We had a scared of heights thread the other day; But does anyone get this?
I was flying someone's drone the other day and when I'd take it up higher, say 75-200 feet, I found I couldn't look at it! It was crazy! It gave me the same sensation as being up on the roof of a tall building and looking down. Very weird. I know that standing next to a tall building and looking up sort of does it to me a little, but this was ten times worse. I couldn't look at it for more than a few seconds, it was sort of a feeling of near panic and dizziness. (and knowing that it was up there and that I WASN'T looking at it didn't feel right either. lol) Maybe it was a combination of the normal looking up thing, combined with the uncertainty and inexperience in what I was doing and fear of losing the drone?
It was a horrible feeling and I REALLY didn't like it. Maybe because if you're up on the edge of of tall building, you KNOW why you're scared. Self preservation. Where as this made no sense at all, to have the physical reaction I did. Very strange and quite unsettling.This message has been edited. Last edited by: cas,
_____________________________________________________ Sliced bread, the greatest thing since the 1911.
June 07, 2020, 11:00 AM
Sportshooter
Perhaps wearing a parachute while flying the drone would help.
June 07, 2020, 11:03 AM
ChuckFinley
I'm not afraid of heights. I'm afraid of widths.
_________________________ NRA Endowment Member _________________________ "Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." -- C.S. Lewis
June 07, 2020, 11:38 AM
.38supersig
One thing to consider when flying a drone or climbing an antenna, is you are basing your reference point between you and some clouds (if present).
The clouds will slowly move and I tend to slowly move with them to maintain the same reference point. Bad idea.
June 07, 2020, 11:41 AM
ss9961
quote:
Originally posted by ChuckFinley: I'm not afraid of heights. I'm afraid of widths.
Yeah you’re Wright about that.
June 07, 2020, 11:59 AM
az4783054
Odd observation...could it have anything to do with being stuck at home and drinking to much?
June 07, 2020, 12:46 PM
sigmonkey
quote:
Originally posted by cas:Where as this made no sense at all, to have the physical reaction I did. Very strange and quite unsettling....
Maybe you're descended from Australians?
"the meaning of life, is to give life meaning" ✡ Ani Yehudi אני יהודי Le'olam lo shuv לעולם לא שוב!
June 07, 2020, 01:39 PM
SigSAC
Since they are down under, maybe you mean ascended?
quote:
Originally posted by sigmonkey: Maybe you're descended from Australians?
June 07, 2020, 01:45 PM
RHINOWSO
Nothing sacred about heights, hi or lo.
June 07, 2020, 02:13 PM
ensigmatic
quote:
Originally posted by cas: We had a scared of heights thread the other day; But does anyone get this?
I was flying someone's drone the other day and when I'd take it up higher, say 75-200 feet, I found I couldn't look at it! It was crazy! It gave me the same sensation as being up on the roof of a tall building and looking down.
Sounds to me like vertigo.
"America is at that awkward stage. It's too late to work within the system,,,, but too early to shoot the bastards." -- Claire Wolfe "If we let things terrify us, life will not be worth living." -- Seneca the Younger, Roman Stoic philosopher
June 07, 2020, 02:46 PM
Expert308
quote:
Originally posted by ensigmatic:
quote:
Originally posted by cas: We had a scared of heights thread the other day; But does anyone get this?
I was flying someone's drone the other day and when I'd take it up higher, say 75-200 feet, I found I couldn't look at it! It was crazy! It gave me the same sensation as being up on the roof of a tall building and looking down.
Sounds to me like vertigo.
Yeah, it does. I had a couple episodes of that a few years ago and after a day of it I went and saw a doctor. Apparently, "I'm feeling dizzy" is a trigger phrase for "possible heart attack" because I went to the front of the line and they ran every test on me they could. And found nothing. Finally an actual doctor came in and asked me to describe it. I did and he said "Sounds like vertigo." He then put on his eye-ear-nose-and-throat hat and looked in my ears, and told me I had some fluid buildup in my inner ear. Told me to go to a drug store and buy some OTC Flonase. I did and it cleared it all up in a couple of hours. That was like 10 years ago.
Then last summer I had another episode, but more severe. Went to the doc again, this time they found something they didn't like on the ECG, and my BP was scary low. An ambulance ride to the big hospital, an angiogram and some other tests later, it turned out to be a bilateral pulmonary embolism. If I'd tried to ride it out with Flonase, I probably wouldn't be writing this now.
I recommend you talk to your doctor about it.
June 07, 2020, 03:02 PM
frayedends
I seem to recall the same feeling as a teen standing at the bottom of the John Hancock building in Boston and looking up the side to the top. Been a long time since then. Don’t know if it would still happen.
These go to eleven.
June 07, 2020, 07:08 PM
Phantom229
quote:
Originally posted by ChuckFinley: I'm not afraid of heights. I'm afraid of widths.
I'm afraid of the depths.
Situation awareness is defined as a continuous extraction of environmental information, integration of this information with previous knowledge to form a coherent mental picture in directing further perception and anticipating future events. Simply put, situational awareness mean knowing what is going on around you.
June 07, 2020, 08:30 PM
henryaz
quote:
Originally posted by cas: We had a scared of heights thread the other day; But does anyone get this?
I was flying someone's drone the other day and when I'd take it up higher, say 75-200 feet, I found I couldn't look at it! It was crazy! It gave me the same sensation as being up on the roof of a tall building and looking down. Very weird. I know that standing next to a tall building and looking up sort of does it to me a little, but this was ten times worse. I couldn't look at it for more than a few seconds, it was sort of a feeling of near panic and dizziness. (and knowing that it was up there and that I WASN'T looking at it didn't feel right either. lol) Maybe it was a combination of the normal looking up thing, combined with the uncertainty and inexperience in what I was doing and fear of losing the drone?
It was a horrible feeling and I REALLY didn't like it. Maybe because if you're up on the edge of of tall building, you KNOW why you're scared. Self preservation. Where as this made no sense at all, to have the physical reaction I did. Very strange and quite unsettling.
It sounds a little like an inner ear type of vertigo. Look up BPPV. Does it happen more often, or exclusively, when you look up/back and to one side? BPPV is sometimes called "top shelf syndrome". I had this about 7-8 years ago, and the simple exercises the Dr. gave me to do made it go away.
When in doubt, mumble
June 07, 2020, 08:37 PM
6guns
I suspect it may have also had something to do with tilting your head back at a sharp angle. I think that position can do something to your sense of balance and mess it up. In other words, if you laid down on the ground and looked up at it, it may not have felt so bad....or nothing at all.
SIGforum: For all your needs! Imagine our influence if every gun owner in America was an NRA member! Click the box>>>
June 07, 2020, 08:38 PM
6guns
quote:
Originally posted by ss9961:
quote:
Originally posted by ChuckFinley: I'm not afraid of heights. I'm afraid of widths.
Yeah you’re Wright about that.
SIGforum: For all your needs! Imagine our influence if every gun owner in America was an NRA member! Click the box>>>
June 07, 2020, 08:50 PM
SirBeep
My lack of vertigo got me the best cube at my first job out of college. 18 floors up cantilevered out away from the building. Big wall of glass jutting out over the highway. Freaked everyone else skeevy, but got me a nice view of Ga mountains and weird traffic patterns of Ga interstates.
Only a couple weeks later I learned it's genetic. The window washers were all red boys straight from the reservation. And boy do they make good money doing it.
June 08, 2020, 02:21 PM
benny6
I'm not afraid of heights. But I am afraid of falling from high places. As long as I'm not falling, I'm good. I'll jump on any plane, helicopter, or climb any tall tower. Skydiving; nope!
