Narrative:

I was returning to my home airport after performing aerobatic maneuvers. In the downwind [leg] I began to feel extremely airsick and very disoriented. I turned an early base to expedite a landing and while I was searching in the map pocket for a sick sack; I hit a tree. After pulling up; I turned final and landed. Damage was several tears in the fabric under the wing; a broken lens cover over the landing light; and the landing gear fairing was smashed. There is no structural damage to the aircraft. My worst mistake was to allow myself to get distracted; but I was so disoriented that I did not realize that I was so low to the ground. I have flown approximately 300 hours in this aircraft over the past year. Very few of those flights were aerobatic. Before that I have 200 hours flying a stearman biplane and more of those flights were aerobatic. I also have five summers of towing aerial advertising banners. When the wind blows offshore; there are a lot of thermals and a banner plane is lifted and dropped often. I have felt nauseous before; but was caught by surprise when I became so violently sick. You're probably not going to believe this; but I consider myself a conservative and careful pilot. I have been the check pilot for the banner towing company that I flew for and I'm the old fart that would admonish the kids for doing stupid things low to the ground. I got away from the banner towing thinking that conducting air tours would be safer. I wish that I had a good answer for how this could have been prevented or how to avoid it in the future.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Waco YMF-5 pilot hit a tree on short final while he looked for a sick sack after he became physically ill and disoriented on short final. He landing safely and only minor damage resulted.

Narrative: I was returning to my home airport after performing aerobatic maneuvers. In the downwind [leg] I began to feel extremely airsick and very disoriented. I turned an early base to expedite a landing and while I was searching in the map pocket for a sick sack; I hit a tree. After pulling up; I turned final and landed. Damage was several tears in the fabric under the wing; a broken lens cover over the landing light; and the landing gear fairing was smashed. There is no structural damage to the aircraft. My worst mistake was to allow myself to get distracted; but I was so disoriented that I did not realize that I was so low to the ground. I have flown approximately 300 hours in this aircraft over the past year. Very few of those flights were aerobatic. Before that I have 200 hours flying a Stearman biplane and more of those flights were aerobatic. I also have five summers of towing aerial advertising banners. When the wind blows offshore; there are a lot of thermals and a banner plane is lifted and dropped often. I have felt nauseous before; but was caught by surprise when I became so violently sick. You're probably not going to believe this; but I consider myself a conservative and careful pilot. I have been the check pilot for the banner towing company that I flew for and I'm the old fart that would admonish the kids for doing stupid things low to the ground. I got away from the banner towing thinking that conducting air tours would be safer. I wish that I had a good answer for how this could have been prevented or how to avoid it in the future.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.