Coffee

[BoDEAN]

Hey guys,

I've been doing some research for a report I have due on pilot fatigue. It seems some sources say to stay away from coffee and avoid it like it's the devil. Other people seem to believe that 1 cup or so a day will do no harm.

Just curious.... are there any regular coffee drinkers here? Do you try to avoid the stuff prior to flying? Would you recommend staying away from the stuff, or is it allright to be drinking 1 cup or so daily?

Thanks.

I drink coffee M-F. Maybe 3 cups a day? The only thing I avoid is a lot of coffee prior to flying, because I have to go to the bathroom during flights.

 

[Sonic Cruzer]

Java Test Engineering

In college I grew to become at minimum a 3-cup a day drinker (not to mention a few dews and surges too.) The shock of a friend's death knocked me off caffeine cold turkey for six weeks. That was in '97. I can only only remember 1 day since then on which I drank more than a second cup.

I'm a bit of a gourmet and personally enjoy a really good cup of coffee (light-roast arabica variety, brewed by infusion or french press) once a day. Similar to what someone quoted from NASA, I typically drink this in mid-afternoon when the post lunch digestive processes weigh down my eyelids.

By the way, a common misconception is that the darker the roast, the stronger the caffeine high. Caffeine is an organic compound present in the green unroasted coffee beans. Naturally it is destroyed by heat. Therefore, it is the LIGHTER roasts of coffee that give the greatest kick.

About a year or so ago, bottles of Starbucks Frappucinos started making their way into our flight test coolers. These were quickly met with such widespread approval that a Test Director's rep now partly depends on whether he/she orders Fraps for the flight.

Since high altitude and caffeine both act to suppress the body's antidiuretic hormone (i.e. they make you pee more) I try to drink non-caffeinated beverages inflight.

One exception is that on the job, I'll only drink coffee (only on a full stomach) when I could use some extra mental acuity toward the end of a long test flight. The thought of coffee on an empty stomach stirs up unpleasant memories of a hot summer's day at COS bumping through a dozen autolands in the back of 737 with no yaw damper and only stale coffee in my stomach. Blyyyach!

Lastly, for sh*ts and grins I recently tried drinking some fresh ground DECAF coffee. On multiple occasions I found that I still get a kick from the decaf coffee. While no decaffeination process is perfect (short of turning the beans into charcoal), I suspect that the non-caffeine chemicals in the coffee tricked the body into behaving as if the caffeine was there, even though it wasn't. Sort of a twist on the placebo effect.

 

[Slug]

lack thereof

Gave up caffine April 1st. I have felt great ever since then. I didn't like coffee anyway and gave up the sodas too.

I had early week at DLF with an average show of 0500 last week and didn't miss a beat. Won't go back.

Slug

 

[FL717]

The biggest part to consider to coffee and water intake is to get on a lav schedule. When I flew for a regional carrier and in the DC-9 for this company, on the morning flights I would always drink at least one or two cups of coffee during the preflight, and get another before the cockpit door closed. In the afternoon or evening I would do the same thing, but substitute Pepsi or Coke. Maybe it was psychological, but it definitely seemed to keep me alert. I would also keep water available so that I could keep from getting dehydrated. Those flights were typically between 50 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes long, and keeping the lav breaks on schedule was easier. Since flying the B-717, we are doing longer flights, sometimes pushing 3 hours on certain trips, and I have to really scale back on the coffee (but still keep the water) now because since 9-11 it is such a pain in the arse to leave the cockpit inflight for the lav. In fact, short of a bladder blowout, I try to wait until we get on the ground. Last week BWI - RSW, I loaded up on several cups of coffee, and felt the bladder exceed redline somewhere over CHS. I'm thinking caffiene tablets would probably be the solution to this dilema, but I worry about the high doses that they contain.

Any suggestions?

 

[Sonic Cruzer]

As I alluded to before, the cabin altitude is already trying to dehydrate you. The dehydration in turn creates more fatigue. Caffeine tablets would still speed up your bladder no matter what you've been drinking. Have you tried ice? Maybe your FAs can supply you with your own ice bucket. Ice and really cold ice water or something with electrolytes might help you.

BTW, nice Dash 80 photo. We have a few hanging up around here. Boeing's prepping the Dash 80 for one last flight in 2003 to celebrate the centennial of flight.

 

[Birdstrike]

You Mean It's Not a Speakerphone?

Speaking of lav breaks...first time I ever boarded a CH-47 Chinook, I was a college student and it was parked for a static display in BDL. I think. I sat down in the left seat. looked down between my legs and saw this long rubber hose laying there attached to what looked like a plastic funnel. I swear I had no idea what the heck it was. Thought it must be some kind of rube goldberg intercom contraption. So I picked it up and held it to my ear and listened. No one answered. How the heck was I supposed to know what it was for?

 

[Salty Dog]

Surface Warfare Officers (SWOs) on Navy ships are the resident ship-drivers and stand watch on the bridge from 4 to 6 hours at a time. The standard watch rotation typically gives you two per day and they move back one watch a day.

So, if you have the midwatch from mid to 0400, you'll then have the 12 - 1600 followed by the 04-07 the next morning. Gotta be worse the worst way ever to do this as far as circadian rythm abuse. (but we've always done it that way!!)

I read a book about a guy standing his watch who, in order to avoid falling asleep standing up, kept drinking coffee in order to throw up which would keep him awake a little longer. I have stood out on the bridgewing in freezing rain in order to stay awake and still fallen asleep standing up!

Now I just drink 5-7 cups a day out of habit. Drinking the stuff 'till you yak is one way to maximize the benfit, though. Probably not as fun in an enclosed cockpit. Wouldn't waste Starbucks if that's the plan, either!!!

zzzzzzzzzz

 

[CatYaaak]

Call me old-fashioned, but personally, I don't completely trust any pilot who:

1) doesn't drink coffee (and "coffee" means black..not some kind of foo-foo concoction flavored to the point of being baby bottle-safe).

and while we are on the subject.....

2) while checking in to a hotel, immediately queries the front desk clerk "do you have a fitness center, and how early does it open in the morning?" even when the next day's/night's flight has an afternoon showtime. Early-riser, salad-eating fitness fanatics are usually worthless by 9 PM when it's past their beddy-bye time, but you still have a few approaches left to shoot. It does nobody any good if you obsessively "hydrate" all day by sucking down 10 bottles of water only to be nodding off later when it counts.

3) frets about mussing up their moussed, structured hair (hey, FA uniforms don't include hats, so why don't you go become one?).

Anyway, coffee rules, and the stress created when one worries about trifling matters such as drinking it has much longer-lasting negative effects. This "Coffee: good or bad?" debate comes up every 10 years or so, and I suspect is generated by Southerners who wouldn't survive living in any climate outside of those akin to Florida's. They just don't get it.

 

[TurboS7]

When I flew in the UK I found the coffee to be just plain foul. On the airplane we didn't even have perked coffee but instant coffee. I converted over to tea, now when it comes to tea the English know who to make it. FA's would bring their own tea making stuff on the airplane...boy was it ever good..."black"was the best.

 

[Yeti]

Cornholio Metamorphosis

By far best coffee I can make myself is Starbucks French Roast in a french press. Should try it!

I agree!

I also do the Starbucks French Roast in the press every day, or every other day.

 

[EagleRJ]

Speaking of tea, you can make "sun tea" in the summertime during a turn at the outstation. Get some bottled water from the galley, stuff some tea bags inside, and put it in the sun out on the ramp (where the fuel truck won't run over it). By the time you are ready to leave, the tea will be ready. Sugar to taste and pour over ice- none of that hot tea bull$@&% like the Brits do!

Standard commuter-dog hydration technique.

 

[hagen]

I get up around 6 am everyday just b/c my body knows the routine. That is if scheduling hasn't called by then to throw down 5-6 cups followed by a good hearty CHAW(COPENHAGEN) usually after this I'm so hyped up I can run around the crashpad all day long. I GOT MAIL YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[dmspilot00]

Speaking of tea, you can make "sun tea" in the summertime during a turn at the outstation. Get some bottled water from the galley, stuff some tea bags inside, and put it in the sun out on the ramp (where the fuel truck won't run over it). By the time you are ready to leave, the tea will be ready. Sugar to taste and pour over ice- none of that hot tea bull$@&% like the Brits do!

Standard commuter-dog hydration technique.

Tea is also a diuretic.

 

[EagleRJ]

True, some tea has as much caffeine as coffee. I don't know about the Lipton tea on the planes, but it doesn't seem to pack the punch of coffee!

 

[Beechnut]

I get up around 6 am everyday just b/c my body knows the routine. That is if scheduling hasn't called by then to throw down 5-6 cups followed by a good hearty CHAW(COPENHAGEN) usually after this I'm so hyped up I can run around the crashpad all day long. I GOT MAIL YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!

Funniest post I've seen in awhile!

Nice one.

I GOT MAIL YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


S.

 

[Vik]

I have Lipton tea now. Not even close to coffee, but it tastes pretty nice with a slice of lemon.

 

[CatYaaak]

Geez, fretting about "staying hydrated" and "diuretics"! From the sound of it, I've accidently wandered into an old folks home. What's next, a thread on how granola = regularity, or maybe how one requires an ANR headset to protect their sensitive ears from hearing damage in the "noisy" cockpit of an RJ???

Perhaps some here should voluntarily consider turning in their medical certificates on the grounds of "general system frailty". If you don't, then do yourself a favor and never fly, or fly in, an open cockpit aircraft. Take away the level of environmental protective cocooning you enjoy and upset the delicately timed, balanced and purified consumption you apparently require to function as a pilot and instead expose you to the raw elements, no doubt your entire body would shut down immediately and you would just up and die.

 

[Purple Haze]

Nectar of life and all that is good.

2 cups o' black Starbucks in the morning, 1 in the afternoon.

If you want a reason to quit, go to the medical section at Barnes & Noble (while sipping a nice hot Starbucks), and read "Caffeine Blues," by Stephen Cherniske, M.S. His evidence says its poison.

As for me, I don't carouse or smoke -- java warms the soul.

 

[enigma]

OK, all of you party poopers. I quit coffee.

regards,
8N

PS I lie, and I'll never give up my chocolate covered expresso beans. I prefer the dark chocolate ones (from Canada) over the bulk packed ones you get at the coffee store.

 

[avbug]

Coffee is very, very bad for you. It does terrible things to your body and mind. It's harmful, and damages your body. That's why when flying I consume nothing but Red Bull in a beer hat, and wear a red bull patch to soak up those extra elements that I miss the rest of the time.

Red bull is appropriate when flying, because after all...it gives you wings.

Good gravy, that stuff is disgusting.