excellent articles above...
re sleep apnoea...
People with sleep apnoea, for instance, literally stop breathing for short periods during sleep, but may never realize they have a disorder. As sufferers sleep, the soft tissue in the throat relaxes and obstructs the upper airways, causing them to snore loudly and eventually to stop breathing, which causes the brain to rouse and demand oxygen. This arousal interrupts the deep-sleep cycle, and may occur more than a hundred times in a night, without the sleeper’s awareness. As a result, the victim can be chronically fatigued, even though they spent a considerable time asleep. It is estimated that this condition afflicts four percent of the population, usually overweight, middle-aged men (so, does that make us helicopter pilots a high-risk category?).
i DEFINITELY have to address this... it's gettin' so even the damn dog won't sleep with me!!
re caffeine... gotta have that "hit" of a large, regular @ tim's or i get one helluva booming caffeine headache by 1100... by the same token, i gotta race like a piss horse for hours everytime i enjoy my coffee (which obviously supports rapid/ongoing dehydration)... stupid question of the week - is a caffeine pill a safe/reasonable alternative???
re tie-downs... with the onset of alzheimers looming, i've taken to adopting a manual spin of my tailrotor (to reposition the blades one full rotation) as a secondary precaution during my walkaround.
cheers...
