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work complex math calculations before and throughout the f light – and they’d be right. Well, not that complex. Add to that, most have never spoken on a radio where we appear to broadcast confidently, seemingly unrehearsed and impromptu information and requests, speaking and hearing at the speed of light using indecipherable pilot jargon. They think our radio and math skills, perception, and our intuition must be so sharply honed that we view the entire environment with Jedi-like clarity. These factors (math pun intended) all contribute to pilot training apprehension. And the math apprehension can be blamed on east and west-bound trains, pizzas and watermelons.
Math: The only place where people buy 60 watermelons and no one wonders why.
When asked, “Do pilots work story problems?” I ask if they can compute the area of a trapezoid and factor a bi- nomial? And then I quickly add, “Just kidding.” I tell prospective pilots that yes, we do story problems but not like the ones in school. Remember the notorious math question that goes something like this: If a train leaves Chicago at 10:00 a.m. travel- ing West at 50 mph transporting 300 deep-dish pizzas, and a second train carrying 600 watermelons leaves Phoenix (1,753 miles away) at 11:00 a.m. headed East at a speed of 40 mph, what time will the two trains pass? And if they both are burning 75 gph diesel fuel, how many water- melons and pizzas will each have on board as they pass? Think back to the first time you learned the steps needed to solve the problem.
For me, it was and is paralyzing. You and I have been doing time- distance-fuel calculations for years now, so we can do this problem not only in our heads but in our sleep, right? (NOT – see the admission above). Thankfully, in practice, we need only calculate for one vehicle and we seldom carry 300 pizzas or 600 watermelons (perhaps a dozen cases of Coors in a Cherokee 140,
however). That said, piloting does indeed employ several, sometimes complex, math disciplines.
When it comes to inflight math, there are three types of pilots: those who can count and those who can’t.
Why do we still need math, and what types of math do we use? Basic arithmetic, geometry, trigonometry, interpolation, and mental math are
all part of being a pilot. We use math to understand principles of f light, computing weight and balance, de- termining fuel requirements, and in navigation, f light planning, descent planning and calculating crosswind components. We don’t normally stop to think about the various math dis- ciplines involved because they have become intuitive and are nowhere near as daunting and intimidating as this litany would have you believe.
AOPA
February 2022 / TWIN & TURBINE • 25