359 Sleep Smarter, Fly Safer: A Pilot’s Guide to Rest with Dr. Quay Snyder + GA News
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Do you ever have trouble getting to sleep at night? Of course we all do. But have you figured out the routines that will generally help you sleep better? No, I'm not talking about spending thousands of dollars on a new mattress. Today we're talking with Dr. Quay Snyder about the critical role that sleep plays in our lives and about practical advice that you can use to sleep better. And we have some time-sensitive information for people who may have some color vision issues and haven't yet gotten their first medical.

So if you haven't yet gotten your first medical or, you know, someone who's interested in flying, but they haven't yet gotten a medical, it may be to all of your interest to get it before the end of this month, which is less than three weeks away. And you can find that information coming up at about the 18 and a half minute point in our show.

Hello again, and welcome to Aviation News Talk, where we talk general aviation. My name is Max Prescott. I've been flying for, yeah, 51 years now. I'm the author of several books and the 2008 National Flight Instructor of the Year. And my mission is to help you become the safest possible pilot.

Last week in episode 358, we talked with Dr. Katherine Kavignaro about how shallow turns can actually reduce your safety in the traffic pattern. So if you didn't hear that episode, you may want to check it out at aviationnewstalk.com slash 358. And if you're new to the show, well, welcome. So glad that you found us.

And now so that you'll hear us every week, go ahead and whatever app that you're listening to us now touch either the subscribe key or if you're using Spotify or the Apple podcast app, the follow key so that next week's episode is downloaded for free. And let me remind you, this is a listener supported show and there are a number of ways that you can support us.

You can make a donation via PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, or Patreon. And when you make a donation, I'll read your name on the show. Just go out to aviationnewstalk.com slash support to make your donation. Coming up in the news for the week of December 9th, 2024, the NTSB report is out on the fatal crash of two warbirds over Dallas in 2022. The Luscombe factory is for sale if you want to get into the airplane business.

And a pilot in Alaska may get prison time. And it all started when he failed to radio his intentions to take off. All this and more, and the news starts now. From FlyingMag.com, the final NTSB report for the fatal Dallas midair is out. It says inadequate planning and a lack of oversight were among the factors contributing to a midair collision that killed six people during a 2022 Warbird air show in Dallas.

In November 2022, all five aboard a Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress and the pilot of a Bell P-63F King Cobra were killed when the fighter aircraft sliced into the bomber, severing the tail, during the commemorative Air Force's Wings Over Dallas air show. The mid-air collision occurred in front of thousands and was captured on video and in photographs while the bombers and fighters were flying a pattern over the airfield.

According to the NTSB, the accident occurred as the eight airplanes involved in the performance were completing a repositioning turn, which involved a 90-degree right turn, followed by a 270-degree left turn. The P-63F was in a descending left bank turn when it collided with a B-17G from behind. Both aircraft disintegrated, sending up a ball of fire and black smoke.

The NTSB spent months reviewing hundreds of images and videos of the accident taken from multiple angles. They conducted a visibility simulation study that modeled the flight paths, altitudes, and roll angles of the aircraft. Investigators found that although the Airbus had conducted the FAA-required pre-show briefing, quote, no deconfliction plan to ensure vertical or lateral separation between airplanes was discussed, nor did current regulations require it, the NTSB said.

The agency noted, "...the Airbus's deconfliction strategy was ineffective because the flight paths of the B-17 and P-36F converged as each pilot maneuvered toward their respective show lines." Additionally, the NTSB conducted a simulation of the accident, which determined that the accident pilots had limited ability to see and avoid each other's airplanes due to flight path geometry and out-the-window view obscuration by aircraft structures.

During the air show, the Air Boss, equipped with binoculars and a two-way radio, directed the air show pilots' in-flight maneuvers from atop a set of stairs on the airfield.

The agency interviewed other pilots who were flying during the show, and some of the pilots said they were confused by the Airbus' long stream of instructions. The NTSB added that at this time, the airshow industry lacks standardized terms to impart directives to the pilots, and concluded that the lack of a pre-briefed aircraft separation plan and other administrative controls to address predictable risk contributed to the accident.

From GeneralAviationNews.com, interrupted pre-flight leads to cowling popping open during takeoff. And this comes from an ASRS report written by the pilot. He wrote, On initial takeoff, the Navion's left side engine cowling popped open. The open cowl caused a large abrupt yaw, and the decision was made to abort the takeoff.

Touchdown occurred on the far right side of the runway, and on rollout the aircraft departed the surface to the right, impacting several runway lights. The problem arose due to an interrupted preflight. I had flown to airport ZZZ to meet up with other Navian aircraft in order to fly a formation arrival at ZZ1. During brief enroute stops, I always opened the engine cowling to preclude hot start problems.

My cowlings latch wide open so there's no chance of forgetting to close them before engines start. I was in the process of closing the left cowl when one of my formation pilots asked for a piece of tape. I had released the upper latch so the cowl was flushed to the airplane, but I had not secured the three lower latches as the other pilot was standing in the way. I walked over and secured the right side cowling and then returned to the left side and spoke with the other pilot who was standing in front of the left cowl.

Just then, my number two aircraft started his engine, and in my hurry to get going, I did not do my usual last chance inspection to ensure the aircraft was safe for flight. I'm extremely disappointed to have missed such an important item. One contributing factor is my lack of recent flying experience. My plane has been out of service for several months.

No excuse. Interrupted checklists should be started over. I shouldn't have allowed an interruption of my safety duties. I shouldn't have allowed time pressure to affect my flows and checklists. From abc27.com, Final NTSB report confirms cause of fatal crash on Pennsylvania Turnpike.

The report into the May 31, 2023 crash shows that the Cessna 180 airplane ran out of fuel during a long multi-state trip. The crash killed a 74-year-old passenger and left the pilot seriously injured. The driver of a utility truck that was struck by the plane on the turnpike was not injured. The final report says the plane was on the third and final leg of its flight when the pilot announced his intention to divert to a nearby airport.

After diverting toward Capital City Airport, the report says the pilot announced that the airplane had sustained a loss of engine power after about four hours of flying. The flight had originally departed from Farmers Pride Airport in Fredericksburg, Pennsylvania, before landing in Pittsfield, PA, in Rawlsburg, West Virginia.

The plane is estimated to have used 52.5 of the 55 gallons on board, and the pilot did not stop for fuel about 40 miles from his home airport, despite considering it. A preliminary report released in June 2023 showed there was only a pint of fuel left in the two gas tanks after the crash. The final report notes, quote, only trace evidence of fuel and no mechanical anomalies with the engine and airplane.

From FlightGlobal.com, pilot errors caused 2023 Challenger 300 upset that killed one passenger. This comes from an NTSB report. It says failure to remove a pitot probe cover and a cascade of resulting pilot missteps caused a 2023 upset in flight near Hartford, Connecticut that involved a Bombardier Challenger 300 jet and killed one passenger.

The final report says the pilots took off despite the aircraft not being in airworthy condition. Quote, the flight crew's failure to remove the right side pitot probe cover before flight and their decision to depart with a no-go advisory message following an aborted takeoff and their selection of the incorrect non-normal checklist in flight resulted in an in-flight upset that exceeded the maneuvering load factor limitations of the aircraft, killing one passenger.

The accident involved a Challenger 300, November 300ER, operating on March 3, 2023, from Keene, New Hampshire, to Leesburg, Virginia. Three passengers were aboard. Prior to departing Keene, the co-pilot, after being interrupted while conducting a preflight inspection of the jet, failed to remove a cover from the jet's right-side pitot probe.

As a result, during the takeoff roll, the aircraft's right primary airspeed indicator failed after the jet exceeded 40 knots, prompting the pilots to reject the takeoff. After stopping the aircraft, the co-pilot removed the pitot tube cover and returned to the cockpit, where the pilots discussed a rudder limiter fault advisory. Failing to clear the message, they decided to take off anyway because it was, quote, only an advisory according to the flight voice recorder.

The NTSB says the pilots did not consult the aircraft's go-no-go guide, which listed the rudder limiter fault as a no-go item. The aircraft took off at 3.35, and during ascent the pilots received numerous other cockpit warnings, which the captain attempted to clear by repeatedly engaging and disengaging the autopilot.

Those warnings included an autopilot holding nose down caution. According to the NTSB, the speed discrepancy that had occurred during the aborted takeoff prompted faults that had inhibited the jet's autopilot from operating the horizontal stabilizer trim. As a result, the jet's stabilizer was mistrimmed, but the autopilot was keeping it level by using the flight controls.

The accident likely would have been prevented had the pilots then completed the AP holding nose down checklist. That checklist warns about out-of-trim conditions and, quote, abrupt changes to control forces when disconnecting the autopilot. It also instructs pilots to hold the control column firmly to prevent upsets. Instead, the pilots incorrectly began completing the primary stabilizer trim failure checklist, the first action of which is to switch off the stabilizer trim.

As soon as the switch position was moved, the autopilot disconnected, and the airplane, which had been in a 3 degree nose-up attitude, rapidly pitched up to 11 degrees in one second. The normal acceleration then rapidly rose to 4 Gs.

The captain then pushed the control column forward with at least 90 pounds of force. The aircraft pitched down to a near nose-level altitude, and the normal acceleration was reduced to negative 2.3 Gs. The column was then pulled back through neutral, and the airplane rapidly pitched up to over 20 degrees nose-up and more than 4 Gs.

The upset injured one passenger who had not been wearing a seatbelt. The co-pilot said over the radio that the passenger, quote, has a serious cut at the top of her head. The pilots diverted and landed at Bradley International Airport in Connecticut. The passenger later died. From flyer.co.uk, that's Flyer Magazine, the entire Luscombe factory is up for auction.

The Luscombe factory, with all its jigs, tools, new parts, completed airframe elements, type certificates, and STCs, is for sale. That sale, by online auction, is the liquidation of the Luscombe Aircraft Corporation, which attempted to revive production of the all-metal pioneering Luscombe 8 two-seater.

The complete factory is being sold as one package by auctioneers. It's located at Jamestown Airport in New York State. The factory is open for daytime in-person inspection from December 9th through December 13th. Luscombes were built from 1933 to 1950, and nearly 6,000 of them were built. From avweb.com, Environmental Group asks court to enforce unleaded avgas consent agreement.

A California Superior Court judge will hear arguments January 28 that could result in 100 low lead becoming unavailable in California and replaced by GEMI's G100UL unleaded avgas. The court will also be asked to require the four major fuel distributors serving California to carry G100UL.

The Center for Environmental Health, or CEH, says it's bringing the action because the distributors have not accepted the fuel in contravention to a consent agreement that they and 26 FBOs signed to settle a lawsuit with CEH in 2014. Under that agreement, the defendants agreed to distribute and sell any new fuel that used less lead than 100 low lead when it became commercially available.

In this latest action, the environmental group, says G100UL, meets all the requirements for the lower lead fuel described in the consent agreement in that it's approved via STC for use in nearly all aircraft and has a specification determined by the FAA to be as safe as 100 low lead for distribution and use.

In the action, CEH claims the defendants have recently come up with numerous excuses to justify not handling the fuel, none of which are valid under the consent agreement. From GeneralAviationNews.com, the FBO fuels the wrong aircraft. This comes from an ASRS report written by the pilot. He writes, After several days in the area, I left my Cessna 170 with the FBO with instructions to top off.

When I returned, I asked for the bill and asked how many gallons the plane had taken. They said 33 gallons. I asked them to check again. That seemed like a lot as I always planned to have 10 gallons left on landing, and my record said I had only flown 3.5 hours on the tank, usually at 7.5 to 8 gallons per hour. I proof flied the aircraft, checked that the fuel caps were on right, tested fuel and looked at the gauges in the wings. It seemed like they overfilled as the gauge was past the F mark.

Takeoff was uneventful to VFR on top and headed home expecting about 2 hours and 20 minutes en route. I was about to begin descending to 4500 feet when the engine went to idle. I quickly checked the controls and fuel selector and looked at engine gauges. Saw no issues other than RPM at idle.

I told TRACON that the engine was out. They advised going to airport ZZ6 or ZZ5. I told them ForeFlight showed ZZ5 was near the edge of my glide range ring and I was on my way. They asked for soles and fuel and I reported with 1 and likely 26 gallons based on flight time. I trimmed the plane all the way back to Best Glide and was transferred to Tower. I told them my intentions and gave them my home phone number in case.

That just left me with the job of flying as I was clear to land on any runway. Good winds and nice glide left me at the end of the runway high, so I used the 360 we were trained to use as part of our commercial training, and then with a modest slip was able to place the airplane on the runway with enough kinetic energy to coast onto the first taxiway. I was greeted by fire engines. The gauges showed that there was fuel, but visual examination proved the tanks were empty.

Knowing I had started less than two hours before, we added fuel and searched for the leak. None. I called the FBO and ZZZ airport and told them what happened. Their investigation determined that they fueled the wrong plane. My examination of gauges, where E and F are next to each other, obviously is not enough. Nor is timing my flight time unless I watch it go into the tanks. Future pre-flights will include finding a ladder to visually make sure the fuel got into my plane.

And finally from alaskanativenews.com, Palmer, Alaska man guilty of aviation violations. A federal jury convicted a Palmer man last week for violating multiple aviation regulations. According to court documents and evidence presented at trial for roughly 30 years, the pilot, age 57, a self-described free citizen, held an ATP certificate, operated a charter business out of Palmer, Alaska, and owned a Piper Cherokee.

In June 2023, the FAA received a report that the pilot, as pilot-in-command of the Piper Cherokee, failed to radio his intention to take off from Warren Budwood's Palmer Municipal Airport and operated the aircraft against the flow of landing traffic, resulting in a near-midair collision with another aircraft attempting to land.

Law enforcement investigated the incident and discovered that the pilot was operating an aircraft without a valid license or valid registration. The investigation revealed that in June 2022, the pilot sent a letter to the FAA revoking the registration of his aircraft, which sounds a little backwards from the normal way things work.

Investigators also discovered that the pilot allowed his medical certificate to lapse in 2020 and 2021. When FAA inspectors contacted him in July 2023 as part of the investigation, he refused to provide his airman certificate, aircraft registration, and airworthiness certificates and claimed he was not required to have any of these documents.

As a result of the investigation, the FAA issued an emergency order of revocation of his pilot's certificate in January 2024, which required the immediate surrender of the certificate. He failed to file an appeal or surrendered his certificate, but continued to fly his aircraft until his initial arrest in July 2024. He was convicted of one count of operating an aircraft without a license and one count of operating an unregistered aircraft.

He represented himself at trial and will be sentenced in April. He could be jailed for up to three years and fined $250,000 on each of the charges. Well, that's the news for this week. Coming up next, a few of my updates. And then we'll talk with Dr. Quay Snyder about how you can get better sleep. All right here on the Aviation News Talk podcast. ♪

Now we're going to jump right into this recording from Dr. Dylan Caldwell, who's one of our mega supporters with some time sensitive information, especially for people who may have some color vision issues and haven't yet gotten their first medical. So I'll ask you to please share this immediately with any potential new pilots you know who haven't yet gotten their first medical as they may want to do it before the end of this month, which of course is less than three weeks from now. Here's Dr. Caldwell.

Hey Max, with the FAA changing all the testing for color vision, you may want to mention in your podcast that for pilots who might know someone young who's interested in flying, that now until the end of the month is the time to take any of the available alternative tests. Come January 1st, all the alternative tests like the Optic 900, Ishihara plates are all going to be removed and replaced with

computerized testing, which are expensive and I don't see many AMEs buying them, but also the process for getting a medical with a color vision restriction remodeled

removed, it's going to be a lot more difficult. As far as I can tell, although the FAA hasn't finalized it. The key point is that for anyone interested in flying and they have a color vision issue, they should get tested before the end of the month so they can use an alternative test and then they'll be grandfathered in, as far as I can tell, for the rest of their flying career. That's it.

Hope all is well. Bye-bye. And I have some more information on this, but first let me thank Dr. Caldwell for sending me his recording. And let me mention that he's a senior AME with offices in Naples and Pompano Beach, Florida, and teenagers 17 and under do not pay for flight physicals. So if you need a basic med, first, second, or third class flight physical, you may want to contact him at avatoursclinic.com.

Now, the following comes from an article in avweb.com, and I'll include a link to it in the show notes. It says in part, quote, the FAA revealed to aviation medical examiners, AMEs, in an educational session last week, it will be making changes on January 1, 2025, to color vision testing to improve safety.

Dr. Richard Kaplan, an AME pilot and CFI who is also colorblind, attended the online session. He told AvWeb, "The long-standing Ishihara color testing book will no longer be permitted." Dr. Kaplan also expressed concern over the cost of upgrading to computer testing and how it might increase the cost of FAA medical exams. He said the subscription-based Wagner test was said to have a monthly rate for AMEs of $30, but that he had been unable to locate the service online.

Now, I did an internet search and found an FAA page that's titled Guide for Aviation Medical Examiners, Application Process for Medical Certification, Examination Techniques for Item 52, Color Vision. And it says tests approved for airmen are not all acceptable for air traffic controllers.

It goes on to say,

Except for the computerized tests listed, web-based color vision applications, downloaded or printed versions of color vision tests are prohibited. Examiners must use actual and specific color vision plates and testing machinery for applicant evaluations. And it goes on to list some tests, including one for Windows computers and apps for iOS and Android. So presumably you could download an app and test yourself to see how you do before you go to see your AME.

Continuing on, it says back in May 2023, the agency notified AME as it was authorizing the three new computer-based tests, but noted they were in addition to existing tests, such as the Ishihara testing book. Last week's guidance makes the new computer-based testing methods mandatory going forward.

The FAA responded to a NAVWeb inquiry with the following statement. The FAA is modernizing its color vision testing with computer-based equipment and operationally-based passing scores. The new testing process will screen for both yellow-slash-blue and red-slash-green deficiencies and address inconsistencies in color degradation from using older test plates.

Beginning January 1st, the FAA will require all applicants for an initial Airman Medical Certificate to test for color vision deficiencies using the new program. Pilots who have held a medical will not need to retest unless they want a color vision restriction on their certificate removed, develop medical condition, or are taking medication that affects colored vision.

Now, from GoFlightMedicine.com, it says, in part, any current pilot with a color restriction must take one of the new digital tests. If they pass, the restrictions will be removed. If you have a medical with a color vision restriction, you are not grounded on January 1st and will remain on flying status.

Airmen with existing medical certificates are not required to undergo additional color vision testing unless they develop a medical condition associated with acquired color vision loss or are taking a medication known to cause color vision changes such as Accutane.

And they've got some Q&A. It says, why isn't the FAA requiring color vision testing for all airmen with existing medical certificates? Answer, the improvements in modern digital testing equipment will enable the FAA to identify color vision deficiencies more effectively during an airman's initial application.

The risk of acquired color vision deficiency is less than 1% and is associated with medical conditions or medications. In 22 years, there has been only one mishap where color vision was listed as a contributing factor. Now, I wrote about that accident in my Max Trescott's GPS and WAAS instrument flying handbook, which is out of print, though I do plan to bring out an e-version of it. Now, that accident involved a night accident that destroyed a FedEx 727 that was flying into Tallahassee

On July 26, 2002, the crew discussed flying an ILS and landing with a slight tailwind, which could have prevented the accident. Instead, they elected to land from the opposite direction and fly a visual approach. That was a classic example of a black hole approach, which leads pilots to flying a concave approach below the normal three-degree glide path.

The first officer had a color vision deficiency and couldn't see that he was following below the PAPI, which was the only vertical guidance that they had on this approach.

And coincidentally, I was in town for just one day yesterday between two VisionJet trips, and I saw my AME to get my second-class medical. He mentioned that pilots who don't have a color restriction won't have to take a color test in the future unless you're upgrading to a higher level of certificate, for example, from a third to a second class or up to a first-class medical, which is something that I haven't read elsewhere.

I'll include links to all of the sources I've referenced in our show notes, which you can always find at aviationnews.com slash 359. And now let's get to the good news.

First, congratulations to John Griffin. He writes, I earned my initial CFI, single engine land, last week. I've been flying for over 35 years and have recently, finally, left high tech and started a second career in aviation. He says, I'll be instructing at a Cirrus training center in Spokane, Washington. A long-term goal is to fly a PC-12 for a corporation or a charter business.

Thanks to my wonderful wife of 30 years and to my kids and friends for all their support as I made this change. Jack, congratulations to you. And congratulations to Sergio Corral Jr. He writes...

I successfully passed my single engine land instrument checkride a few days before the checkride. I re-listened to episode 129, IFR instrument mock checkride interview with Jason Blair to help with my preparation. Episode 129 was just one of many episodes from your podcast that I've listened to during my commutes to and from work in the airport. Great content that I believe has made me a better pilot. Please continue to put out great content.

And thank you for what you're doing. I'm donating to you half the retest fee the DPE would have charged me if I would have gotten it unsatisfactory on the checkride. Well, congratulations to you, Sergio. And if you have good news to share, just head on out to aviationnewstalk.com and click on Contact at the top of the page.

And now for our video of the week. This is a rather sad but also a cautionary tale. It relates to the fatal crash on Monday of a gyroplane in Foley, Alabama. There was a video that was taken by a woman who saw the aircraft on the flight immediately before the crash. I don't think anyone witnessed the crash itself, which happened shortly after the video was taken.

But what she said about the gyroplane was, I heard him start up, so I ran outside because I could sit there all day. She watched the white two-seater gyroplane dance across the sky for the next few minutes. Quote, he would go up really high by the tree right next to me and down and up and right back down. And he landed, so I went back to doing what I was doing.

Shortly after she stopped watching, he took off again. Moments later, he crashed. I turned the corner of the house and that's when I saw the fire and a lot of black smoke and called 911.

And while we don't know that the crash resulted from the kind of flying that this video shows, it's entirely likely. So you might want to check it out to see the various gyrations this gyroplane was making shortly before it crashed. Now the links for our videos of the week are on the same page with links that you can use to become a supporter and start supporting the show. So when you go to view the videos, look at the bottom of the page for the video links and at the top of the page for

you'll see four options for supporting the show. If you sign up monthly to support the show via Patreon, you'll see their various tiers starting at $8 a month. You can also make a monthly donation via PayPal, as well as one-time donations via PayPal, Venmo, or Zelle. And when you do, I'll read your name on the show. So to see all of our videos of the week and or to support the show, go online to aviationnewstalk.com slash video.

Now, we had a number of emails and also a recording from you about last week's show in which we talked with Dr. Catherine Kavagnaro. Here's a recording from Tim Delaney. Hey, Max. Tim Delaney. I was listening to your podcast, 358 with Catherine Kavagnaro, regarding shallow turns. You both talked about

overshooting the final, and then the pilot makes an uncoordinated turn back to final and can create a depth spiral into the ground. But I didn't hear anything mentioned about making a coordinated turn back to final if you've overshot final.

That's what I do is make a coordinated turn back to final and get lined up if I missed it a bit. Could you comment about that? Am I missing something or did I just not hear it mentioned on your podcast?

Keep up the good work. I love listening to all these tips I get from you guys. Thanks. Tim, you raise a good point. Last week, Catherine was warning against making uncoordinated turns back to final if you overshoot the turn to final. Pilots often incorrectly add extra rudder to try to speed up a turn when they overshoot.

And this can lead to a very dangerous stall spin accident. On the other hand, if you overshoot final and do a coordinated turn back to final, as you suggest, you should be fine unless there's some other issue with the approach to landing. And we probably didn't make that as clear as we could have. So thanks for your recording and thanks for being one of our Patreon mega supporters.

And here's an anonymous email. He says, on say a right downwind from the left seat, if you position the runway at the same position on the strut that you do on a left downwind, you will be closer to the runway. Just another factor that contribute to an overshoot. So yes, the view out the right wing versus the left wing is going to be different depending upon which downwind you're on. And that may affect your spacing on downwind from the runway.

And here's an email from a Patreon supporter. He says, Hi, Max. I'm an avid listener. I'm definitely a better, safer pilot for it. My question has to do with what seemed to be your promotion of the new no lead gas Avgas. Seemed is in quotes because I may have misread your tone. However, why would I even consider putting that stuff in my plane? No upside, all downside. Thank you.

Well, thanks so much for your email and thanks so much for being a supporter of the show. And here's what I wrote back. Thanks so much for your email and for being a patron supporter of the show. No, I'm not consciously promoting unleaded fuel. Aviation News Talk is a new show and it is news that after at least 15 years of development, there are finally unleaded fuels available. Plus, regardless of how we may feel about it, it is the future. Let

Leaded fuel was banned for cars almost 30 years ago, and California is banning it for airplanes starting in 2031. So, it is coming, and it is news in the aviation world. Hence, we talk about it here.

And here's an email from Don Lundell. He writes, Hi, Max. You mentioned in your latest podcast episode that you were hoping to capture focus lock on a contrail during your upcoming VisionJet trip. You might want to try an alternate iPhone camera app for better focus control. Among the good ones are Obscura and Camera+. Have a great trip. Cheers, Don. Well, Don, thanks so much for that. And I did get a good picture of a contrail, but not from the air.

I took this from the ground the day or so ago. I had just stepped out of the post office and looked up, and there was a 747 crossing over at flight level 340 on its way to China. And darn if I wasn't able to get a really great video of it, and you could actually see the plane relatively clearly. So I don't know why I have trouble in the air, but thanks so much for that tip.

And I see in the news that FAA Administrator Michael Whitaker will resign effective January 20th, 2025. Now, that came as a surprise to me as he's been in that position for just over a year, and it is a five-year appointment. You may recall that we had him on the show in Episode 291.

I met Mike when he was the deputy administrator. He came out to speak at a large 250-person safety seminar that I'd organized, and he and I and his assistant Colleen spent the afternoon together before the seminar. We had planned for me to take him on his first-ever flight in a Cirrus. However, the weather was poor that day, so instead I took him over to the flying club where I teach, and later we dropped in unannounced at the Palo Alto Tower. Now, that was a little unusual for them to have the number two person in the FAA stop by, but

None of them freaked out, and we had a fun visit there. So I wish Mike well in whatever he chooses to do next. And I mentioned last week that if you'd like to get a new headset sometime in the coming months, you may want to jump on a discount that Lightspeed is offering during the holiday season that will save you money. And I can see that already a couple dozen listeners have taken advantage of this

And here's the deal. You get $100 off a brand new Lightspeed Zulu 3 headset, which brings the price down to $799, which is a great price for a full-featured noise-canceling headset. But the deal expires on January 13th. And you may be thinking, well, that's a month away. I'll get to it later.

Right. I know that some of you will be kicking yourself on January 14th because you never quite got around to ordering. So do it now before you get busy and forget to do it. To get that deal, just go out to aviationnews.com slash lightspeed. And now see if you know any of these people who've signed up in the past week to support the show. My thanks to Mark Thomas, who's a new supporter via Patreon.

to Barry Harper for his donation via PayPal, and he's a repeat donor, and finally to Rich Selman who made a donation via Venmo. And if you've been enjoying the show for some time and getting value from it, please take a moment to go ahead and sign up to support the show. And it would be particularly helpful now as we've lost a number of supporters whose credit cards have expired. So to do that, head on out to aviationnewstalk.com slash support.

Thanks so very much for your support. Coming up next, our conversation with Dr. Quay Snyder about what you can do to get better sleep. All right here on the Aviation News Talk podcast.

And now let me tell you a little about Dr. Quay Snyder. He's a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy, and he spent 17 years in the active U.S. Air Force as a flight surgeon and a family practice physician. He's a commercial pilot, CFI and DPE, and he's the president-slash-CEO and co-founder of Aviation Medical Advisory Service, or AMAS, an organization dedicated to aviation safety, pilot health, and career preservation. And now here's our conversation with Dr. Quay Snyder. Hi.

Well, Quay, so nice to have you here. Thanks for joining us here today. Thank you very much, Max, for having me. It's certainly a privilege to be on here, and I appreciate it.

all that you do in educating the pilot population. Well, I got to tell you, this topic is something that's near and dear to my heart. I think it's incredibly important. And it's something that I wish I had figured out more about earlier in life, because I have to confess, I've gone through many years without getting enough sleep. But before we jump into how to sleep well, you mentioned at one point when talking about fatigue, that fatigue may

makes us stupid. So tell us just how stupid does it make us? Well, thank you. Yes, perhaps I was a little cavalier, but I don't think too much. There have been a number of studies that have compared a level of cognitive function with amount of sleep or time awake versus blood alcohol concentrations. And in these studies, they found a fairly linear percentage

relationship between time awake and cognitive function and decline in cognitive function that parallels that with blood alcohol concentrations. So that an individual who's been awake continuously for 18 hours has the cognitive abilities of someone with a blood alcohol concentration of about 0.05%.

So 18 hours equals about 0.05% blood alcohol concentration, which is well above the limit that the FAA would consider allowable for flying. And the...

Level of 0.08 milligrams percent of blood alcohol, which is legally intoxicated in every state, has the cognitive function equivalent of being up for approximately 22 hours straight. So fatigue, with increasing hours of wake, the fatigue contributes to a decrease in cognitive function, and I will call that fatigue makes you stupid. Yeah.

And so just in the interest of full disclosure, people should know that we're recording this in the morning. So this is about as good as we get, right? That's correct. And I had a good night of sleep last night as I try to do every night. Good for you. So are there any particular accidents that come to mind or near accidents when you think about fatigue?

Well, there are a host of accidents. The first one that was directly attributed to fatigue was the Guantanamo Bay accident in 1993, where the NTSB said that fatigue was a causal factor in that accident. But I think one of the ones that we haven't heard about and is perhaps most dramatic in the possibilities was Air Canada 759 in San Francisco in July of 2017.

where pilots flying from Eastern Canada who were on reserve had extended periods of time awake. And they were also fighting the circadian issues too, which is another contributor to fatigue.

And despite NOTAMs that indicated that the runway was closed, these people in this aircraft lined up with the taxiway. And on that taxiway were four jumbo jets. And they continued the approach despite asking for guidance. And it was thought that it was because of the fatigue that that was an issue.

The approach was so dangerous that they actually overflew four jumbo jets on the taxiway in San Francisco and missed hitting the first one by about 13 to 17 feet from tip of the tail to the undercarriage of the Air Canada flight coming in. If it had hit the first one, there would have been a domino-like effect cascading through multiple jumbo jets, and we would have had over 1,000 deaths.

more than doubling the number of deaths that we saw on Tenerife. But it was due to the long periods of time awake to exceed the 18 hours that I just mentioned, the circadian problems.

and the issues with flying extended hours. So there were multiple factors that contributed to this fortunately avoided near accident that we had. And there are dozens, if not hundreds of other aviation near misses and accidents related to fatigue.

Well, that occurred very close to me here, so I'm not that far from San Francisco. And I was the first person to come up with distances. I didn't give distances quite that close, but I think I mentioned somewhere in the 50-feet range being conservative, and that got picked up by the San Francisco Chronicle. And even today, as I hear about that accident, it gives me chills. But it certainly highlights for us just how important sleep is.

Absolutely. Well, let's talk about some of the major types of sleep that we get at night, and then later we'll talk about how we cycle through them. Sure. There are really two broad types of sleep, REM sleep, or rapid eye movement sleep, and non-REM sleep. The non-REM sleep is divided into two categories, light sleep, or stage one and stage two, and deep sleep, which is stage three and stage four.

Each of these different stages, along with REM sleep and awake, is easily identified through electroencephalograms or brainwave studies. So they're very characteristic. With the non-REM sleep, stages one and two are considered light sleep. And we get a slowing of the body activities, heart rate, respiration, blood pressure, temperature, movement. And we can easily be awakened during that. That happens probably in the first 15 to 20 minutes of a sleep cycle.

Each sleep cycle, by the way, is approximately 90 minutes, and we go through multiple sleep cycles. But the character of each of those cycles changes so that the stage one and stage two light sleep is more prevalent in the first cycle and becomes less prevalent in later stages.

But in particular, stages three and four, which is deep sleep, happens really in the first two and possibly a small element in the third stage of sleep. So after you've been asleep for four hours, you get into the third stage. What's important about the deep sleep is that's where you get the physical growth and repair up for the body. It happens.

It helps with metabolism, the immune system, hormone release, particularly growth hormone and the sex hormones too. It also can contribute to memory consolidation and learning, that particular type of learning. And that is the declarative where you actually recall facts and the procedural learning where new motor skills are integrated.

But after we go through a cycle of the non-REM sleep with the light sleep and deep sleep, then we move into REM sleep. The REM sleep is traditionally associated with dreaming, although it can happen at other times. But REM is particularly important because this is where we have the emotional processing. We can recover from potentially stressful events. We have memory consolidation.

We get brain development in that, and it also prepares us for waking up. Because REM sleep, the mind is incredibly active, but the body is paralyzed because a certain neurotransmitter stops being produced in that period of time of REM sleep so that we don't act out our dreams. And of course, there are medical conditions where that is problematic. But for most of us, this is a period of incredible brain activity.

emotional healing of learning. And the amount of REM sleep that a person gets really is correlated quite well with longevity. And more REM sleep is equated with reduced causes of mortality. So REM sleep is absolutely essential.

What's important, Max, is that in the first sleep cycle, the first 90 to 120 minutes, there's very, very little REM sleep, maybe five minutes. As you go through subsequent cycles, the period of sleep changes.

gets longer and longer, REM sleep gets longer and longer. So that if you can sleep through at least four cycles or pushing out toward eight hours, you're getting at least 50% of your REM sleep in the last hours of your total sleep cycle. So it's very, very important not to cut your sleep short.

with thinking you can get by with five or six hours, yes, you'll feel physically recovered, but mentally, cognitively, you are really compromising yourself in that situation. So the full seven to nine hours of sleep is quite important.

All right. So my key takeaway is more REM sleep, longer life. So that certainly is motivating. I'm curious about interruptions of sleep cycles. I had a case a couple months ago where my wife interrupted my sleep soon after I'd fallen asleep. And that seemed to really throw me off for the whole rest of the night. Are there times when we really should not be awakened?

Certainly, if you can sleep continuously, that allows you to go through those sleep cycles. There is a positive benefit of at least staying through a single sleep cycle, because as we come up through the REM, as I said, the brain is nearly awake. And if we awaken during those periods of time, shortly after a dream, we might be dreaming, then we can rapidly jump back into the normal cycle. But if we're awakened in a phase of deep sleep,

We have some sleep inertia where it's difficult to be fully awake, but it's also difficult to get back into the normal sleep cycle. So if you had to avoid a particular time where you don't want to be woken up, it's particularly early in your sleep when you're in a deep sleep cycle or deep phase of your sleep cycle. I also get asked questions a lot about what if I have to get up

In the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. Am I hurting myself in doing that? And the answer is reassuringly no. Usually you wake up spontaneously during those periods of time when you're just finishing your REM cycle and you're

You're in a nearly awake state at that point in time. You use the bathroom at that point in time, and then you rapidly drop back into the next phase of sleep. So don't be worried by having to get up at least one or two times in the evening. If it gets more frequently than that, you're probably interrupting some of the deeper phases of sleep. Yes, and I've asked my wife.

Please don't wake me up if I've just fallen asleep. In fact, I'm so sensitive to that. I try not to wake my cats up when they've just fallen asleep. That's great advice.

But of course, that's about 19 hours a day for them. So that's hard to do. So falling asleep is just not as simple as climbing into bed, which is probably what we thought when we were younger. What are some of the environmental and behavioral factors that help promote sleep? And tell us about any tips and tricks that you use to get a good night's sleep. Yeah, there are quite a few environmental factors that can affect it. And then, as you indicated, there are things that we can do behaviorally.

With the environmental factors, essentially to go to sleep, we need to drop our core body temperature by about one to three degrees, probably pushing three degrees. So being in a cool room is very, very helpful.

Light interferes with melatonin production. So a melatonin sets the body up for sleep. If you were to suppress that with light, you're not going through those preliminary stages. So dark is the second one.

And quiet. Actually, when we're sleeping, the muscles inside our ear that serve like shock absorbers on the hammer, anvil, and stirrups that amplify the noise relax. So noises are actually louder when we're relaxed. So environmentally, I talk about cool, quiet, and dark as important.

Behaviorally, as I said, the body needs to drop by about one to three degrees. So I recommend no exercise within two to four hours of bedtime because exercise, particularly prolonged aerobic activity, will increase the core body temperature.

Also, I'd avoid napping within six to eight hours. And I try to avoid napping during the day unless I absolutely need it for an acute sleep loss the day prior. But what napping does is it reduces

reduces the amount of a chemical in the brain called adenosine that drives sleep. And we can talk later about caffeine and its role with adenosine. But if you nap, you're essentially lowering your adenosine levels and lowering your sleep drive. If you are going to nap during the day, limit those naps to 20 to 40 minutes so you're not getting into a deep sleep cycle. You're staying in the late sleep during that period of time.

There are lots of other techniques that are out there to avoid light behaviorally. You can not use electronic readers up close because the intensity of the light is

is proportional to the square of the distance. So the further away you can be or with a high definition TV or a computer or a cell phone, all of those can be sources of light that will suppress melatonin. So I try to avoid those. When I read, I try to read old-fashioned, a light from behind me with a paper book and looking at that rather than an e-reader.

So those are a few things, and then we can talk about medications and other strategies that you use, such as caffeine and alcohol avoidance. What about meals? I know some people like to get a little snack before bedtime. I would say the research is...

Not real, real solid, but having a light protein snack beforehand can help with the increase in melatonin, serotonin, et cetera. Having a heavy meal is potentially problematic in that people who have problems with gastric reflux

can get the heartburn that comes associated with that. Also, a high-carbohydrate meal can temporarily increase your glucose, and that drives the body to put out insulin, and then you drop your glucose levels, and that results in the things that

The light sleep is trying to create being disturbed, such as with dropping blood glucose levels, you'll see an increase in your heart rate, increase in your blood pressure, potentially increase in temperature too. And those are all things we want to avoid when we're trying to get to sleep. So if anything, a light protein meal, a light protein snack, I should say,

and limiting the amount of fluid such that you can try to minimize the time you're getting up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. When I heard you talking at USC earlier this year, you talked about some strategies that you use when you're in hotels. Talk about clock faces and keeping the curtains closed and things like that. Oh, absolutely. We

We both travel quite a bit and we spend some time in hotels. So I try to go through a conditioned sleep regimen. And I also try to minimize any of those factors that would keep me awake. So as I said, first thing I get to the hotel, I turn the temperature down to about 65 to 67 degrees. It's perfect for sleeping, perhaps a little cold for working. Or for our European friends, 17 to 18 C would work.

I use the blackout curtains, and if the blackout curtains don't completely get things, I may use the coat hangers that hang pants on and clip those two sides of the curtain together so that light doesn't get through there. I can put a towel below the door entry so that the light doesn't come in from underneath the door. Okay.

I turn the clock face away so that if I happen to wake up, I'm not clock watching and getting anxious about how long I've been awake and how much sleep I'm losing. As I mentioned, it's real important to have a reduction in your body temperature. So a brief warm shower will dilate up the blood vessels in the surface of your skin and cause you to lose body heat.

If you were to take a cold shower, your vessels would constrict and that blood would flow back into your body and increase your temperature. And likewise, a long hot shower will increase the body temperature because of the absorption. Just try to go through the same routine each time. Brush the teeth.

I have a soft light behind me, read a book for about 15 minutes, and then I practice a lot of strategies to increase what's called my parasympathetic tone, the part of the central nervous system that slows the body down. And we can talk about those techniques if you'd like.

I'm so happy you mentioned the clocks. I have been not only turning them away, I usually throw a piece of the prior day's clothing on top of them just to drop all the light down to zero. But here's something that continues to get me. I try and remember, have you been in situations where you're in a hotel room and you suddenly find out that the alarm was waking you up long before you planned to because it's set to the prior person's alarm time? Yeah.

Yes, I tend to unplug the clock, so it hasn't been a problem for me, but I certainly can see why that would be a problem. Yeah, I've been thinking I should start going to the unplug strategy as well. One of the other things I do is bring along earplugs. I find that every once in a while you get a hotel room near the elevator or maybe the ice machine, and wow, those earplugs help tremendously.

Absolutely. As I said, the muscles that dampen out the sound in the eardrum relax when you're trying to go to sleep, so noise actually is louder. I specifically ask for hotel rooms not near the elevator, not near the ice machine or vending, or not near the service people's room that they use. Yep, all good tips. What about writing down your concerns before you go to sleep? Talk about that for a moment.

Well, absolutely. We all have stressors in life and anxiety, and we can ruminate on those while we're sleeping, while we're attempting to sleep, and that will reduce that. But an excellent strategy is to write out everything by hand, I think, rather than typing it. The actual act of writing it out seems to work well for me, and I would assume for other people, so that those worries are addressed prior to going to sleep, and you have a plan of attack that

When you wake up the next morning, likewise, having that pencil on paper next to your bed. If you do happen to wake up with the squirrels running on the treadmill inside your brain continuously, you can just write down those thoughts, take care of it. And for me, that helps me go to sleep. And I will follow that up if I'm anxious with some of those techniques to increase the parasympathetic tone.

um to slow down the heart rates lower the blood pressure lower the temperature yeah and journalist rob bark who we've had on the show a number of times told me recently he does the same thing he keeps that pad of paper next to the bed and sometimes good ideas pop out in the middle of the night i don't know about you but i find i can never remember them in the morning i could never remember anything but you're absolutely right

That's a wonderful strategy. Yeah, writing them down really is a great way to go. Well, let's move on to caffeine and melatonin and talk about how they affect sleep. Sure. Well, as I mentioned before, adenosine is a chemical that accumulates in the body and has receptors in the brain. And it accumulates with total time awake.

So as you are awake longer hours, the adenosine increases and the drive to sleep is based on those adenosine levels in the brain. Caffeine or methylxanthine is its generic name, is a direct blocker of adenosine in the brain. So what happens with ingestion of caffeine is that rather than the adenosine molecules parking in the receptors of the brain that would drive sleep,

Caffeine goes into those receptors and blocks the adenosine from having its effect. It doesn't lower the levels of adenosine so that when you withdraw from caffeine, you get a much stronger sleep drive.

Caffeine has a half-life of about four hours, so I would strongly recommend people not ingest caffeine for at least eight hours before their intended bedtime, unless there's a strong reason that you need a caffeine boost. But realize that if you do that, you're sacrificing the ability to get more rapidly into the normal sleep cycles.

I also mentioned melatonin earlier. Melatonin is produced in the brain, and it sets up the body for sleep, and it slows down the various activities, the heart rate, the blood pressure. It just prepares you for that. If you're exposed to light, that essentially shuts down the melatonin production in the body through a mechanism in the eye, which is not a good thing if you're trying to get to sleep.

But it is a good strategy if you're trying to wake up. So let's say you're trying to get up early in the morning in a normal sleep cycle. Being exposed to bright light will suppress that melatonin and that will help you. If you are unfortunate enough to have to get up in a period of time where normally you would be sleeping and the melatonin levels would be elevated a little bit, the way to improve your alertness would be to expose yourself to melatonin.

Very bright light, expose your eyes to very bright light. Natural light is much, much stronger than artificial light, but any light will do that. Some people also use melatonin to get to sleep.

If you take melatonin, first of all, it's in the United States, it's a nutritional supplement. So it's not regulated by the FDA and the quality and quantity of what you're getting is really quite sporadic. And you're never absolutely certain whether you're getting what is alleged on the label. But

Melatonin really only works in a situation where you're outside of your normal circadian rhythm because the body is driven by these circadian cycles, which are usually about 25 hours, plus or minus an hour or two on each side for each individual, the early morning birds and the late night owls. So I would recommend only taking melatonin about 30 minutes before going to sleep and

If you were to take a pill, and I'm not advocating for that, but if you were to only take it about 30 to 40 minutes before your intended sleep period so that it has an opportunity to be absorbed and potentially kick in. The downside of that is that if you're taking melatonin on a regular basis, you're suppressing your body's normal production of melatonin and potentially reducing

adversely affecting your normal circadian rhythm. There is science though that shows that long-term use of melatonin

other than the acute disturbances that I just talked about, really doesn't have any harmful effects. And from an FAA perspective, melatonin is considered a nutritional supplement and therefore is not regulated nor prohibited by the FAA. What about some of the prescription and over-the-counter sleep medications? What should we know about them? Regarding the over-the-counter sleep medicines,

Most of them are in the antihistamine category. Diphenhydramine is the classic one, which is also known as Benadryl or goes by a host of other names. And if you see an over-the-counter product that says nighttime or PM, or even it's just plain Benadryl,

It has a cognitive impairing effect in the studies, the similar studies that I talked about previously with the alcohol and the sleep deprivation. Use of Benadryl in a single dose, 25 milligrams, which is the lower adult dose, has a cognitive impairing effect for up to 16 hours. It's 16 hours after a dose, similar to a blood alcohol concentration of 0.04 to 0.05.

So, as a result, the FAA restricts any flying activities for 60, six zero hours or two and a half days after a single dose of Benadryl because of the persistent cognitive disturbances due to the long half-life of that medication.

There are some prescription medications that the FAA does allow. And in the Guide to Aviation Medical Examiners, you can find them. They're essentially four medications that go by a host of different names, but they have various waiting periods after taking it. So the FAA policy is that if you get one of these four allowed sleep medicines, you're

that there's an observation period during which you don't fly. And also their use is restricted to only circadian desynchrony and not for the use of any sleep disorders. So essentially with that, the FAA has also said it cannot be used more than twice a week for aviators. And again, only in the context of circadian desynchrony.

and that you observe the waiting period after a dose. And those waiting periods vary anywhere from 12 hours for one medication up to 48 hours for another prescription medication. You talked about some sleep rituals.

What about parasympathetic tone and how does that help us sleep? Thank you for asking because most people recognize that the nervous system has the fight or flight, which is the sympathetic, and the rest and digest, which is the parasympathetic tone. For the body to go to sleep, you're really in a high parasympathetic state. So what you want to do is slow down your heart rate, slow down your breathing, your blood pressure.

So lots of things that have been shown in solid science to help with that. Some people will practice meditation or mindfulness. These are not things that you can just pull off the shelf and do. It requires regular practice, just like working out in the gym would require to help build up muscles. You help build up these techniques. There's something called a physiologic sigh, where you take a very rapid deep breath.

Hold it for just a second and then try to take a little bit and then blow slowly through your mouth.

over 15 to 20 seconds and do that perhaps two or three times. And that will dramatically lower heart rate in many, many people. Some other techniques that are used for stress reduction, but also increase the parasympathetic tone or box breathing. So you might inhale slowly for four seconds, hold it for four seconds, exhale slowly for four seconds, hold it for four and go through that.

And so if you go through that cycle, essentially, if you do four cycles of that, that takes one minute. Two or three minutes of that would be fine. Gentle stretching, massage, that can help. And there's some people who use what are called binaural beats.

which are using headsets or earplugs, you would get different frequencies of sound in each ear. And that difference will also increase parasympathetic tone to help calm down the mind. And you actually see the

e.g. the electroencephalogram tracings of the brainwave actually changing to those that simulate light sleep. I want to talk about some of the new devices that are coming out for alertness and fatigue, but also about things like the Apple Watch. My wife will often say, oh, I got five hours of sleep last night. Is that reasonably accurate? Should we be concerned about the numbers we're getting from that? It's quite a bit of variability.

The watches work really on several principles. One is wrist movement or what's called actigraphy and sensing it because as we know and have talked about earlier, the body loses the chemicals that make you, allow you to move during phases of REM sleep. So there should be no wrist movement during that. So that absence of movement is one proxy for actigraphy.

determining REM sleep, but it's just a proxy. It's not a brainwave study. Likewise, they're looking at heart rate and heart rate variability to look at different stages of sleep. So I think if I were to characterize it, I would say that it

may be helpful. There are varying degrees of accuracy, but people who are seeing problems with it shouldn't get anxious about it. More so, I would look at how you're feeling each day, and if you're having problems, seeing a sleep physician about that after reconsidering what you're

I appreciate that people are sensitive to the importance of their sleep, but I wouldn't get anxious about problematic ones. And also, the earlier devices are perhaps of lower resolution than the newer devices. So, a lot of different possibilities there. Also, while we're talking about that, I'd like to talk about some things that can monitor alertness too.

We're seeing technologic innovations where we're looking at eyelid lag and how much the lids are down to determine how much fatigue there are, the dilation of the pupils. They are even making seat belts now for drivers and postulating it for pilots that can look at heart rate variability, heart rate and breathing to determine your level of fatigue.

And we're seeing that being deployed in a lot of trucks right now and also in some cars. What are some of the resources that people can use in terms of books and things like that to learn more about this? Well, one of my favorite books is by Matthew Wolfer, a PhD, called Why We Sleep. He characterizes sleep as the Swiss Army knife of health and that helps in so many different ways. He also has a shorter book that is really a condensed version of it,

But if you read that book, it'll scare you into getting as much sleep as you can up to eight or nine hours a day. There's also a podcast that I listen to from Andrew Huberman, and he has quite a few on health and sleep, rest and light, as I talked about before, and its effect on sleep. But he also has six podcasts.

for our interviews with Dr. Walker about the importance of sleep, one section on the quality of sleep, one on dreaming, one on strategies for sleep. So I found that very educational. And what about the IKO document, the Fitness to Fly Medical Guide for Pilots?

The ICAO document, Fitness to Fly, has nine chapters in it. And one is dedicated fully to sleep. But before that, they talk about to optimize your fitness to fly. And number one on their list was positive sleep management and a professional approach to sleep. So Max, you and I have already talked about some of those issues now. And they also talk about nutrition, exposure to light, exercise, and stress reduction practices.

Their section on sleep goes through the sleep cycle in a somewhat more simplistic version than what I just described and the importance of those strategies for falling asleep. I must mention one thing that we have not talked about. One area that needs to be addressed is alcohol.

So alcohol is a sedative hypnotic. It's in the same category, essentially, as the sleep medicines that are by prescription. And alcohol is a very effective sedative. However, the presence of alcohol essentially destroys REM sleep.

So if you have alcohol in your system at the time you're trying to fall asleep, yes, you will probably fall asleep and get into the light and possibly the deep phases, but you won't get the REM sleep, which as you recall from the beginning of this talk, that REM sleep is important for the emotional recovery, for cognitive consolidation, for learning, and for hormone recovery. So using alcohol to go to sleep

is not a good idea, particularly using large amounts that you haven't metabolized completely by the time you want to attempt to get to sleep. Yeah, that's a good tip there. Tell us a little bit about the consulting work that you do and where people can find out more about you and your work.

Well, thank you, Max. I'm president and CEO of Aviation Medicine Advisory Service, where we deliver confidential air medical certification assistance and advocacy for pilots and air traffic controllers, both professional and general aviation pilots and habeas pilots.

to help them navigate the FAA medical certification process in a confidential manner. Our 13 physicians are former aviation medical examiners and military flight surgeons who are trained in aerospace medicine, but we're no longer AMEs so that pilots can talk to us in a risk-free, confidential basis without any obligation for us to directly relay on that information to the AME.

Our service is available through our website at www.aviationmedicine.com. Aviation medicine is all one word. And we've been providing services for pilots for over 30 years, pilots and air traffic controllers, actually, across the full spectrum.

We also provide a lot of assistance in the mental health realm and participate in a number of activities with committees in the Aerospace Medical Association, with ICAO, with EASA, and the FAA to address the mental health challenges that are getting

much more notice as far as the significance of it. And one of our goals is to incorporate mental wellness and fitness to fly, as we just talked about, into aviation safety management systems.

Right now, SMSs look at procedures, policies, equipment, et cetera. But we've not done a real good job of looking at the human's optimum fitness to fly and encourage that individual to be in the best possible situation, to be the best version of themselves so that they are safer and more effective aviation professional or enthusiast.

And I think that's very important. Well, Quay, thank you so much for joining us here today. And I very much want to wish you good sleep and a long lifetime. Thank you. You as well, Max. Get the sleep that you need, that your body deserves, and you'll be the best version of yourself. And thanks to all the pilots who are listening for being interested in safety as well. This is very, very important.

And I want to thank Dr. Quay Snyder for joining us here today. You can find out more about him and his work at aviationmedicine.com.

And just a reminder that I love hearing from you and I read many of your emails on the show. If you'd like to send me a message, just go out to aviationnewstalk.com, click on contact at the top of the page. That's absolutely the best way to send me a message. And of course, I also want to thank everyone who supports the show in one of the following ways. We love it when you join the club and sign up at aviationnewstalk.com slash support. It's

To support the show financially, you can also do that at aviationnewstalk.com slash PayPal. We also love it when you leave a five-star review on whatever app that you're listening to us on now. And of course, if you're in the market for a headset, please consider buying a Lightspeed headset and using one of the links in our show notes, because if you use those links, they will donate to help support the show. So until next time, fly safely, have fun, and keep the blue side up. And remember that you can always go around. You can always go around.

down baby sliding upside down you can all