Bad food/Bad pilot

[FlyDave]

All,

 

My wife and I flew to Fresno for my first flight in a 252. Nice airplane and this is what I'm going to buy...search started!

We left late Sunday morning without eating a good breakfast intending to have lunch at the Fresno airport with the guy that took me flying. Unfortunately the airport restaurant was closed and we didn't get anything to eat before departing Fresno. I did have a bag of mixed nuts and we had a couple of bottles of water so we started eating some of the nuts. I also had a chocolate chip Cliff Bar in my flight bag. I think it was more than a year old but I can't be sure. I was really hungry so I opened it and started eating. I asked my wife if she wanted a bite and she looked at me like I had 6 heads (yes - she WAS right!). So I ate the whole thing.

KFCH to o69 is about an hour flight. about 40 miles out from o69 my stomach started cramping. Not too bad at first but by the time I got on the ground and had to pull the power-tow out to get the airplane in the hanger I was feeling pretty bad. This got worse and worse as the night progressed until around 10 PM I was doubled over in pain bowing to the porcelain god. Horrible experience - I had never had food poisoning before.

Had I been on a longer flight and/or a couple of legs from my destination with weather and or mechanical problems, this could have been a very bad situation!

A friend told me of a food poising incident he had where the vomiting started so quickly and uncontrollably that he didn't have time to stop his car and ran into a parked car a couple of blocks from his house - wrecking his car.

I am changing my in-flight eating habits. I've gotten rid of anything in my flight bag that resembles food. Any packaged foods I eat in the air will be purchased within the previous few days. I'll also wait at least 30 minutes (preferably closer to an hour) after eating on the ground before getting in the plane to fly.

 

Eat well, fly safe!

 

Dave

 

[mooniac58]

Surprised one can get food poisoning from a sealed Cliff bar - regardless of expiration.  Usually it some from a bacterial source (ie an employee not washing their hands when using the restroom).

 

I hear you though - I got food poising from cole slaw (the #1 violator) about a year ago.  Got so dehydrated that my limbs went paralyzed and I went to a urgent care center - when they saw my vitals they called in the ambulance and rushed me to the ER.  They could not even get enough blood out of my finger in the ambulance to test my blood.  It was a full 24 hours until I felt like I was going to survive the ordeal.  Very nasty!

 

Glad you got back ok.  Your suggestions seem solid.  As pilots we should be very aware of what goes into our body prior or during a flight.

[Joe Zuffoletto]

Most of my legs are pretty long so this is something I've always been careful about! I eat and drink very little in the 24 hours leading up to a flight, and since many of my departures are in the morning, I also try to do my morning business before departure. Then I pack plenty of water and dry snacks for the trip.

 

Your story is a good one for the relative newbies to hear. We all learn eventually to watch what goes down the hatch before and during a trip!

[201er]

Could be worse... like if your prior meal were in Karachi Pakistan: http://youtu.be/2yQApLkPbYA?t=24m5s

[Joe Zuffoletto]

Could be worse... like if your prior meal were in Karachi Pakistan: http://youtu.be/2yQApLkPbYA?t=24m5s

 

Yep, that must have been ugly. I love the way this TV show, which I've never seen, makes the business of ferrying aircraft sound more dangerous than a mission to Mars.

[201er]

At least on a mission to mars it's all new and tested equipment. Sucks to be ferrying a 50 year old hangar queen across the ocean on a single engine!