Jumping with cranky ears?

[ctowle 0]

Hello! I found this forum while poking around online earlier today.

My boyfriend brought up the idea of going skydiving sometime, since he has been a few times and really enjoyed it. It's something I've thought about off and on, but not seriously really since I was in high school (and too young to go do it.) Our conversation prompted me to start digging around some drop zones in the area and looking at training/prices. I was looking at the Perris Valley Skydiving site and this section under the FAQ caught my eye:

If you have ear or sinus problems, experience seizures or fainting spells or have a weak heart, you should not be jumping. The best course of action in these cases is to check with your own doctor. If you have a medical problem, you will be asked to bring a release from your doctor before you can skydive.

This totally bums me out. I have a lot of scarring and crap in my ears because I had neverending infections when I was little, (including several trips to the hospital that contributed to my miniscule partial hearing loss.) Even commercial flights used to be AWFUL for me growing up, even with gum, candy, miserably trying to clear my ears, etc. Worst pain ever. I haven't had anything like that happen in years, until.. I tried scuba. Getting to the bottom of the pool was a painful reminder of just how impossible my ears can be to clear, Sudafed or no.

Has anyone tried skydiving with funky ears?
When I got my physical for my scuba class, my doctor told me my ears might be a problem but I should be okay -- and it wound up being incredibly difficult for me. I have no trouble on normal flights nowadays, but I wasn't sure if this is something that would greatly affect my ability/comfort in jumping or not.

I'd appreciate any input! :)

[AggieDave 6]

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Has anyone tried skydiving with funky ears?

You should PM BeachBum, he has incredible ear problems, enough that he can only jump once every couple of weeks due to the pain but he was able to get his license and has about 60 jumps now.

Also, you should talk to your Dr. about skydiving specifically. You may also want to talk to a flight surgen about it since he/she will know more about the specifics of altitude changes with different A/C then a normal Dr.

Good luck!

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[ctowle 0]

I sent him a message, thanks! :)

Carly

[MarkM 0]

From their website, Perris offers static line training in addition to other methods. With SL you do your initial jumps from 4k and slowly go up from there. I think commercial flights keep the cabin pressure at around 4k so if you don't have problems with that, you won't have any issues with doing a static line jump.

[bodypilot1 0]

Go for a observation ride in the plane and see what your ears feel like when you land?





Ed

www.WestCoastWingsuits.com
www.PrecisionSkydiving.com

[tdog 0]

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From their website, Perris offers static line training in addition to other methods. With SL you do your initial jumps from 4k and slowly go up from there. I think commercial flights keep the cabin pressure at around 4k so if you don't have problems with that, you won't have any issues with doing a static line jump.

I took my altimeter in a carry on... It was calibrated for sea level before they closed the door. The cabin pressure slowly went up to 6.5K as we climbed to 30K, but the cabin went much slower than the altitude of the plane... Just FYI. So, if someone does not have a problem in a commercial plane, a skydiving jump run is only 2X what a commercial plane faces.

[kelpdiver 2]

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From their website, Perris offers static line training in addition to other methods. With SL you do your initial jumps from 4k and slowly go up from there. I think commercial flights keep the cabin pressure at around 4k so if you don't have problems with that, you won't have any issues with doing a static line jump.

provided there is no malfunction. It would be unfortunate to have distracting searing ear pain while experiencing one. I don't think the descent rate should pose a problem, but if airplane landings hurt, so could these jumps.

The scuba equilivent of a 12k jump would be going from 0 to about 13ft. But unlike descending in the water, you can't stop the descent or go up a foot or two to equalize again.

I hope it works out.

[kelpdiver 2]

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Worst pain ever. I haven't had anything like that happen in years, until.. I tried scuba. Getting to the bottom of the pool was a painful reminder of just how impossible my ears can be to clear, Sudafed or no.

Did you get better at this, or did it prevent you from completing the training? A lot of people have initial problems and learn an ear clearing technique that works for them. A couple of my friends were always just slow descenders ... seconds per feet. I'm lucky in that regard, I go head down and just kick for the bottom.

[FFAddict 0]

I also had serious problems with my ears as a kid, infact i was alomost completely deaf at birth and have had many operations on my ears and have burst both ear drums on a number of occasions.

All in all this has lead to serious scar tissue, and i have a lot of problems during commercial flights (pain as well as loss of hearing) and have also tried scuba diving which was almost impossible because of the pain.

But despite my obvious fears skydiving has as yet not been a problem at all. i usually have to equalise on the way up and once under canopy but other than that im ok. The only time it has made me think twice about jumping again was a day when i did 5 jumps and the continual changes in pressure had started get uncomfortable, but certainly not painful.

In comparison with scuba diving the changes in pressure in skydiving are very small despite the obvious height/depth differnce between the two.

In my opinion you will probably be fine, but as others have suggested going up on an observation flight and seeing a specific skydive doctor might be a good idea if your nervous about it.

[nate_1979 9]

I also scuba dive, and I get stuck at around 9-10 feet on EVERY DIVE I do.. It takes me some time to get past that point, (although once past that point I can usually move pretty freely under the water at different depths) ... I also had alot of pain the the pool because I was trying to force myself down in the 12 foot area too quick for me.. I have only aborted a skydive one time due to ear problems where my ears just felt funny on the way up, didnt feel like they were equalizing right... Wouldnt think it'd be a big deal to atleast ride the plane up to see how it feels, but then again I'm not a doc..

FGF #???
I miss the sky...
There are 10 types of people in the world... those who understand binary and those who don't.

[ctowle 0]

Thanks a lot guys. :) It makes me feel a little better knowing I'm not the only one out there with cranky ears.

I will talk to my doc about stuffs and see if I can tag along for an observation ride.

As for the scuba diving, I finished all of my pool classes but I decided to skip the ocean dives to finish my cert. I think if I had stuck with it I could have eventually figured out some good techniques and gotten the hang of it, but it was sort of a combination of the discomfort in my ears and a general uneasiness at being submerged. =P

Whenever we wind up going to check it out I will let you guys know how it went. ^_^

Carly

[obelixtim 150]

The main problem with jumping is mainly because of the speed you are doing during f/f...its the rate of change of air pressure...if you can't equalise quickly it is easy to blow an eardrum if you have a blockage in your eustacion tubes.....under canopy is usually not so bad because your descent is slower....but can still hurt because the air pressure is higher closer to the ground.....

A lot of airline pilots and military pilots have grommets in their eardrums to prevent incapacitation in the event of an explosive decompression of the aircraft at altitude.....you can have this done....

Talk to a MD who is an aviation specialist, flight surgeon, or Ear nose and throat specialist......they'll sort you out.....

Most MD's know Jack about aviation specific problems.....

Luck........

My computer beat me at chess, It was no match for me at kickboxing....

[FFAddict 0]

I have had grommets twice in one ear and three times in the other (for a totall different reason) and im not sure that this would be such a great solution.

Firstly they are only temporary, eventually they will drop out and your back to square one.

I am also not convinced that you will find a doctor who would be willing to carry out such an operation simply so you can take up a new hobby. i did not realise that pilots... have used grommits for this reason but still think that without a professional (pilot...) or medical reason you will struggle to have this done.

Finally there must be a pritty serious financial restrictions to having this done.

Like i said earlier i dont think you will have a problem, but as always the choice is yours

[skydiverek 63]

How about taking a gentle version of the air pressure chamber ride (the one offered by th AirForce). I have seen this on TV and the candidates were exposed to different "altitudes", given math tasks to do, and so on.

But one experiment included a simulation of going from see level to 25,000 ft in 2 seconds!. Are you at great risk of blowing your ear drums in such a rapid decompression??? I have heard it is easier for ears to equalize when you ascend than descent, but still - ascending from 0 ft to 25,000ft in 2 seconds is pretty damn fast! Do you have to have perfect ears and nose to survive that??? Does AirForce check you ears, sinuses and nose before doing that?

[obelixtim 150]

I've done a chamber ride.....the problems are more acute on the descent....

In the chamber ride I did the explosive decompression was not done from "sea level to 25000". There were actually 2 chambers....we were taken to 27000 in one, and the other chamber went to 37000......the at the flick of a switch a vent between the two opened, and the two chambers equalised at 32000........didn't feel much effect in the ears.......

There were Air Force doctors in with us to cope with any problems.....which occurred to some people on the descent. In those cases they simply stopped the descent or even went back up a little, then simply brought us down at a much slower rate of descent...........

The military refused to do explosive decompressions with civilians in the chamber after a couple did blow eardrums...........although I believe commercial airline pilots were exempted from that ban........this was around 1977.....not sure what the story is today.......

Lesson.....do not jump with any sort of congestion in the head......

My computer beat me at chess, It was no match for me at kickboxing....

[jonstark 8]

My left ear quit equalizing automaticly a few years ago. The pressure change from 5000 feet above sea level down to sea level is the greatest amount of change. I'm OK in freefall until I get to about 5000 when it hits me like an anvil. It's excruciating. Under canopy I have to hold my nose and plug my right ear then try to blow out the left one. If and when it lets go it makes me terribly dizzy for a few seconds.

My advice beyond taking an observer ride is to take a tandem ride and have your tandem master open on your signal if it gets too painful. Normal tandem opening altitude is pretty high anyway and descent under canopy is about 1000 feet per minute. Plenty slow to clear your ears if you get right on the task.