Aero-Tips!

A good pilot is always learning -- how many times have you heard this old standard throughout your flying career? There is no truer statement in all of flying (well, with the possible exception of "there are no old, bold pilots.")

Aero-News has called upon the expertise of Thomas P. Turner, master CFI and all-around-good-guy, to bring our readers -- and us -- daily tips to improve our skills as aviators. Some of them, you may have heard before... but for each of us, there will also be something we might never have considered before, or something that didn't "stick" the way it should have the first time we memorized it for the practical test.

Look for our daily Aero-Tips segments, coming each day to you through the Aero-News Network.

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.

FMI: Aero-Tips