do you long XC pilots ever get used to it?

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Apache123

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Hey, Steve!
Before Friday the longest I'd flown in one day was about the three and a half hours. Friday I spent most of the day giving tours for family that ended with me clicking 7.3 hours for the day. I pretty much slept through Saturday.

Henning, Ted, and others who do long long flights reasonably regularly, do you guys get work down after these flights or do you pretty much get used to it?

Is there anything to do to help with the post flight fatigue?
 
I have a difficult enough time staying awake WHILE I'm flying.
 
On ferry trips I will go for 8-10 hours a day sometimes for 5 days straight. For some reason during the trip itself it doesn't effect me much but when I am done, plane delivered and I am back home, it can take me up to two days to feel fully rested again.
 
I used to fly 4 to 5 hours back and forth to work almost every week. Really didn't bother me.

And I don't have an auto pilot....
 
Two to three, 3.5 hr flights per day is less fatiguing than multiple trips around the same patch giving rides. Getting people in, tied down, briefed and then playing tour guide while flying is tiresome.

Going XC is not the same. I'll plan for pleasure trips, two 3-3.5 hr legs with a lunch stop. Gives me time for breakfast and a nice dinner, it's a pleasure trip.

If I'm moving a plane, it's max flying and minimum days, normally solo. I'll push for 3 four hr legs with ground time for fuel and personal needs. I've got snacks food in the plane.
 
An autopilot is a big help to minimize fatigue on long XCs. Sirius/XM is also nice. A wide mouth bottle can also eliminate some, ah, pressure.
 
I think it all depends on the conditions of your flight. I have flown 12 hr legs that were a breeze and 12 hr legs that seemed to never end. Being well rested and hydrated is a big help. In GA planes I'm limited by the well known coffee to bladder volume formula. And none of my planes are good for over five hours.
 
Start day at dentist. Fly to Ann Arbor in Cherokee. Pick up Arrow. Fly to Cadillac. Do CFI check ride. Fly back to Ann Arbor. Pick up Cherokee. Fly back home. Pick up seller of Dad's plane. Fly to Cleveland. Drop off seller. Fly back home.

I think I left Cleveland after 1am.
 
Of course you'll be tired after a long flight, but it is by no means boring. I enjoy any long flight as long as it's not at night or over eastern Arizona or western New Mexico.
I don't usually take food with me on board however I make sure to eat plenty before the flight. Also on long flights I prefer to take another pilot with me to share screw responsibilities, makes the flight significantly easier.


DavidWhite said:
I have a difficult enough time staying awake WHILE I'm flying.
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:rofl: I can confirm that.
 
I get tired on long cross countries, just like I get tired on long drives. To me, not a lot of difference, except I worry a little more about getting stranded somewhere flying than I do driving.
 
somorris said:
I get tired on long cross countries, just like I get tired on long drives. To me, not a lot of difference, except I worry a little more about getting stranded somewhere flying than I do driving.
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I'm just going to assume that you REALLY enjoy driving.
 
I'm fascinated by a portion of your post. Can you elaborate on exactly how you and the other pilot interact on the shared responsibilities that you mentioned?

MachFly said:
Of course you'll be tired after a long flight, but it is by no means boring. I enjoy any long flight as long as it's not at night or over eastern Arizona or western New Mexico.
I don't usually take food with me on board however I make sure to eat plenty before the flight. Also on long flights I prefer to take another pilot with me to share screw responsibilities, makes the flight significantly easier.




:rofl: I can confirm that.
Click to expand...
 
wabower said:
I'm fascinated by a portion of your post. Can you elaborate on exactly how you and the other pilot interact on the shared responsibilities that you mentioned?
Click to expand...

:rofl::eek::hairraise::D:rofl:

That just has to be autocorrect gone very, very wrong...
 
For some reason, flying is less fatiguing than driving.
I have knee, hip, and back problems, and driving for long periods causes me lots of annoying-level pain. Flying, on the other hand, I can fly 4 hours and get out without any pain at all.

I have flown over 10 hours in a day, and routinely fly 5+ hours on long XCs, and I'm not tired at the end.
Part of it, I think, is that in driving you are keeping a car within a couple of feet of the center of the lane, at 70+mph, for hours and hours. You can't take you eyes off the road.
Flying, on the other hand, you are looking forward, checking instruments, checking your location on the chart, eyeballing landing spots and airports. Flying doesn't have the monotony, unlike driving where you only look straight ahead for hours and hours.

I find I have to take a break every 1.5 to 2 hours when driving, to stretch, give my eyes and brain a break. Flying, no such issues.
 
BillTIZ said:
Two to three, 3.5 hr flights per day is less fatiguing than multiple trips around the same patch giving rides. Getting people in, tied down, briefed and then playing tour guide while flying is tiresome.
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+1

After one of our marathon Young Eagle events (8am - 1 or 2 pm with a break), every one of the pilots are exhausted.
Going XC is not the same. I'll plan for pleasure trips, two 3-3.5 hr legs with a lunch stop. Gives me time for breakfast and a nice dinner, it's a pleasure trip.
Click to expand...
I've learned not to fly more than 3 hrs at a time (prefer 2.5) and no more than 6 hrs total if I'm solo. With another pilot, I've done 9 hour days in the summer.
If I'm moving a plane, it's max flying and minimum days, normally solo. I'll push for 3 four hr legs with ground time for fuel and personal needs. I've got snacks food in the plane.
Click to expand...

Definitely. On the really long flights, the cooler is packed with sandwiches, fruit, water, juice...
 
wabower said:
I'm fascinated by a portion of your post. Can you elaborate on exactly how you and the other pilot interact on the shared responsibilities that you mentioned?
Click to expand...

Regarding long flights I just switch controls every hour or so, the pilot not flying will usually be talking on the radios and navigating. That makes long trips much easier in general and your much less tired by the end of the day. In addition you have another pilot to talk to.

When operating in busy terminal areas it makes things significantly easier. Pilot flying just needs to concentrate on flying and scanning for traffic. Pilot not flying talks on the radios, navigates, sets up the instruments, scants for traffic, backs up the checklists, ect...
 
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Apache123 said:
Before Friday the longest I'd flown in one day was about the three and a half hours. Friday I spent most of the day giving tours for family that ended with me clicking 7.3 hours for the day. I pretty much slept through Saturday.

Henning, Ted, and others who do long long flights reasonably regularly, do you guys get work down after these flights or do you pretty much get used to it?

Is there anything to do to help with the post flight fatigue?
Click to expand...

When I first started taking long x-c's they were exhausting. Now days, not so much. Once you've been through it a few times you stop worrying about the things that can't be controlled and focus on the required tasks. You get used to the uncertainty in weather and learn that looking out the big window in front tells you a lot about what is going on. A six hour x-c is usually no big deal (good weather) now where it used to just about end my day.

Music, snacks, drinks, all help. Maybe the music more than anything as long as I'm hydrated. Oxygen is good if I'm going above 10,000.
 
Clark1961 said:
When I first started taking long x-c's they were exhausting. Now days, not so much. Once you've been through it a few times you stop worrying about the things that can't be controlled and focus on the required tasks. You get used to the uncertainty in weather and learn that looking out the big window in front tells you a lot about what is going on. A six hour x-c is usually no big deal (good weather) now where it used to just about end my day.

Music, snacks, drinks, all help. Maybe the music more than anything as long as I'm hydrated. Oxygen is good if I'm going above 10,000.
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Me too. Altho I live in Denver, any time I'm flying more than an hour at 10K or higher, it's O2. Even a quick run down to RTN, I'm on O2. Any night flight other than the 3 full-stops for currency, I'm on O2.

[let's not get into the discussion about when/where O2 is required...]
 
That was the answer I kinda expected, but if you re-read your OP you may better understand why the question arose. ;)

MachFly said:
Regarding long flights I just switch controls every hour or so, the pilot not flying will usually be talking on the radios and navigating. That makes long trips much easier in general and your much less tired by the end of the day. In addition you have another pilot to talk to.

When operating in busy terminal areas it makes things significantly easier. Pilot flying just needs to concentrate on flying and scanning for traffic. Pilot not flying talks on the radios, navigates, sets up the instruments, scants for traffic, backs up the checklists, ect...
Click to expand...
 
wabower said:
That was the answer I kinda expected, but if you re-read your OP you may better understand why the question arose. ;)
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:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl: ROFLMAO

man I fell off the chair laughing
 
How did I ever figure out how to work the auto pilot,the HSI and the Garmin 530 except for those 4.5-5 hour 700nm trips. You got all that time, might as well put it to good use.
 
You have a lot going on it can be very mentally draining. The brain burns calories too.
 
- have to say that there was a time when I probably got "Less" fatigued, but a 7+ hour day in the seat is still tiring-even to a flight crew.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9330 using Tapatalk
 
I thought my 6.5 hour flight to Florida was pretty good but reading all of these other posts, I guess I'm still a rookie. It was long enough.

On a side note I realize that I don't even like driving solo. Drove to Pittsburgh this weekend (4.5 hours) and that was hell. I stopped at every plaza just for human interaction. :) I think flying solo is "safer" though because at least if I have a problem I'll land the plane at an airport/plowed field. Driving I pull over god knows who may approach me! <shudder> Next time I'll be carrying concealed (yes I have a permit for both states, but my parents don't really like it when I carry)
 
Just as long drives can be daunting moreso long flights. An autopilot helps (or just getting the plane in good rig and trim so that you aren't fighting it all the time). Originally I thought making midway stops helped (either for lunch or fuel), but of late we've found that with the extended range in our tanks we can just blast through in 5 hours what a stop would stretch out to 6+ and still feel good.
 
You get used to it. Rest the night before, be completely prepared so you don't add undue stress from that kind of worry. Stay fed with small snacks along the way- I usually carry carrot sticks, zucchini sticks, crackers and cheese - stuff that's small and not messy. I find that if I don't snack along the way then I don't feel as well at the end of the flight and that is a higher risk time
and stay hydrated... Carry a relief container of some sort so you don't have to waste travel time descending and then climbing just to go pee. I use traveljohns and they work great for me.

Most of my long Xc have been in a 152 also and well, thats part of the reason theyre long
:) I have never had an auto pilot and would love someday to see how nice that must be.

It's a matter of just getting used to it I think. Kind of like getting used to pulling Gs
.
 
saracelica said:
I thought my 6.5 hour flight to Florida was pretty good but reading all of these other posts, I guess I'm still a rookie. It was long enough.

On a side note I realize that I don't even like driving solo. Drove to Pittsburgh this weekend (4.5 hours) and that was hell. I stopped at every plaza just for human interaction. :) I think flying solo is "safer" though because at least if I have a problem I'll land the plane at an airport/plowed field. Driving I pull over god knows who may approach me! <shudder> Next time I'll be carrying concealed (yes I have a permit for both states, but my parents don't really like it when I carry)
Click to expand...

I always carry when I'm in AZ, especially going south. There are some crazies around. Especially if you end up in the desert on reservation land. Things can get dicey quick.
 
Depending on what you're flying...start to look real close for a CO leak if you feel abnormally tired after long flights. Very minor leaks add up with time. A good electronic detector helps with this.
 
jesse said:
Depending on what you're flying...start to look real close for a CO leak if you feel abnormally tired after long flights. Very minor leaks add up with time. A good electronic detector helps with this.
Click to expand...
Good point. I carry one of these.
I've never seen a total exposure of more than about 6 ppm-hours on my longest flying days. Above 10 is when I would start to worry.
 
There are some people who are built for long haul driving/flying, and some people who aren't. Yes, a certain amount is getting used to it. In my case, 10-16 hour drives were pretty common through my college years, with the longest drive being 40 hours.

By the time I got to flying, the concept of only spending 8 hours in a day in a vehicle really wasn't daunting at all. The day after getting my instrument rating, I flew 10.5 hours in the Archer to go from PA to NYC, pick up my mom, fly her to Virginia, and back home. Yes, I was tired by the end (especially dealing with weather that I had very limited experience dealing with), but not too bad at all.

I won't say I'm not tired at the end of a 10 hour day of flying - I am. But I'm certainly not exhausted, and no flight has left me sleeping until the next day.

Some are built for it. Some aren't. If you aren't, don't try to be one that is.
 
Pressurization and a good autopilot are a must. I've only done a 7.4 hr leg with the Malibu. My daughter was on an 8 hr trip once with one of our pilots.
 
kmead said:
Pressurization and a good autopilot are a must. I've only done a 7.4 hr leg with the Malibu. My daughter was on an 8 hr trip once with one of our pilots.
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Big help, sure. A must no

I have done 11hrs in the saddle, 12.5 chalk to chalk, and I was just tired, and a little sore. The auto pilot helped, but I have done 8hrs with out one too. I was more tired than after the long trip with one, but could have safely gone on much further.
 
kmead said:
Pressurization and a good autopilot are a must. I've only done a 7.4 hr leg with the Malibu. My daughter was on an 8 hr trip once with one of our pilots.
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Not a must at all. Flew the Aztec 12 hours on the Hobbs (14 block time) from LA to NYC in one day. Crappy AP and no pressurization.
 
Seattle Boeing to Rome in 10 a few weeks after 9-11. But with a stand-up whizzer and FA to provide meal and beverage service to the cockpit. Some GA is just better than others;)

Ted DuPuis said:
Not a must at all. Flew the Aztec 12 hours on the Hobbs (14 block time) from LA to NYC in one day. Crappy AP and no pressurization.
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I've made several multi-day cross country flights in a Cessna 150. But each day was broken into several shorter legs, typically it went something like this: 1 hr, 2 hr, lunch, 2 hr, 2 hr and stop for the night.

I didn't find it tiring at all. But rather that flying autopilot and up so high I needed supplemental oxygen, I flew low and slow and didn't hesitate to circle around interesting sights. Like this:
 

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wabower said:
Seattle Boeing to Rome in 10 a few weeks after 9-11. But with a stand-up whizzer and FA to provide meal and beverage service to the cockpit. Some GA is just better than others;)
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No argument there. Yesterday as we were loading up the 310 another family hopped in a Global Express to head wherever they were going. But they had 3 kids to our 1. ;)

Meanwhile I was feeling pretty good about seeing 200 over the ground and truing out at 180-185.
 
I am good for long stretches except for my back. After about 1.5 hours the back starts to talk to me and the pain usually shoots down my leg. I think it is the ruptured L4 and L5 that does it. I heard from another pilot friend about a device call the Back Joy that helps position your pelvis correctly and removes a lot of the discomfort associated with sitting a long time. Anyone else have any tricks.
 
When your job is flying x-c for hours at a time, you get used to it.

Bob Gardner (ex-freight dog and proud of it)
 
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