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Human Factor Lesson One - Chapter One - Paragraph One - Line One: the Eustachian tube links the nose and the middle-ear and its purpose is to balance pressure on both sides of tympanic membrane.

Flying when your nose or throat is not clear could result in Eustachian tube lockage, inability to balance pressure, and ultimately to tympanum damage. Not good. I know it, all pilots know it from basic training.

This post is not an ex-cathedra lesson, but a feed-back from a dummy pilot who did not respect this tip, namely… me. On this day I had a begining cold, but nothing serious, so I did not cancel my flight.

Weather was low stratus with unlimited visibility and blue sky on top, in cold high-pressure condition. The plan was an IFR departure, leaving on top, and then a flight to the south of the Alps. The flaw in the plan was an obstructed pass, leading me to divert back to my departure airport… The rest of the flight has been mistakes and consequences…By the time I flew back, the stratus dissipated, but for practice I decided to re-join IFR and fly an ILS approach. Because of trafic I expected an high-speed ILS (160kts to 4 miles final). This speed on a 3° glide-slope corresponds to a rate of descent of approximately 800 feet per minute.

My ears cracked more than usually in descent, and I could hardly compensate the pressure, even by swallowing a lot. Soon, my left ear got completely blocked, and it became slightly painful.

My meteo teacher told me that the atmospheric pressure increase in descent, and the lower the altitude the stronger the increase. As I could not compensate the pressure difference, pain in my ear was slowly increasing, reaching the limit of what I could withstand. The stratus was gone, so I could have cancelled IFR and fly off the ILS for a slow VFR descent. I did not.

As expected the pain increased as the descent continued, making my flying a bit less “precise”. My passenger / co-pilot was fully qualified on the plane and I could easily pass him the controls. I did not.

After landing my left ear was painful, but not bleeding. For the next eight hours I could not hear anything with this ear. It was really disturbing and unplesant, so when a loudly crack unlocked it, the releif was immediate.

This situation evolved in a fully developed otitis, cured in two weeks. A tympanum inspection shown a small crack, hopefully not needing surgery.

One and a half year later I still hear cracks when I sneeze, or when flying as airline passenger. My VFR descents are now slow and carefully controlled as I try not to exceed 500 feet per minute. I had no opportunity to re-fly high speed approaches, but next time I will be very careful of any signs of compensation problems.

I don’t fly anymore with any sign of a cold. Got it ?