ABSTRACT
This chapter explores both the physical and psychological components of airsickness, reviews the operational importance of motion sickness for flight, gives some guidelines for flight crews susceptible to airsickness and outlines the psychological and pharmacological interventions used to eliminate or ameliorate motion sickness. It describes the special cases of motion sickness related to aviation including space motion sickness, high-acceleration environments and virtual aviation systems. Motion sickness is a condition that can be provoked by movement of the human head in a gravity field or by moving visual fields. Theories of motion sickness have to link two seemingly disparate phenomena: gastric distress, with its concomitant nausea and stomach peristalsis, and motion imparted to the body and particularly to the head. As many a college student can attest, two things can occur: the bed-spins and vomiting. The malfunctioning inner ear induces the spinning sensation and then motion sickness, nausea, and vomiting occur.
