This incident happened early in my ab-initio stages of flight training. Although Hilarious, it had taught me a valuable lesson which I have though about before every flight.
The F factor in the IMSAFE model states food. It does not only remind you to eat, but also to consider what you have eaten before the flight.
My training took place at an airfield in south east asia, a country known for great food joints located at almost every corner. It was a norm for my batchboys and I to grab a bite to the local curry for lunch, as the nearest foodstall to the airfield was also famous locally for its food. Till then, I had only performed 10 flights and all of it took place in the morning. My flight that day, however was a noon flight, and I decided that I did not want to fly on an empty stomach so I ordered a decent portion of curry. The dish proved to be too spicy, and i washed it down with a glass of coke.
The problem only became clear to me later that day , during the flight, as my instructor took the aircraft to 7000ft to teach me the basic stalling techniques. The lower air pressure as well as the nosedrops from the stall combined with the digesting curry and effervescent coke filled my insides with gas and it finally reached its limits.
"sir . you have control" I said
At that I reached for a sick bag and filled it with my lunch.
"Fool. Only an I***T will eat curry before a stall lesson"
"sorry sir"
The flight was discontinued as I was clearly unfit to fly, the cockpit had a lingering smell of vomit and my instructor was also getting nauseous.
The incident later became news all over the school as and Ops had to place signages in the office warning students not to consume carbonated beverages and "rich" meals before a flight.
Lesson learnt:
As aviators, the food we ingest does play a part in our performance later in flight. we must avoid foods which contail a lot of protein, eg milk and eggs, as these promote motion sickness. The digestion of a meal high in carbohydrates also increases the rate of fatigue in pilots. However, it is advisable to consume food which contain simple sugars and caffine as these increases alertness and cognitive capability which are important factors in a pilots skill.
