July 2011 archive

It Hurts in Flight – Barotrauma

    Aero-odantalgia Aero-odantalgia refers to symptoms related to various dental ailments due to change in ambient pressure in flight. It commonly presents as pain in tooth due to trapped air in a dental cavity after a filling has been done. Other reasons for dental pain could be due to infection of the gums or …

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It Hurts in Flight – Sinus Barotruama

Sinuses are small air filled spaces in the bones of the skull. These sinuses drain into the nasal cavity through small openings, which allow easy ventilation of air during ascent and descent. 

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My Ears Hurt in Flight – Otitic Barotrauma

Barotrauma of the ears, Otitic Barotruama (a.k.a Otic Barotruama or Aero-otitis media) can occurs during ascent or descent in flying. This can also occur during hypoxia demonstration in decompression chamber. Divers during under-water operations, and patients in hyperbaric chamber may also suffer from barotrauma. The primary reason of Otitic Barotruama is pressure differential, either negative …

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My Ears Hurt in Flight – Barotrauma

“In my haste to complete my syllabus sortie, despite of a recovering cold, I went ahead for the sortie that morning. As I climbed, I had some difficulty in clearing my ears. But when I started my descent to come back to land, I realised that I could not equalise pressure in my middle ears, …

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Orientation & Pilot Training – Likely Lacunae!

James Doolittle made history on 24 September 1929, when he took off, flew a distance of 20 miles and landed an airplane by instruments alone [1]. The array of instruments included the Sperry Horizon, precursor of the artificial horizon, which still remains the essential instrument for maintaining orientation in flight. 

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