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Aero-Tips 08.23.06
I mentor a number of pilots by e-mail. One writes:
Well, yesterday was a LONG day.
- One hour of pattern work for currency and
practice
- 45 minute business flight
- Nine hours on the ground working
- 45 minute flight home
While my [airspeed] numbers in the pattern looked good, my
final landing wasn't the best. I can say that fatigue from the day
was an issue, and it was "only" an 11 hour day. This is the first
time that I have worked that long and flown home the same day. On
others it was two days there, or at least a night there before
flying home.
Long day's journey...
A business plane creates
enormous opportunity to serve customers or visit remote locations.
Many of the pilots I train tell me they simply could not be as
successful as they are without the airplane. I worked for a company
for several years that kept two airplanes busy serving operations
throughout the Southeast, and I know I for one was a lot more
productive than when weather or maintenance made me drive those
same trips.
But a "company plane" also creates the temptation to carry it
too far. My "e-mentoree" didn't say it, but he obviously wrote
because the quality of his last landing made him think about
whether he should have made the trip at all, or stayed overnight to
fly back in time for work the next morning.
The ending challenge
The challenge of long-day flying (whether much of the time was
spent in the airplane or not) is to try to accurately predict what
you'll feel like not when you board the airplane to depart, but
after you've completed the trip and need to land. Fatigue is very
personal, so I can't tell you any rules of thumb that will
automatically work for you, but you do need to honestly determine
what your personal limits should be. In my case, since I'm more of
a "morning person", I have these self-imposed late-day flying rules
that result from several years as a "business" pilot:
- If my departure will be after 5 pm I will try to rest (at least
sit in a quiet area undisturbed) for at least half an hour before
getting ready for the flight.
- My entire duty day (from wake-up to last landing) is no longer
than 14 hours if I've had time to rest during the day, or 12 hours
if I have not.
- If my flight will be in instrument conditions I'll subtract two
hours from the above duty-day times.
- If flying after sundown I'll use supplemental oxygen if
available, or limit my flight to at or below 5000 feet.
Supplemental oxygen helps increase alertness and improve vision,
especially at night.
The key, again, is not to decide how you feel when time comes to
board the aircraft, but envision how you will feel at the end of
the planned flight.
Aero-tip of the day: Realistically consider how
fatigue can affect your flying.