. I fly in aircraft that don't pressurize and we fly up to 12,000 feet MSL all the time. You get used to it but it definitely can be a problem if you can't release the pressure as you descend back down to the ground. Just try to force yourself to yawn or eat something and you will release the pressure.
There was a flight by the Greek airline Helios some years back, where the cabin didn’t pressurise at all on takeoff because a ground technician had accidentally left the pressurisation control switch in manual mode and the crew apparently failed to notice it. Everyone save for one flight attendant succumbed to hypoxia at altitude, and while the flight attendant had had a few hours of flying lessons under his belt and attempted to save the flight, it still crashed killing everyone on board. My question is, why wouldn’t a seasoned flight crew have known something was seriously wrong by the way their ears must have been violently popping on climb-out, immediately suspected failure of the cabin to pressurise, and noticed the incorrect switch position before it was too late?
Used to know an architect who was a skydiver who could not pop his ears, and he used to blow out his eardrums and need surgery every now and then when he jumped. I dont know but having blood gushing from my ears on the first time would be a turn-off. Not quite the same thing as sex the first time. The pilot's trick works wonders since I used to vacation at the family farm in the mountains, and even on bikes the decent would be enough to hurt your ears without constantly equalizing them.
Excellent video. We as humans tend to fear that which we don’t understand. As such, you give a great explanation for “laypeople” of how cabin pressurisation and the mechanics of the human ear interact. I did note that you specifically cited “modern” passenger aircraft in your description of cabin pressure control, and that the hull begins to pressurise on rollout and thereafter, the system calculates and maintains the correct rate of “cabin climb” up to a maximum of 8000 feet. (Is that ASL or AGL? Must be ASL - Picky, picky! 🙂). Is it not also true that on older aircraft, a crew member would manually adjust the cabin altitude, and some pilots would do this with less, er, “finesse” than others? That would explain why my ears still pop much more, and a lot more violently, on a DC-9, for example, than on a Boeing 767 or an A320. It would also explain why, as a kid in the seventies flying on a lot of “Niners” and other passenger aircraft of that vintage with my parents, I tended to have a lot of ear problems, whereas now as an adult, I barely notice it. That, besides the fact that in children, the Eustachian tubes still have not fully developed to adult width. Note I’ve also taken flying lessons (I still hope to get at least my recreational license one day), and on a light, unpressurised Cessna 152 I never noticed my ears doing anything at all, even though I’ve been up to 10,000 feet numerous times to practise maneuvers like stalls and spins. In this case, I attribute it more to my being too busy concentrating on flying the aircraft and watching out for other traffic to notice anything else not related to those important tasks! 😀
This has always been huge problem for me, until, I got my braces off (mid thirties, got them late). Since then its a 70 /30 with no pain. Now and then I still struggle. What I find the most effective is the good old yawn. I've trained my self to self induce a yawn... I have no idea how I did that but I did. The nose spray might be a good back up. Will have to try that. As always, loving your content!
When I was a child I went on a flight and as we were descending one of my ears would not adjust to the changing pressure. I chewed gum, tried swallowing my saliva and yawning and nothing would relieve it. The cabin crew gave me a styrofoam cup with a cotton ball in the bottom that had been moistened with very hot water and had me hold it over my ear and it helped somewhat. On another flight, where the flight path was from Winnipeg to Edmonton to Calgary and finally to Los Angeles my ears didn't pop once but as I was walking up the ramp into the terminal in LA my ears did a rapid fire popping for several minutes. It didn't hurt just felt weird. However, I wonder why that happened?
First time I went on a plane, I was a child(6 or 7) and I had slight head cold. I didn't feel sick so my parents never thought to delay the trip or anything. The ear popping caused A LOT of pain for me and I threw quite a fit according to my parents throughout the whole flight. Coming back home wasn't a problem apparently. I don't remember much about it that flight other than the pain I experienced. I've never experienced that again on future flights. Usually chewing gum was enough for me to deal with the popping.
i catched cold and i was returning home. My nose was partially blocked. And on a descend i felt pressure on the eardrums and even pain, and was unable to relieve it by swallowing. Then i closed my nose with my fingers and blew it, that opened my eustachian tube for just enough time to equalize the presure.
This video was really helpful and it cleared some questions that I had, thank you! I flew back from Portugal to Belgium yesterday while I had a cold and I couldn't pop my ears. Just like mentioned in this video, my ears started to hurt a lot and I couldn't do anything about it because of my cold. Now, a day later, I still feel the pressurisation difference in my right ear. I hope that flight didn't cause permanent damage to my eardrum.
I have problems driving to work, going down only 800 meters. I have to manually pop my ears or I can't hear properly. My Eustachian tubes seem partially blocked all the time. But, holding the nose and pressurizing inside the mouth and throat always works. Same with descend in air craft. Several manual adjustments are needed. Nose spray may be good for that, I'll give it a try. I use it occasionally to stop snoring, for which it works well. But, apparently you can't use it all the time.
Great stuff as always! Have you ever heard of Frank Abagnale Jr.? He's the guy who impersonated a pilot for Pan Am, and is the inspiration for the Spielberg film "Catch Me If You Can."
Take the advice on staying home with ear problems. A few years ago, I burst my eardrum scuba diving in the carribean on an island with 3rd world medical facilities. I wanted to get back stateside before I got treatment. The flight was pure agony.
I remember one flight all the way back in 1998 during a three week long vacation in Australia. I had a cold from the constant use of air conditioning and I thought I would die during the decent (well, not literally die but the pain in my right ear was awful). Shortly before touch down there was this rather loud plop sound in my ear and finally the pressure was gone. I'm still unsure whether my eardrum actually burst at that point or whether it was just a pretty painful normal equalization. Certainly don't want to do that again. :(
Does the airline allow you to re book or refund, free of charge... if you say you are sick and should stay home, to possibly save your eardrums? lol I will definitely bring my Dristan & gum next trip - TY for the video!
On one flight, my ears never popped. I tried for 3 hours, gum, yawning, holding nose and blowing, nothing worked. It took more than 24 hours after landing for my ears to finally go back to normal, and the pain was absolutely excruciating. It felt like someone was stabbing my eardrums with a dagger for a day and a half.
hope you understand my quistion buddy... what i mean is can you hold the breaks on the runway when building up thrust power from the jet engines to get more acceloration for a faster take off ? thank u if u reply ur a good man
I remember I was on a flight from Newcastle(EGNT) to Dublin and we descended quite late and it was a very quick decent I had a cold and it was some of the most pain I have ever been in
I was a 7 year old kid and sitting on a A330 plane. The china eastern plane landed and my ears popped and cried so hard. This is the same way as I was sitting in a Cathay pacific flight.
Why does the cabin crew close the curtains when they prepare food and drinks? Is it true what Gordon Ramsey said about the cabin crew that they don't clean out the water for months and the food is out of date? Great videos mentour!! Keep them up! Xx
The cabin crew isn't responsible for the quality of the water. Ground crew that work at the airport change the airplane's water after each flight. The meals are not out of date, otherwise everyone would get sick, and that would not be good!
Jack, the pilots eat the same food as the passengers, if they get sick, you'd have a major problem. I don't know where mister Ramsey got that crap from, but I'm pretty sure its incorrect.
I have been following your channel for quite a while now. Thing is, I did already know a lot about aviation, but still learned some new stuff on your channel. I never quite had a question, until yesterday I was thinking about something that might sound silly, but for you guys is very important. Q: How are the flight hours determined? I mean, do they start counting from the moment you enter the cockpit, when you start your engines, from the moment you take-off... etc? Q2: Then I had another question about the circuit board. I mean, after all these years I almost know every button, switch and its function in a 737, except for the circuit board. Could you maybe do an quick overview of what sits where on the circuit board or a video dedicated to the circuit board alone? Keep up the good work! :)
Hello Mentour! I have to say how impressed I am by your content and that you inspire me for becoming a pilot. My question that I have is if pilots get exposed to radiation that can affect the health and what steps are being taken to avoid that? Pilots work in very high altitudes and the UV-radiation from the sun is stronger than on earth. The cosmic radiation is also higher. Is the cockpit fully protected against that? One more question is if you speak Swedish? You seem to have a Swedish accent. :)
Adrian D. at the altitudes commercial airliners fly, 35,000 to 40,000 feet, the radiation levels are not enough to pose a threat to human health. for people who work in aviation and fly often, the absorption is around 3 millisieverts annually.
You finally got to this topic. Thanks. You didn't talk about what can be done for young children during decent. Even without a cold, its very painful for them. Can the pilot manually control the pressure to improve things, or is it always left in automatic mode?
I think manual control would be a lot worse than computer control. The cabin pressure has to come back from 8000 feet to ground level somehow, and a computer is going to do it a lot more gradually and gently than any human being, especially a human being who is saddled with numerous more important tasks at the same time.
Hi, yes, you are correct, I suffer from tinnitus, and my ears are constantly clogged up, but when the aircraft is climbing my ears unclog, and I can hear clear as a bell, but when the aircraft starts to decend, immediately my ears feel clogged again, this can be very painful at times, I usually chew on some fruit sweets, this helps me to keep my ears reasonably comfortable, some aircraft are worse than others, could that be a different cabin air pressure system?
Great video! Talking about the ears, I have a question, can you work in the aviation industry (pilot, cabin crew etc) if you have tinnitus? Doctors have told me you can't get tinnitus from flying. But living a daily life working in the cabin (as pilot or cabin crew), will it effect people that has tinnitus? I mean ears popping and all the noise from engines and other sources during flights. Maybe difficult to answer if you don't have tinnitus yourself but I am curious if you know people in the industry or if you have colleagues that suffer from tinnitus?
Q - I have a perforated ear drum - and I can pick up changes in cabin pressure easily - as it clicks to equalise - whilst cruising does the cabin pressure remain constant - ?
what happened to me two or three times during the descent part of the flight was one of my eyeballs started feeling like its going to burst. No idea what happened there but i'm guessing its also to do with changing pressure. Most uncomfortable feeling i had in my life
You should go to the optician to check the bottom part of your eyes, they also measure the pressure, inside of your eyes, maybe you have a problem there.
I have problems with this about 50% of the times the plane is descending. With problem I mean it hurts. Once I couldn't get rid of it and my eardrum burst after leaving the airport. Now I always have chewing gum with me and it works pretty good.
hi Petter good morning, i would like to ask you about the "nose spray", as i know there are some drougs that are no allowed to be use as it can affect your awarness (some Antihistamines and Antiallergic). Some times i have that kind of congestion that you mencioned in the video, but i really dont know what kind of nose spray i should use. Would you let me know what kind of spray nose do you use. Or what kind of active droug it has. Thanks a lot. Sebastian
As a passenger, I use Xylometazoline. It's non-sedating but might increase your heart rate a little. It causes blood vessels in your nasal lining to actively constrict. This makes the swelling go down which hopefully will allow the eustachian tube and entrances to the sinuses to be able to open.
As a woman in my late 30s who not only cannot work, but also cannot fly due to a severe lung condition, I am a million worlds away from being in your target audience.Yet I never miss a video and look forward to every single one! Keep up the good work, you are interesting, to the point, knowledgeable........(and nice on the eye too!). Looking forward to more great videos!
❤️❤️
@Suck My nutz no ....🥱
When the external pressure is increasing (as when the aircraft is descending), hold your nose, purse your lips and GENTLY exhale. This will increase the pressure in lungs, throat, ears and sinuses and will push a little more air past the blockage in the eustachian tubes and bring the internal pressure into balance with the external pressure. If you wiggle your jaw back and forth as you do this, it will help temporarily relieve any blockages in the eustachian tubes.
When climbing, closing the nose and mouth while swallowing will reduct the pressure in the system and allow the system to equalize the internal and external pressures.
Yep. This is what I do. It works.
You deserve waaay more subs! Your content is straight to the point, really informative and captivating.
Edgars Pavlovičs hope your problems/sadness or whatever is causing your hypersensitivity/anger has reduced.
been using internet for well over two decades now. It still catches me by surprise or i am left in awe as to how people have such deep seated resentment or issues over the most inconsequential things while they go on-line.
May be I'm mistaken, but it wasn't so bad even 14-15 years back.
I hate when there's a build up of pressure, but your ears cannot pop.
I hate the buildup not knowing if my ears will pop. I’d rather the pressure stay and I be able to pop it myself. It’s just so damn uncomfortable.
BRUH!!!!!!!!!!! I hate it too!!!
I love it when you make a video in the cockpit!
Thibault me too
I remember the first time I went on a high-altitude jet at the age of 11, as soon as we started to descend, my ears would not pop. The pain! It was awful.
I seem to have grown out of it, but I'll never forget it. When you are on a plane descending and you hear a child crying, I know it's annoying, but be empathetic. They may be in pain, and it may be much worse for them than you realise.
I, too, had awful problems up to the age of about 16, then I also “grew out of it.” I think that’s fairly normal, as our Eustachian tubes do in fact widen as we grow to adulthood.
Yeah, I’m more annoyed with overprivileged passengers. If they want absolute peace, get a business class.
First time I was flying from Hungary to Denmark, I had severe ear pain for 3 days. I never realized it till now, but I got sick while we were gone and had a severe cold. I tend to get a cold when travelling, so I truly appreciate this video.
For scuba divers out there: Going from this 8,000ft/2400m down to 0 is about 0.25 ATM, or only 2.5 meters of depth under water. So 1 or 2 equalizations on the way down should be plenty to have no annoying ear problems.
1:00 That explains why the few times I've flown I my ears start feeling weird before the plane even left the runway.
Great video as always.
One guy who doesn't appreciate the time spent on these amazing videos! Keep it up Captain!
If you're descending you can also use the divers trick of holding your nose and blowing through it. It will pop your ears. The best thing is to do it continuously while descending.
I had earplugs in while in a military airplane and my ears were itching while I was descending and I had the bright idea of pulling the earplugs out, instantly burst one of my eardrums as soon as I pulled it out, the pain was very intense. My hearing didnt return 100% until 2-3 months later.
spoofer20, Clearing ears like a diver works for me, too. I do it between 10-20 times during any given descent.
Do earplugs help? Do they compare with other tricks, e.g. blowing?
I did the same thing with the earplugs
My ears never pop or get blocked on a plane or on a high altitude mountain I'm lucky
Same
I’ve flown plenty of times been all over Colorado and Montana and I flew when I was sick and my ear got blocked
takeoff doesn’t give me ear clogs but landing does
@@keithparks7598 how did you get rid of it
I was once on a flight where I just simply could not clear my ears. The decent was pretty bad and my ears hurt for several days after. I was to fly again about three days later and I was not looking forward to it, but Praise God it was ok.
if you have a bit of congestion at all (even a minor cold or allergies) that may not even be very noticeable on ground.... you will notice it on decent. felt like my eye was going to explode on one approach. Never fly sick
This happened to me on my last flight. I had a cold and could for the life of me not pressurize my ears. during T/O it was bad, but manageable. But during landing it got really bad. It hurt like hell, couldn't hear anything and my left eye was going blurry. A flight attendant gave me a saline solution. It didn't help much, but it was just enough to not go absolutely crazy from the pain. It took me a good 4 days before I fully recovered from that.
One thing I learned, never again will I go on a flight without a nose spray, and I will use it vigorously if I feel it is needed. I have a fairly decent pain tolerance, but this was bad. Probably worse than the migraines I sometimes get.
A simulated 'yawn' works well for me. Not that I'm bored, mind you - I LOVE this Channel! :-)
Ascent is less of a problem as the air in the middle ear expands and can force its way down the eustachian tube with minimal help. During descent, the air shrinks and the tube is more likely to collapse closed and stay closed. That can take more conscious effort to prevent - yawning, blowing down pinched nostrils etc. For this reason, I'd never sleep during descent. I've been known to carry a xylometazoline metered-dose nasal spray - which is a powerful decongestant - more as "insurance" than anything else.
This is my #1 "fear" of flying right here, so I appreciate this video (despite how disturbing it was to watch 😅). Last time I was on a plane, I was 8 years old, and it took like five minutes after leaving the plane before my ears popped back to normal. I have no memory feeling this for multiple flights beforehand though.
Since that day I've experienced two general forms of ear popping. Part of my daily commute to high school involved traveling over a hill on the city bus; sounds like this is closest to the ear popping on flights. You'll also experience this on elevators in tall buildings.
But there's also another kind that you experience on trains when they go through tunnels. Essentially when a train suddenly hits a wall of air, it's a sudden pain in your ears. Covering ears with your fingers for a minute absolutely helps. I wonder whether something like this also exists when there's turbulence?
Speaking of pressurization, I have slight trouble breathing onboard trains when all the windows and doors are closed. When the doors open (or I'm near an open window), I immediately breathe normally. Could this be a problem on any plane? (It's not claustrophobia. I breathe fine on elevators because they have good ventilation, not tightly sealed.)
That was a really fresh fun fact but also so good to know.
Good job captain! :)
Really like the videos from the cockpit.
I have sinus problems and sometimes when I’m in the deep end of a pool and I swim to the bottom; my inner ear can’t take the water pressure and I have to surface immediately. It’s too painful. When your underneath the water, it’s a totally different world.
I'm 54 and I only just recently took my first ever flight from Birmingham UK to Romania. I was a wee bit nervous particularly about the ear popping thing because I have bad ears. A friend advised me to chew gum etc and after take off and cruising I was actually quite bored by it all to be honest. Coming in to land at Bucharest was a different story however. My ears were popping like a fork lift truck driving over bubble wrap. It didn't hurt but it drove me nuts for a while. :D
Sometimes I would go to my aunt and uncles house where you would have to take Route 80 to get there. It's up a mountain, so whenever we go up my ears sometimes feel heavy, not really ear popping but something like that (especially going to PA), but when we come back down, my ears feel much heavier. In fact, once we arrive back home, I can't hear very well out of my right ear. I have to yawn to equalize my hearing again. It's annoying but I get through it. This is why I hate to fly, or else I'd go to Italy every year...
I can handle going up fine, its descending that gets my ears, especially my right ear. I enjoyed the video. :)
The way I learned to do it during descent is to close tight your lips and block your nose by pinching with fingers (using tongue doesn't work as it blocks the ear tube too), and push the air using your lungs (not your mouth, it needs to be relaxed). It's a similar feeling as to when you sneeze while you block your nose, but you can hear the air seeping back to your ear, and the bass comes back.
Great video...
Would love to see how a pilot controls his plane in just normal conditions when landing.
It is why babies start screaming on the descent. It affects them more. 😯
Forcing a yawn always helps me when I get my ears blocked inflight.
A more interesting question would be: Do pilots have a greater than normal occurrence of DVT? If so, do you wear pressure stockings?
What do you like to fly the most, airbus or boeing?
sveezec I'm pretty sure he will be a little partial to Boeing since he flies the 737
mysimpleprojects I guess an airline pilot has sat in more than one model airplane as a passenger, understatement LOL :) sverzec means as a pilot of course. Sitting in the back is no deal.
sveezec it's all good, baby😉
Plot Twist: It's the Tupolev!
Yes, I have this problem when the plane takes off and lands....Thank you for finding solution...
The Eustachian tube connects the middle ear to the throat. Scuba divers are taught this and are quite familiar with this part of the anatomy. Failure to equalize can ruin a divers day with a blown tympanic membrane commonly called the ear drum. A correction with s side-note LOL,
im not even that interested in flying, but i love these videos ^^
+PinchyPheo Great to hear! Welcome to the channel!
I'm 13 now and when I was small I learned to open the tubes without moving any part of my face which is really helpful for me.
Jürgen Ruut's idea (below) of getting Capt. Petter & Capt. Joe piloting the same aircraft could be interesting, yes, but you'd first have to find out if they are both cross-rated on each other's aircraft type. Because someone can captain an A320 doesn't automatically mean they would be qualified to command or co-command a 737. Also, I've noticed that neither of their employers have taken out ads on their channels, indeed, they seem to take pains not to mention their airlines directly. If their employers thought it was a good idea to advertise or subsidise either channel I think they would have done that by now. It would also mean that they would have to become official 'spokespersons' for their airlines; that would take away some of their objectivity and independence. It's a nice idea until you start thinking about the detail. Cheers, BH
My dream is to ride in the jump seat with Mentour Pilot is the captain and captain Joe as the FO.
THAT might be hard to solve. :)
Mentour Pilot Made my day!
What about Aerosinusitis? Sometimes the pain while landing is quite intense. After landing (in minutes) I'm fine. Any advice?
Stefan Grecu have suffered on and off for years with this. I now use ear planes 2 got my off of eBay. Worth a try.
yawning helps with me
Sir appreciation your work
M also going to start my pilot training soon so wish me luck 😊
ankit chaba good luck
ankit chaba no you have to do it yourself without my luck wishes. You need to be strong on your own being a captain.
ankit chaba good luck💖
thank you so much sir @Richard van Pukkem and thats true sir.
and i need some more suggestions ..
ankit chaba good luck ankit, i am also gonna start my practice
It should be a very pleasure to sit in the left seat of the cockpit. Great video always 😉
Please Do A video about Flight Simulation Please
I have a question!
Can you make a video explaining the fuel systems or just reply with a comment. It will help a lot :)
Fat Potato what would you like to know?
Depends on what you want to know really. The 737 in this video has a tank in each wing and a single tank in the fuselage, which I believe is between the wings. The center tank and both wing tanks have 2 fuelpumps each. Both wing tanks can be connected to eachother with a crossfeed valve, which can be controlled from the cockpit and is used to balance the plane if one wing carries more fuel then the other. The left engine gets fuel from the left wing, the right engine from the right wing. The APU in the tail uses the left wing tank and requires the left wingtank main fuelpump to be running in able to start. The center tank feeds both engines. When flying, the center tank is emptied first, on short flights where the center tank is not needed, only the wing tanks are filled.
Disclaimer: I'm not a real pilot, I fly simulators, mostly the 737. For more detail, whatch the "AOA PMDG 737NGX Fuel Preview" video, here on TH-cam
Fat Potato Captain Joe made one for the 320s. The fuel systems are quite similar.
Fat Potato I just saw a video on this. Not sure if it was a recent one but it was really good.
[Q] Do pilots usually come back home from the journeys, or do they stay in a hotel where they landed?
As a military diver, I have developed techniques for equalising all airways in my body (incl sinuses and ears), so that I don't feel any discomfort. These techniques I perform without even thinking about it. What I do, however, is to swallow.
220 likes and 0 dislikes... Hell yeah
332 likes and 0 dislikes now :p
370:1 :(
who did that? :OO
Luna C there are always convoluted souls around :(
1446likes: 10negs
UTC 1630 hours Saturday, March 10, 2018, week 10
BattleCapGaming 10 dislikes now
The simplest way to neutralize the pressure is just swallowing.
Yes when landing i almost always have so much pain. Is not nice at all 🙁 maybe i have to try some spray too
I just force myself to yawn by opening my mouth and adjusting my jaw. I fly in aircraft that don't pressurize and we fly up to 12,000 feet MSL all the time. You get used to it but it definitely can be a problem if you can't release the pressure as you descend back down to the ground. Just try to force yourself to yawn or eat something and you will release the pressure.
Maybe caring a bottle of wasabi isn't a bad idea either. Wasabi will open every single canal in your head ahah
Hahaha that's cute
Yes, snore it just like in jackass movie
There was a flight by the Greek airline Helios some years back, where the cabin didn’t pressurise at all on takeoff because a ground technician had accidentally left the pressurisation control switch in manual mode and the crew apparently failed to notice it. Everyone save for one flight attendant succumbed to hypoxia at altitude, and while the flight attendant had had a few hours of flying lessons under his belt and attempted to save the flight, it still crashed killing everyone on board. My question is, why wouldn’t a seasoned flight crew have known something was seriously wrong by the way their ears must have been violently popping on climb-out, immediately suspected failure of the cabin to pressurise, and noticed the incorrect switch position before it was too late?
Used to know an architect who was a skydiver who could not pop his ears, and he used to blow out his eardrums and need surgery every now and then when he jumped. I dont know but having blood gushing from my ears on the first time would be a turn-off. Not quite the same thing as sex the first time.
The pilot's trick works wonders since I used to vacation at the family farm in the mountains, and even on bikes the decent would be enough to hurt your ears without constantly equalizing them.
Video idea; Do Pilots have authority over who boards the plane? Can they kick people off? Great video!
Ruairi Daly if we feel that a person is acting in a manner that would pose a safety risk, that passenger would not be allowed boarding privileges.
Ava Mendez thank you !
What Airline do you fly for and what is your favorite route to fly
DiamondAviation KMCO-LSZB💖
Excellent video. We as humans tend to fear that which we don’t understand. As such, you give a great explanation for “laypeople” of how cabin pressurisation and the mechanics of the human ear interact. I did note that you specifically cited “modern” passenger aircraft in your description of cabin pressure control, and that the hull begins to pressurise on rollout and thereafter, the system calculates and maintains the correct rate of “cabin climb” up to a maximum of 8000 feet. (Is that ASL or AGL? Must be ASL - Picky, picky! 🙂). Is it not also true that on older aircraft, a crew member would manually adjust the cabin altitude, and some pilots would do this with less, er, “finesse” than others? That would explain why my ears still pop much more, and a lot more violently, on a DC-9, for example, than on a Boeing 767 or an A320. It would also explain why, as a kid in the seventies flying on a lot of “Niners” and other passenger aircraft of that vintage with my parents, I tended to have a lot of ear problems, whereas now as an adult, I barely notice it. That, besides the fact that in children, the Eustachian tubes still have not fully developed to adult width.
Note I’ve also taken flying lessons (I still hope to get at least my recreational license one day), and on a light, unpressurised Cessna 152 I never noticed my ears doing anything at all, even though I’ve been up to 10,000 feet numerous times to practise maneuvers like stalls and spins. In this case, I attribute it more to my being too busy concentrating on flying the aircraft and watching out for other traffic to notice anything else not related to those important tasks! 😀
This has always been huge problem for me, until, I got my braces off (mid thirties, got them late). Since then its a 70 /30 with no pain. Now and then I still struggle. What I find the most effective is the good old yawn. I've trained my self to self induce a yawn... I have no idea how I did that but I did. The nose spray might be a good back up. Will have to try that. As always, loving your content!
Could you explain us a little about the procedure of arresting or calming a passanger which is disturbing or is considered as a threat?
Aleksander Ferreres Ekimova Don't do what United did.
Henry Jiang What did United?
Aleksander Ferreres Ekimova that's a good idea!
It would had been interesting to comment also de Valsalva maneuver. That we normally use to make the ears pop, and relief the feeling of blocked ears.
When I was a child I went on a flight and as we were descending one of my ears would not adjust to the changing pressure. I chewed gum, tried swallowing my saliva and yawning and nothing would relieve it. The cabin crew gave me a styrofoam cup with a cotton ball in the bottom that had been moistened with very hot water and had me hold it over my ear and it helped somewhat.
On another flight, where the flight path was from Winnipeg to Edmonton to Calgary and finally to Los Angeles my ears didn't pop once but as I was walking up the ramp into the terminal in LA my ears did a rapid fire popping for several minutes. It didn't hurt just felt weird. However, I wonder why that happened?
First time I went on a plane, I was a child(6 or 7) and I had slight head cold. I didn't feel sick so my parents never thought to delay the trip or anything. The ear popping caused A LOT of pain for me and I threw quite a fit according to my parents throughout the whole flight. Coming back home wasn't a problem apparently. I don't remember much about it that flight other than the pain I experienced. I've never experienced that again on future flights. Usually chewing gum was enough for me to deal with the popping.
i catched cold and i was returning home. My nose was partially blocked. And on a descend i felt pressure on the eardrums and even pain, and was unable to relieve it by swallowing. Then i closed my nose with my fingers and blew it, that opened my eustachian tube for just enough time to equalize the presure.
Thought this was a simple question... but there is way more to it thanks captain😀
This video was really helpful and it cleared some questions that I had, thank you! I flew back from Portugal to Belgium yesterday while I had a cold and I couldn't pop my ears. Just like mentioned in this video, my ears started to hurt a lot and I couldn't do anything about it because of my cold. Now, a day later, I still feel the pressurisation difference in my right ear. I hope that flight didn't cause permanent damage to my eardrum.
If you can still hear out of that ear, then I really doubt it. Actual eardrum rupture must be a really infrequent occurrence.
I have problems driving to work, going down only 800 meters. I have to manually pop my ears or I can't hear properly.
My Eustachian tubes seem partially blocked all the time.
But, holding the nose and pressurizing inside the mouth and throat always works.
Same with descend in air craft. Several manual adjustments are needed.
Nose spray may be good for that, I'll give it a try. I use it occasionally to stop snoring, for which it works well.
But, apparently you can't use it all the time.
Never use the spray for more than 5-7 days running or the problem can come back even worse afterwards.
Great stuff as always! Have you ever heard of Frank Abagnale Jr.? He's the guy who impersonated a pilot for Pan Am, and is the inspiration for the Spielberg film "Catch Me If You Can."
CroatianFixation yes, balls of steel. Frank also served some hard time for his crimes too.
That's an amazing story alright. Can't believe he had the courage (or nerve) to pilot an airplane with no training whatsoever.
Stay home, if you feel sick. That aged like fine wine. +1
Take the advice on staying home with ear problems. A few years ago, I burst my eardrum scuba diving in the carribean on an island with 3rd world medical facilities. I wanted to get back stateside before I got treatment. The flight was pure agony.
you prove to be the perfect guide!!!
Thank you! I do my best
I remember one flight all the way back in 1998 during a three week long vacation in Australia. I had a cold from the constant use of air conditioning and I thought I would die during the decent (well, not literally die but the pain in my right ear was awful). Shortly before touch down there was this rather loud plop sound in my ear and finally the pressure was gone. I'm still unsure whether my eardrum actually burst at that point or whether it was just a pretty painful normal equalization. Certainly don't want to do that again. :(
Does the airline allow you to re book or refund, free of charge... if you say you are sick and should stay home, to possibly save your eardrums? lol I will definitely bring my Dristan & gum next trip - TY for the video!
One method i use that also helps equalizing the pressure in your ears is by yawning.
Yet another brillant video !!
I love how pilots can bring their meds and stuff so if they don't feel good then they can take some
Can't wait to do my integrated course in Weston airport in 2021
for me what helps flying as a passenger is just keeping my mouth slightly opened. have never had popped ears. but it might just my head being weird.
On one flight, my ears never popped. I tried for 3 hours, gum, yawning, holding nose and blowing, nothing worked. It took more than 24 hours after landing for my ears to finally go back to normal, and the pain was absolutely excruciating. It felt like someone was stabbing my eardrums with a dagger for a day and a half.
Im not feeling sick or anything however I always get this ear pain specifically when the plane is about the descend until it lands.
Hey Mentour, love your vids. How about a video detailing the differences between Mayday, Pan-Pan calls, and general emergencies?
+Sean McCauley Sounds interesting.
I actually like the feeling you get in your ears like that
love your videos buddy i like ask you somthing do you pilots hold the brakes to build up more thrust power for a faster take off ?
hope you understand my quistion buddy... what i mean is can you hold the breaks on the runway when building up thrust power from the jet engines to get more acceloration for a faster take off ? thank u if u reply ur a good man
I remember I was on a flight from Newcastle(EGNT) to Dublin and we descended quite late and it was a very quick decent I had a cold and it was some of the most pain I have ever been in
I was a 7 year old kid and sitting on a A330 plane. The china eastern plane landed and my ears popped and cried so hard. This is the same way as I was sitting in a Cathay pacific flight.
Why does the cabin crew close the curtains when they prepare food and drinks? Is it true what Gordon Ramsey said about the cabin crew that they don't clean out the water for months and the food is out of date? Great videos mentour!! Keep them up! Xx
Jack Evans That curtain always used to really annoy me, until I sat in J then I thought it was really cool. 🛩
The cabin crew isn't responsible for the quality of the water. Ground crew that work at the airport change the airplane's water after each flight. The meals are not out of date, otherwise everyone would get sick, and that would not be good!
Jack, the pilots eat the same food as the passengers, if they get sick, you'd have a major problem. I don't know where mister Ramsey got that crap from, but I'm pretty sure its incorrect.
I have been following your channel for quite a while now. Thing is, I did already know a lot about aviation, but still learned some new stuff on your channel. I never quite had a question, until yesterday I was thinking about something that might sound silly, but for you guys is very important.
Q: How are the flight hours determined? I mean, do they start counting from the moment you enter the cockpit, when you start your engines, from the moment you take-off... etc?
Q2: Then I had another question about the circuit board. I mean, after all these years I almost know every button, switch and its function in a 737, except for the circuit board. Could you maybe do an quick overview of what sits where on the circuit board or a video dedicated to the circuit board alone?
Keep up the good work! :)
Hello Mentour! I have to say how impressed I am by your content and that you inspire me for becoming a pilot. My question that I have is if pilots get exposed to radiation that can affect the health and what steps are being taken to avoid that? Pilots work in very high altitudes and the UV-radiation from the sun is stronger than on earth. The cosmic radiation is also higher. Is the cockpit fully protected against that?
One more question is if you speak Swedish? You seem to have a Swedish accent. :)
Adrian D. at the altitudes commercial airliners fly, 35,000 to 40,000 feet, the radiation levels are not enough to pose a threat to human health. for people who work in aviation and fly often, the absorption is around 3 millisieverts annually.
Is there an advantage to using flaps 30 over flaps 40?
Yes, its less noisy and more environmentally friendly.
Mentour Pilot ah of course, low drag. But which one is better in the wind?
You finally got to this topic. Thanks. You didn't talk about what can be done for young children during decent. Even without a cold, its very painful for them. Can the pilot manually control the pressure to improve things, or is it always left in automatic mode?
I think manual control would be a lot worse than computer control. The cabin pressure has to come back from 8000 feet to ground level somehow, and a computer is going to do it a lot more gradually and gently than any human being, especially a human being who is saddled with numerous more important tasks at the same time.
"This is a question that I get surprisingly often..." Standard phraseology of Mentour Pilot, accepted by ICAO. hahaha
+Juan De Bonilla Hahaha!
Mentour, when flying, do you always have to keep your seat belt on or can you take it off and fly?
If you are descending, just do the same technique that divers do.
Hi, yes, you are correct, I suffer from tinnitus, and my ears are constantly clogged up, but when the aircraft is climbing my ears unclog, and I can hear clear as a bell, but when the aircraft starts to decend, immediately my ears feel clogged again, this can be very painful at times, I usually chew on some fruit sweets, this helps me to keep my ears reasonably comfortable, some aircraft are worse than others, could that be a different cabin air pressure system?
Great video! Talking about the ears, I have a question, can you work in the aviation industry (pilot, cabin crew etc) if you have tinnitus? Doctors have told me you can't get tinnitus from flying. But living a daily life working in the cabin (as pilot or cabin crew), will it effect people that has tinnitus? I mean ears popping and all the noise from engines and other sources during flights. Maybe difficult to answer if you don't have tinnitus yourself but I am curious if you know people in the industry or if you have colleagues that suffer from tinnitus?
Stay home - that's well and good, but what does one do if one starts to develop a cold as one is beginning to return home!
Q - I have a perforated ear drum - and I can pick up changes in cabin pressure easily - as it clicks to equalise - whilst cruising does the cabin pressure remain constant - ?
what happened to me two or three times during the descent part of the flight was one of my eyeballs started feeling like its going to burst. No idea what happened there but i'm guessing its also to do with changing pressure.
Most uncomfortable feeling i had in my life
You should go to the optician to check the bottom part of your eyes, they also measure the pressure, inside of your eyes, maybe you have a problem there.
Thanks Mentour!
do you ger headick during flight
I am at the airport right now I am going to Egypt
Excellent! Enjoy my friend!
I had a feeling u were ryanair. turns out I was right
Just about to fly to my airline selection day now, I shall buy some nose spray from boots just in case! Love the cockpit videos
I have problems with this about 50% of the times the plane is descending. With problem I mean it hurts. Once I couldn't get rid of it and my eardrum burst after leaving the airport. Now I always have chewing gum with me and it works pretty good.
yep its one of the worst pain
hi Petter good morning, i would like to ask you about the "nose spray", as i know there are some drougs that are no allowed to be use as it can affect your awarness (some Antihistamines and Antiallergic). Some times i have that kind of congestion that you mencioned in the video, but i really dont know what kind of nose spray i should use. Would you let me know what kind of spray nose do you use. Or what kind of active droug it has.
Thanks a lot.
Sebastian
hi could you fondo out which nose spray are allowed?
As a passenger, I use Xylometazoline. It's non-sedating but might increase your heart rate a little. It causes blood vessels in your nasal lining to actively constrict. This makes the swelling go down which hopefully will allow the eustachian tube and entrances to the sinuses to be able to open.