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This is great to hear, thank you for the reply. Heavies are my goal so it's refreshing to hear that they are more open to people in a similar situation to myself. I will definitely knock out my PPL this year and rush as much as I can once I get closer to the application point.

Checked with med group yesterday and unfortunately there are very limited flight physiology units out there; My base unfortunately doesn't have one. Maybe I can find a civilian office that deals with physio stuff like this My med group doesn't have one anyway, so looks like a wash. Had been trying to just do research and figure it out, but I'll likely just take your suggestion and go up in the plane and repeatedly do the maneuver. More expensive than the chair and more time consuming, but likely would result in the same outcome Edit: checked with a med group at a different base with aerospace physiology and they do require a flight doc recommendation in order to treat.

Definitely agree, I'll tread carefully. Thanks again!

Thank you for the reply! I will explore using the chair to see if that may be able to help me fix my issue. I appreciate the info. Side question: wouldn't it be bad to go into the office with this issue, even if it's correctable, since it would go on my medical record? Or do you think that, since it may be fixable, it wouldn't be an issue?

Him and I saw that it occurred on a performance takeoff, so we did some pushovers to see if it continued to happen, which it did. He was concerned that during severe turbulence or winds, the sensation may come back if the plane dropped enough and would inhibit me to safely operate the airplane. I don't think it happened during a training maneuver specifically but we didn't try any stalls into spins.. maybe that was something he was concerned about? I'm at the stage where I'm flying with instructors currently to find one that I enjoy flying with.. haven't done a ton of actual training yet, so I'm unfortunately not sure if any other training maneuvers cause it. I'm just guessing that a stall into a spin could cause it due to the nose dropping down so much but I have no experience to back that guess up.

It happened during 0 g and half g pushovers specifically.

Thank you for the reply. This is what we were thinking too.. that going up and repeatedly practicing the maneuvers will train my body out of it. Maybe something like the Valsalva technique would help with relaxing like you were talking about. I was going to anonymously talk to an AME just to make sure that doing this repeatedly wouldn't cause any internal damage, but definitely not speaking to anyone on the record unless I absolutely have to.

I am looking to get a PPL to be more competitive for guard/reserve units but have came across a strange medical issue involving 0g/.5g pushovers and rapid descents. Whenever the descent begins, my lower abdomen and legs immediately tense up and I'm almost paralyzed. For example, we did a performance takeoff and I was completely fine on the climb, but the second he went to level out my quads and lower abdomen locked up and I felt like I was leaning back in the seat with those muscles entirely tense. I am completely fine doing 2G banked turns, steep climbs, and dealing with turbulence and other normal flying maneuvers. However, for whatever reason, these steep descent and the pushovers do this to me. My core, lower back, and legs were actually sore after flying yesterday and encountering this. I've had this happen to me in a car when going up and down a deep bump quickly at speed, and also on a snowboard in the same scenario; however, in these cases, it only is an uncomfortable feeling in my lower abdomen and I never experience the leg lock or even the core lock. My instructor was concerned about this and will not let me solo unless this issue can be fixed (rightfully so). Has anyone seen a trainee do this/dealt with this issue themselves/even just heard about this issue? We were thinking it may be a rather unique vasovagal reaction. I'd really appreciate any insight y'all have on this matter.

Thank you for the reply. Heavies are my primary goal so at least it's comforting to hear that Os being hired were more focused in heavy units. Did you end up getting picked up by a heavy unit? Or did a fighter unit end up taking you on?

Thank you for the reply. He was incorrect in mentioning that poor UPT performance could result in tracking RPAs even if you are a fighter/heavy guard or reserve hire, right? Your response seems to indicate that this is the case but I want to be sure I'm reading 100% correctly.

AD AF non-rated LT looking at possibly applying for a guard/reserve pilot slot down the road. I would've thought that being an O already would be a benefit, since you wouldn't have to go to OTS and could go to UPT and subsequently be back at the squadron flying quicker than off the street hires, but in talking with some other folks it sounds like this may be the opposite? Any folks who have sat/currently sit on hiring boards have any insight? I wouldn't let this dissuade me if I decide this is a path I want to pursue, but I am curious on yall's thoughts.

Question on this: even if you're a guard/reserve guy hired by a fighter unit, don't you still have to compete for 38s like everyone else? I was under the impression that you weren't guaranteed 38s and still had to compete, with the possibility of being taken on by a heavy unit should you not earn a 38 slot.