A commercial airline pilot has warned flying while suffering from a cold could pose “very serious” risks.
Captain Jaimes Garcia has strongly urged against travelling when unwell and advised of the certain precautions travellers should take.
Garcia shared this warning in a TikTok video which garnered a massive 800,000 views to date to his 156,000 TikTok fans.
The Avianca captain revealed the very serious risk flying with a cold could pose on someone’s overall health particularly for the ears and offered advice on how to remedy it.
According to the viral video, those suffering with a cold and flying will experience major changes in cabin air pressure which is obvious even among healthy individuals.
He further explained that those with colds could face serious havoc inside their ears as inflamed Eustachian tubes are not able to uphold the balance between the middle ear and the atmospheric pressure outside.
Captain Garcia began the video: “If I have a cold, those Eustachian tubes become inflamed; they can’t equalise those pressures, and that’s when you feel ear pain.”
This is due to a lack of equalising these pressures within the ears causing major ear pain in the process.
He added: “This causes barotrauma, and if it’s very severe and you’re very congested, your eardrum could even rupture. It’s very serious.”
Also known as airplane ear, ear barotrauma is a condition caused by major changes in air pressure which puts added stress on the eardrum.
This causes the ears to often “pop” while on a flight and is also similar to diving deep levels under the sea.
Specsavers explained: “Ear barotrauma can affect anyone, but those with narrow eustachian tubes are at higher risk.
“This includes young children who are especially prone to airplane ear and may experience worse symptoms.”
According to the optical group, symptoms of ear barotrauma include feeling of pressure, fullness or discomfort in the ear, muffled sound or difficulty hearing, pain, muffled hearing, slight to moderate hearing loss, ringing in your ear or vertigo.
They added: “In more advanced cases, you might experience severe ear pain, injury to the eardrum and dizziness.”
Captain García added: “A passenger flying with congestion might experience significant discomfort, but we pilots who make five or six trips daily face greater risk if we’re not in optimal condition.”
Fortunately, there are a few remedies to help with this, with Captain Garcia recommending chewing gum, using a decongestant or doing a few simple exercises to relieve the pressure in the ears.
Alongside major pain and ear barotrauma, flying whilst infected with a cold also increases the risk of physical damage to occur in the inner ear and also the sinuses.
