dying of thirst . dehydration

[ghostflyer]

We have had nearly 3 weeks of constant rain and yesterday blue sky. A friend and myself decided to go for a couple of hours flying. Nil wind , some clouds at 6,000 ft nothing to worry about. Temperature on ground 95deg F ,humidity was 97%. We were in a Cessna 172 [his]. we had 120 liters in tanks . Flight was going to use about 80 liters . We had to push the aircraft about 500 yards to be clear of tarmac repairs from rain . By this time we were panting and covered in sweat. I had a mouth full of water from a 500mls water bottle and he had a can of coke [cold ]. Take off normal and then the sun streaming in through the windscreen. Temperature in cockpit was 116deg F . My T shirt was soaked and my shorts were close to being saturated . The sweat was dripping off my elbows . It was like being in hot oil regardless of the vents . Humidity was at least 97% plus . It was a great flight ,testing out his new toys on his aircraft . We were about 5 miles out and I asked him how much fuel did he think we still had on board . I told him I think we have used 70 liters so how much left ?
He said 15 liters and then i could see the panic in his face . NO ,we started with 120 liters . Out came the phone and he is trying to use the calculator . I am then trying to use the check sheet before landing . I had another couple of mouthfuls of water . Then i realise , things are not right with me . I forgot to make any radio calls . I am on finals and I want to to throw up. We bounced down the runway . Parked the aircraft and raided his fridge in the hangar . He had heaps of cold water in fridge . What I learnt was dehydration creeps up on you and you must make a constant effort to drink water. we both were concentrating too much on the new toys fitted to his aircraft and not our health.
[His toys is a Garmin glass panel and a AoA gauge . It was after a while that I realised the Garmin told us all the fuel used and and remaining .

[pdb]

Years ago a brilliant internist and soaring pilot gave a lecture to glider pilots in the Reno area, which is hot and high desert country. The title of the lecture was something like “Why Do Smart Guys Do Stupid Things.” One of the top causes was dehydration.

Glider pilots out west are particularly vulnerable to dehydration because we are frequently making long flights at high altitude, in hot temps, typically starting from field elevations over 4,000 msl, and in very dry desert air. These are the perfect conditions for dehydration which, among other things, can immediately remove a lot of IQ points.

The short story is that dehydration is insidious in these sort of conditions and many pilots go to great lengths to make things worse to avoid by avoiding drinking before and during flights. Pilots need to stay hydrated to stay on top of their game. If you aren’t drinking enough in flight to require peeing in flight, you likely aren’t staying adequately hydrated. The ensuing discussion on how to do this in flight in gliders whose cockpits are frequently much more cramped than ours and, even worse, has seats which are sometimes significantly reclined, provoked a significant amount of raucous laughter but it’s a serious problem nonetheless.

A short hour flight likely presents no big problem but pilots making long cross country flights need to keep this hazard in mind and deal with it appropriately.

[schnepel]

I flew aerial low level power line patrol for a power company in NW Florida for 27 years, and can attest that dehydration can be a serious issue. I found that the use of a Camelbachttps://www.camelbak.com/water bag was a great life saver. I used to put the straps of the water pack over the back of the seat, and sip water for about two hours before landing for a break in hot weather. No need to carry water in bottles that can roll around.

[GAHorn]

We have had nearly 3 weeks of constant rain and yesterday blue sky. A friend and myself decided to go for a couple of hours flying. Nil wind , some clouds at 6,000 ft nothing to worry about. Temperature on ground 95deg F ,humidity was 97%. We were in a Cessna 172 [his]. we had 120 liters in tanks . Flight was going to use about 80 liters . We had to push the aircraft about 500 yards to be clear of tarmac repairs from rain . By this time we were panting and covered in sweat. I had a mouth full of water from a 500mls water bottle and he had a can of coke [cold ]. Take off normal and then the sun streaming in through the windscreen. Temperature in cockpit was 116deg F . My T shirt was soaked and my shorts were close to being saturated . The sweat was dripping off my elbows . It was like being in hot oil regardless of the vents . Humidity was at least 97% plus . It was a great flight ,testing out his new toys on his aircraft . We were about 5 miles out and I asked him how much fuel did he think we still had on board . I told him I think we have used 70 liters so how much left ?
He said 15 liters and then i could see the panic in his face . NO ,we started with 120 liters . Out came the phone and he is trying to use the calculator . I am then trying to use the check sheet before landing . I had another couple of mouthfuls of water . Then i realise , things are not right with me . I forgot to make any radio calls . I am on finals and I want to to throw up. We bounced down the runway . Parked the aircraft and raided his fridge in the hangar . He had heaps of cold water in fridge . What I learnt was dehydration creeps up on you and you must make a constant effort to drink water. we both were concentrating too much on the new toys fitted to his aircraft and not our health.
[His toys is a Garmin glass panel and a AoA gauge . It was after a while that I realised the Garmin told us all the fuel used and and remaining .

I think we should adopt a New Rule that anytime someone discusses “things-numerical” that they should adopt-and-stick with a standardized system-of-measure! Ghostflyer so-often mixes Metric/Imperial/English and U.S. Customary, often within the same paragraph!
In this discussion of dehydration it shifted from liters, milliliters, then English “yards” and altitude in “feet”…. I hope he doesn’t start throwing in French…(I mean…exactly how much IS a “pouce”…??)….Apothecary, Avoirdupois, ….Centigrade, Fahrenheit, Kelvin… it’s just too many Pascals for me…err..I mean, it’s just too much Pressure!

[ghostflyer]

so sorry George ,but unfortunately in this country all fluids are measured in litres. But height/distance is measured in feet in our aviation world ,but there are exceptions . Now to confuse you even more , on the ground we talk in terms of temperature it’s Celsius BUT when flying it’s measured in Fahrenheit. See it’s easy . Now to get really confusing we have also 3 types of Metric ,then there is ,unified thread [0000] ,AF , NCT, Boeing Pipe tread, UNC , UNF. BSW,BSF . It’s my belief the British Jet star had all these threads on the aircraft . There was Withworth bolts holding the Garret engines in the frame . Then there is gallons ,US or imperial gallons . BUT when refuelling an aircraft over 5700kgs [12,550 lbs] we use weight and that’s in Kilos . But adjusted to the temperature of the fuel [the SG on the standard day was .79]. It’s my belief the USA are going to go totally metric also. Then there is emerto thread .

3 ft = 1 yard
22yds or 4 rods make 1 link
100links make a chain
80 chains make a mile .

[ddr36d]

And 1 Smoot = 5' 7"

[GAHorn]

…and a “Chain” equals 66-feet. (about the only thing I can remember from Forestry-School)

[cfzxo]

George, 0ne chain, 66 ft is what our rural road width right of way is. used to be 30 ft wide in the good old days. I am not sure what it is in the rest of Canada, but in B.C, that's it.

[GAHorn]

Bill, is it within the Kings’ English the idiom, when discussing distance “About a stone’s throw…?”

[ghostflyer]

A stones throw is the length of a cricket pitch . That’s 66ft . A normal throw of a stone is 66 ft or if you bowl a cricket ball it’s 66ft or a chain. I used to play cricket at school and recall some of the rules of then. The cricket pitch was 10 ft wide once but the “poms” [english] requested [forced] a rule change . Now it’s wider. About a 1/3 of a stones throw . Just thinking about this has made me thirsty , I need a drink.