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go to the cabin and socialize with the passengers for a few minutes mid-cruise. This presents the opportunity for some mild exercise and is good PR – as long as I don’t do push-ups or squats in their view. Isometrics is a type of exercise in which the joint angle and muscle length do not change during contraction. For flight decks with limited space, or a cabin full of curious but anxious pax, this type of exercise can be accomplished while remaining seated by pushing arm, leg, stomach and neck muscles against themselves or an immovable object.
Muscle contraction will stimulate blood flow, increase heart rate and improve alertness. An additional benefit of standing and performing isometrics is the prevention of deep vein or arterial thrombosis (DVT). This poten- tially serious medical condition is the clotting of blood sometimes associated with extended periods of sitting. These clots can embolize (lodge in or obstruct) and cause arteries to the brain to occlude (close off), resulting in an ischemic (clot) stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA). Bottom line: Get off your butt or do some isometrics.
Old-Fashioned Ciphering
The final warm-up is in our thinking process. It’s pru- dent to use the last 15 minutes or so before beginning the descent to review the arrival, approach and missed ap- proach. In previous issues of T&T, we addressed the math commonly used in computing an efficient point at which
to begin the descent: multiply the altitude to lose by three then add or subtract a smidgen for the tailwind/headwind, and that will be the distance consumed, in miles, for the descent. We also conceded that modern avionics usually make such old-fashioned exercises obsolete – unless you need/want to warm up that brain. Anyway, it’s also a good way to confirm electronic calculations. Reviewing the altitude and speed restrictions on the arrival procedure is also prudent because often the printed restrictions are not easy to find without searching the outlying narrative and fine print. And the exercise will also confirm that the FMS database agrees with the pubs in your tablet.
Some RNAV arrivals can be quite a handful, even when using the VNAV mode of your flight management system. The FRDMM FIVE into DCA is a prime example. It’s a two- page (which is now common) RNAV, descend-via-arrival. You pretty much can’t look away from the instruments as you monitor the step-down fixes, course changes and speed restrictions. It’s hard to imagine that the airspace around DC is so complex as to warrant such precision. One of my FOs once speculated that the arrival procedure is nothing more than a filter making it easier for ATC to recognize a non-pilot with nefarious intentions. Drink- ing some coffee, doing some squats and waking up the brain may help you to comply with a DCA-type procedure and prevent the launching of surface-to-air munitions in your direction.
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24 • TWIN & TURBINE / March 2023