A 05:30 Departure with a Head Cold
You are a 34-year-old PPL with 210 hours, planning Wilson to Lamu (about 250 nm, 2.5 hours) with two passengers, departing at 05:30 to arrive before the afternoon heat. For four days you have had a head cold. It is improving, but your ears still block when you swallow and you have a slight cough. At 21:00 the previous evening you took a 10 mg chlorpheniramine tablet, and you slept about five hours. You had two beers with dinner at 20:00. You plan to cruise at 9,500 ft; the aircraft has no oxygen and 3.5 hours of fuel. You feel 'about 80%' and tell yourself you will be fine once airborne. Your Class 2 medical is valid for another four months, and your SEP rating and recency are current.
1. Identify and rank the hazards in this plan and state your fitness to fly against the standard you are actually held to.
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Hazards, ranked by how much they degrade judgement in the air:
- Medication. Chlorpheniramine is a first-generation antihistamine. It is sedating, it impairs vigilance, reaction time and multi-tasking, and it has a long half-life (commonly 12-25 hours), so a dose at 21:00 leaves measurable next-day impairment at 05:30. Eight and a half hours is not 'washed out'.
- Fatigue. Five hours' sleep, a 04:30 alarm and a 2.5-hour sector with two passengers - fatigue produces the same deficits as mild alcohol intoxication, and it compounds the antihistamine.
- Alcohol. Two beers at 20:00, 9.5 hours before departure, probably puts you under the 0.02% limit and inside the usual eight-hour 'bottle to throttle' rule. But the rule is a floor, not a guarantee of fitness: residual effects, dehydration and poor sleep quality all persist.
- Upper respiratory infection. The ears still block on swallowing, which means eustachian tube dysfunction. That is the single most reliable predictor of barotrauma on descent. Congestion also reduces your ability to equalise and can aggravate hypoxia at altitude.
- Altitude. 9,500 ft with a cold, no oxygen and reduced sleep is a setup for earlier-than-expected hypoxia.
The standard. A valid Class 2 medical is a licence condition, not a fitness certificate for today. The rule is that you must not act as a flight crew member while unfit through illness, fatigue, alcohol or the effects of medication. On this evidence you are unfit. Your own phrase - 'I'll be fine once airborne' - is the symptom, not the reassurance.
2. What is your decision about the flight, and what alternatives do you give the passengers?
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Decision: no flight today.
This is a self-imposed pressure scenario: a fixed departure time, passengers who have paid or planned, a destination event, and a pilot telling himself he is 'about 80%'. The correct response is not to negotiate the margin down until it fits, but to break the chain at the first link.
Alternatives, in order of preference:
- Postpone 48-72 hours. The realistic test is not 'do I feel better' but 'can I clear my ears reliably, and am I off all medication'. Ears that still block on swallowing will not equalise on a 500 ft/min descent.
- Hand the flight to another pilot - someone who is fit and current, flying the same aircraft. This is not the same as coming along as a passenger and 'helping'.
- The passengers travel commercially and you follow when fit.
- If the trip somehow proceeds later in the week, fly lower, in the morning, well hydrated, with no medication in the previous 48 hours.
What I would not do: take a smaller dose, 'see how it goes', or fly the first leg and decide later. A head cold in a non-pressurised aircraft does not improve with altitude, and once you are at 9,500 ft with blocked ears your options are worse than they are on the ground.
I would also tell the passengers the real reason. 'The pilot is unwell' is a normal, professional statement and closes the conversation far more effectively than a vague excuse.
3. Suppose you fly anyway. At 9,500 ft you notice tingling in your fingers, light-headedness and a headache, and your ears have stayed blocked throughout the climb. Explain what is happening and what you do, in order.
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What is happening - two separate problems at once.
- The tingling fingers, light-headedness and headache at 9,500 ft are the classic early signs of hypoxia, made worse by a respiratory infection, fatigue and possibly hyperventilation driven by anxiety. Tingling in the fingers and around the mouth is also typical of hyperventilation, which reduces carbon dioxide and causes dizziness and cramps - the two can coexist and the treatment for both starts the same way.
- The blocked ears on climb mean the eustachian tubes are not equalising. On descent this becomes barotrauma ('ear squeeze'), which is painful and can rupture the drum. Descent is the dangerous phase, not the climb.
Actions, in order:
- Assume hypoxia and descend now. Do not wait to see whether it gets better. A 2,000-3,000 ft descent will usually resolve early hypoxia on its own - the aircraft has no oxygen, so altitude is the only treatment available.
- Control your breathing - slow, normal-depth breaths, not deep gasps.
- Tell ATC that you are descending and why; if you are hypoxic, keep the call short and simple, and use the autopilot or trim to reduce workload.
- Turn back or divert to the nearest suitable aerodrome and land. Do not continue to Lamu because you are 'nearly there'.
- For the ears: descend at the slowest rate ATC will allow, and use frequent swallowing, yawning or a gentle Valsalva. If the pain becomes severe, level off, then continue descending in stages - do not force a rapid descent.
- After landing: do not fly again that day, get the ears checked, and treat the cold properly before the next flight.