I'd suggest that perhaps both of you are at the early onset of a cold or
recently recovering and there may have been some inflammation constricting
the tube to the back of the throat that balances the air pressure in the
inner ear.

Also, if you don't "keep up" with the pressure changes.. then when the
pressure becomes noticeable, it may take more effort to clear and add to
that any problems with the Eustachian tube.

In my flying career, I once recovered from a cold, was cleared by the fight
surgeon to fly, and on the flight the next day had problems such as you
describe. Some ringing in the ears for the next two hours, sounds as if they
were transmitted through water.. and then a pop. I returned to the flight
surgeon and discovered I was very close to rupturing an ear drum. Descent
rates were much higher than yours, but in a pressure cabin, most noticeable
in the last 2000ft to the ground.

B

"Fred Choate" wrote in message
...
Hey Folks...

Had an experience yesterday that I have never had. Took off in a 172 for
a local flight here in the Puget Sound area. Field elevation 500 ft. I
climbed to 4000 ft, and flew for about 15 minutes before climbing to 8000
ft to get a great view of Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Adams, and Mt. Rainier.
After flying for about 45 minutes, I started the descending back toward
the airfield. I descended at 400 fpm and took it down to 5000 ft, and
then 500fpm to 2000 ft, and finally down to TPA of 1500 ft. During the
descent from 5000 to 1500, both myself and my passenger experienced alot
of pressure in the ears, and both our ears plugged. I could see it was
very uncomfortable for my passenger, and I wasn't too thrilled either.

After landing, it took a good 2 hours for my ears to be back to normal,
and probably about that for my passenger as well. Just curious about
this, as I have never experienced that before. I have only 70 hours, but
have flown as high as 11500 in a 172, and never had a problem with my
ears.

I did just purchase a new headset that seals much better than the old set
I had, and this was my first flight with them, and the passenger was
wearing a set from the FBO that seals pretty well too. Could headsets
have been a factor, or is it more likely it was just a fluke situation.

Also, would it have been better to level off when we first started feeling
the pressure, and see if things would have equalized?


Fred