Cold, Hot And More

Thursday, December 22, 2022 at 01:47 PM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

Both extreme cold and heat significantly impair pilot performance and judgment, as illustrated by personal experiences, accident examples, and scientific studies showing notable performance decrements.
Beyond temperature, other physiological factors like a full bladder or overeating can also severely compromise a pilot's decision-making and effectiveness during flight.
Pilots, especially in general aviation where there is less supervision, must be acutely aware of how environmental conditions and bodily stressors affect their cognitive function and diligently adhere to safety protocols, such as thorough pre-flight checks.

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Have you ever been so cold your fingers got numb? Ever freeze your feet numb? This is the beginning of frostbite, in case you didn’t know. Which I totally didn’t, the first time my feet went numb while ice skating outdoors in Minnesota. It was -30 degrees F and I was playing hockey with the neighbor kids. I didn’t know my feet were numb—until I walked home on my skates, and got inside.

As my feet thawed out, I was in agony—they didn’t hurt until they warmed up. I vowed never to do that again. And I didn’t, way up until the fifth grade, again in the seventh grade and one more time when I was about 28 years old. (Because of all that frostbite, nowadays my feet get cold when I walk on a white floor.) Every single time I froze them, I remember thinking, “I’ll never do this again!”