Fuelled and lubricated

For airline pilots the day’s routine is usually more organised with time to have a formal break and have a proper meal and drink. ‘Would Captain prefer the chicken or the beef’? That may be the question put to the crew of an airliner but for the guys working charter or flight training it is more likely to be a question of ‘How long will you be? The customer is waiting’!

Nutrition and adequate hydration are very important to pilots. A proper breakfast should be one that gives enough blood sugar to get the pilot up and running. No breakfast will have the worms tossing and turning and putting the pilot’s attention to someplace except where it should be. Sure as a young buck you can get away with the fighter pilots breakfast, a Mars bar and a can of coke, but not indefinitely. Those two items will fill a space in your stomach but when the effect of the two wear off it will be like hitting a brick wall. That may take some two hours or so and be right at the time when critical decisions need to be made. Coffee also has the same effect.

To get a proper breakfast can be difficult for a GA pilot. The need to be at the operations area long before the customer sometimes overrides the need to get a proper breakfast or any breakfast. Fast food on the way to work should not be considered an adequate breakfast.

For a GA pilot it can take a bit of self discipline to get an adequate breakfast arranged for the next morning. It can take even more discipline to prepare a lunch to take to work.

For a busy charter pilot or instructor it may be a case of off to work before the store opens and home at the end of the day after the store has closed. Not much time to get food stuffs to prepare a proper meal be it breakfast lunch or dinner.

For a pilot working and flying in a medium to hot climate he needs to keep hydrated. In a hot weather it can mean that a pilot needs to drink as much as three litres of water per day without needing to do a water drain.

One can only wonder how many aircraft accidents have happened over the years in this hot country due to a pilot not being hydrated thus resulting in errors of judgement.

How many accidents have happened due to a pilot not being

Like all flying preparation is the key to beating the problem before it occurs. On long flights this writer has found that a lightweight insulated cooler bag with a foil liner is good value. Flexible so that it can be pushed into spaces that a rigid cooler cannot go. Overnight a bottle of water is frozen and becomes the cooling agent in the flexible bag.

Chilled water bottles and food stuffs can then be held in the cooler bag and are palatable when they are to be consumed. Food stuffs for a pilot are best if they are wholesome, nutritious and not junk food.

Lunch items can be home made sandwiches or a bought sandwich pack from the local servo. Food that is high in sugar, crumbles or is saucy is best left on the rack. Sugar will give you a temporary high. Crumbly food and food with sauce will leave a mess on the cockpit floor or your shirt front. Fruit and nuts can be good food items. Moist fruit cake can be another good item. Years ago an old Ag pilot told me that it was best to graze during the day rather than have a big meal that may have you wanting a snooze, just like after the family Christmas party.

And the long term effect?

Eating junk food or too much of any food is bad news for a pilot. How many overweight pilots do you see that continue to fly? Few. This writer has seen several cases where CASA has asked for a check to see that a pilot with a big waistline can adequately operate the flight controls. In a more recent case a pilot had his licence suspended until he lost weight, a lot of weight. Big boys do not teach in a Cessna 152. Excessive sugar intake from junk food coupled with a lack of exercise can lead to diabetes. A sure way to lose you licence.

The key to hydration is to have an adequate intake. Sipping is better than glugging. With food the key to success is to not consume too much and to have a balanced diet of quality food stuffs.

Good decision making is assisted by a pilot having consumed sustaining levels of quality food and to be adequately hydrated.

Contact Dave by email: [email protected]