I used to hae terrible ear pain only when descending.

I take Afrin, plus a decongestant (Sudafed) before take-off, and put in Earplanes (children's size since my ear canal is so small.) 1/2 hour before take-off and remove them when we get to cruising altitude. Then I put EarPlanes back in when we are about to descend and don't remove them until the cabin door is open.

I've been fine ever since.

That's really wierd, thePidge, because pressurization systems are identical in all pressurized airplanes. The difference lies up there in the view seats...they decide on cabin altitude, rate of climb/descent for the cabin, etc. You must have stumbled across someone who didn't understand the system...should have complained at the time so that s/he could be retrained.

AnthonyGA, the pressurization system cabin rate of climb is set by the pilots, as you say (flight engineers have gone the way of the dodo). The plane climbs much more rapidly than the cabin, and when the cabin gets to a pre-set pressure differential, the cabin altitude (usually about 8000 feet) levels off while the plane keeps climbing. Altitude changes that take place after the cabin levels off have no effect whatever on cabin altitude. You can go up and down 10000 feet without any effect on cabin altitude.

Other side of the coin is descent...the pilots set the cabin rate of descent to be faster than the airplane descends, so that the cabin reaches the altitude of the destination airport long before the plane gets in close.

On most modern airliners, the cabin pressurization is controlled by computer. The computer determines the schedule of cabin altitude changes based on information from the flight management system, which knows the climb, cruise, and descent profiles, as well as the altitudes of the departure and destination airports. The computers endeavor to minimize cabin altitude changes. Their major constraint is having to respect the maximum pressure differential allowed for the airframe, and they keep cabin altitude as close as practical to the arrival and departure altitudes insofar as this maximum differential permits.

On some older airliners, pilots manually set the departure and arrival altitudes, and the computer does the rest. On the oldest aircraft, the cabin pressures are still set or scheduled manually. The best results are usually obtained on the computerized aircraft.

I had ear and head pain that was unbelievable about 30 yrs ago. I was told by a Kmart pharmacist to use Swimmers Ear Drops on take off and landing. Just a drop in each ear and a piece of cotton ball does the trick. Works everytime. I think it has something to do with balancing the pressure. You can get the drops anywhere, even you're neighborhood food supermarket. I'm going to Europe Thursday 6/14/07 and wouldn't go without it. (comes in 3 oz. bottle)

almaruth60 - Did you have this pain on one occasion while flyng - or was it an ongoing problem?