Structural Differences in Gray Matter between Glider Pilots and Non-Pilots

[son_of_flubber]

Peer reviewed scientific study

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4246923/

[firsys]

On Saturday, November 5, 2016 at 1:27:55 PM UTC-5, son_of_flubber wrote:
> Peer reviewed scientific study
>
> https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4246923/

Experience 34.2 hrs, 15 min flights? Did I read this right?
these are beginners. How could they have developed extra
gray matter?

However, I never realised before how difficult flying is.

Which reminds me of the old joke about the centipede......

JMF

[Duster]

Scientists, by nature, are skeptics (35yr history in neurological research), so be careful when digesting this report. Though the findings are not entirely implausible, the study has so many red flags that there's insufficient space to discuss them all. Aside from the low gliding time JMF pointed out, there is no appropriate control group (Sure, they were familiar with video games, but they don't give important metrics). It is a real stretch to think brain volume can change after just a few hours flying spread over months/years?!

Caution: Hypobaric Pressure- Regarding perhaps a more interesting study related to the Perlan 2 project. Our institute was asked to evaluate U-2 pilots following an increase in frequency of decompression sickness. The study found a significant number of white-matter lesions (e.g, stroke-like) in the brain of affected subjects. Some pilots (while in flight) were nearly incapacitated and others suffered long-term neurological changes. Why? The thinking is that these pilots operate at 70,000ft but cabin/suit pressure is maintained at only around 30,000ft!! I've heard mention that the Air Force is/has changing that to 15,000ft pressure alt (2013 cabin altitude reduction effort (CARE)). The Perlan 2 glider is pressurized to 14,000ft, according to their website info.

I'm a firm believer in maintaining brain health; use it or lose it! Physical fitness helps in maintaining cognitive skills at least as much.

Public-distilled summary of findings:
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-highflying-brain-lesion-idUSBRE97M0RT20130823
Original article:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3723460/pdf/nihms488856.pdf
Mike

[son_of_flubber]

On Saturday, November 5, 2016 at 4:32:31 PM UTC-4, firsys wrote:

> Experience 34.2 hrs, 15 min flights? Did I read this right?

>

The RAS subject title copies the paper's title. Age is 21-22. Not your typical 'glider pilot'.

10-15 minute flight duration

34.2 hours X 60 minutes = 2052 minutes

2052 minutes / 10 minutes = 205 flights
2052 minutes / 15 minutes = 137 flights

So 137-205 flights for each subject. Say 170 flights. 6 flights a week works out to about 7 months of training.

A 21 y.o. student is going to learn a lot in that phase. Seems plausible that there would be observable changes to the brain.

firsys wrote:

> these are beginners. How could they have developed extra
> gray matter?

'Experienced Based Structural Plasticity' and has been observed in musicians, golfers, London Cab Drivers. I'd be more surprised is this study did not observe changes in student pilot's brains.


Compare a student pilot to a budding musician. Unless you're a prodigy, 34 hours of practice on a musical instrument is not going to get you very far. Maybe that explains why it takes hundreds/thousands of hours 'to peak' at piloting a glider. I'd like to see the brain structure of some youngish expert pilots compared to the young student pilots in this study.

[George Haeh]

The non-structural brain pathology is that a certain minority of
glider pilots get saddled with the compulsion to send excessive
amounts of money and time on gliding.

The smart ones catch on and leave not too long after solo.

[George Haeh]

The non-structural brain pathology is that a certain minority of
glider pilots get saddled with the compulsion to send excessive
amounts of money and time on gliding.

The smart ones catch on and leave not too long after solo.

[JJJ]

The non-structural brain pathology is that a certain minority of
glider pilots get saddled with the compulsion to send excessive
amounts of money and time on gliding.

The smart ones catch on and leave not too long after solo.

They get addicted to the "high" (in multiple senses of the word) of flying sailplanes, and become whacked-out adrenaline junkies. In between weekend flying, they sit bug-eyed in front of their computers, trying to survive the withdrawal symptoms, reading RAS and similar message boards and watching soaring videos on U-tube.

(Try to guess how I know all that.)

-- J. J.
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