Motion sickness is also a protective mechanism for humans. The idea is that if our balance mechanisms are sensing motions out of sync with our visual senses, we must be dizzy. If we are dizzy, humans interpret this as a symptom of eating something poisonous, so we must get rid of it by vomiting. Now this is very useful in ensuring that humans survived when modern medicine wasn’t available but is quite annoying and potentially dangerous when flying. In fact humans are so intricately wired that when under stress, mechanisms can work in reverse. People can become dizzy and nauseous before a flight! The good news is that the majority of novice pilots appear to overcome these symptoms after ten flights or so.
Knowing that this is primarily caused by a disagreement between the vestibular sensors in the ear and what we see, instructors can do a few things to help students overcome these problems. During initial flight training instructors should avoid excessive banking, turbulence, porpoising, lack of visual references, or fixing on moving references (i.e. looking out to wingtip instead of ahead), and long flights. There should be a gradual introduction to the new environment. Too often instructors are eager to deliver the maximum experience, not realizing that this may be unpleasant for the student. Teaching students who are spending time fighting with motion sickness under the surface is not very effective.
This is a good place to start shelving any macho notions. Consider that the astronaut John Glenn, one about whom the term the “right stuff” comes from, was sick during the descent of the space shuttle STS-95. Many pilots have trouble with motion sickness and have not been willing to admit it. They often have covered up their problems by use of incredible will power. It is not true that students who experience airsickness will make poor pilots. In fact, in the gliding community, the sensitive ones are often the best soaring pilots.