
PPL theory 4 of 9: Human performance
25 min Calm
Your body and mind in the cockpit. Hypoxia, the inner ear, vision, stress, fatigue and the decisions pilots get wrong.
Boven de wolken voelt het lichaam zich gezonder dan het is. Bij 10.000 voet daalt de zuurstofverzadiging in het bloed merkbaar, maar de meeste piloten ervaren op dat moment eerder een licht gevoel van welbehagen dan alarm. De ogen zien minder scherp in de schemering dan overdag, het binnenoor overtuigt je dat je recht vliegt terwijl het kompas iets anders zegt, en een slechte nacht slaap vertraagt een beslissing met seconden die in de lucht te lang kunnen zijn. Het lichaam geeft signalen af, maar ze zijn zelden luid.
Dit playbook behandelt die fysiologie systematisch: wat er in het menselijk lichaam gebeurt onder druk, hoogte, vermoeidheid en stress, en hoe je de juiste beslissing neemt als je eigen waarneming onbetrouwbaar is geworden. De IMSAFE-checklist is daarbij geen formaliteit maar een gewoonte die je elke vlucht beschermt, ook de vlucht waarop alles er normaal uitziet.
Learn the symptoms of hypoxia and carbon monoxide poisoning, and at which altitude oxygen becomes a concern.
Suggestion: Note the time of useful consciousness at 25,000 ft as a reference.Study the inner ear and the illusions it causes: leans, somatogravic, and why you trust instruments in cloud.
Suggestion: Read one accident summary caused by spatial disorientation.Understand the eye: scanning technique for traffic, night vision adaptation, and empty field myopia.
Suggestion: Practise the scan on the ground: short pauses, sectors of the sky.Go through the IMSAFE checklist and what each letter means for your fitness to fly.
Suggestion: Be honest about the S and the F.Ten practice questions on human performance.
Suggestion: This subject is short but easy to lose points on.
Next
PPL theory 5 of 9: Meteorology
Related playbooks
PPL theory 9 of 9: Communications
Talking on the radio without freezing. Phraseology, the alphabet, readbacks, joining and leaving a circuit and what to say when it goes wrong.
PPL theory 8 of 9: Principles of flight
Why the aircraft flies and why it stops flying. Lift, drag, stalls, spins, stability and the effect of flaps and load factor.
PPL theory 7 of 9: Operational procedures
What to do when things go wrong and how to do routine things right. Emergencies, fire, ditching, wake turbulence, noise and search and rescue.
PPL theory 6 of 9: Navigation
Getting from A to B by chart, compass and clock. Headings, wind correction, timing and the radio aids you may use as backup.
PPL theory 5 of 9: Meteorology
Reading the sky. Pressure, wind, cloud types, fronts, fog, icing and the reports and forecasts you will decode every flight.
PPL theory 3 of 9: Flight performance and planning
Mass and balance, take-off and landing distances, fuel planning. The numbers that decide whether a flight is safe before you start the engine.
PPL theory 2 of 9: Aircraft general knowledge
How a light aircraft is built and why it works. Airframe, engine, propeller, fuel, electrics and instruments.
PPL theory 1 of 9: Air law
The rules that keep aircraft apart. Airspace classes, visual flight rules, right of way and what your licence lets you do.
by PlayTryBe team