Pilots and cheeseburgers?

A recent study at the University of North Dakota concluded that pilots who ate a nice greasy burger rather than protein bars or a well balanced meal would be more successful in the air and be able to concentrate better. This was the surprising finding of a new military-funded study that sought to figure out what types of foods were best for pilots when missions restricted when or what they could eat. Researchers found that pilots who ate the fattiest foods such as butter or gravy had the quickest response times in mental tests and made fewer mistakes when flying in tricky cloud conditions.

Athletes and others with physically demanding jobs generally focus on a high-carbohydrate diet for improved performance. The study's researchers aren't saying people should now load up on biscuits and gravy, in fact researchers said it's hard to draw conclusions from their study because more tests are needed to figure out what's behind the results. Follow-up studies begin this spring.
Researchers said the study is not aimed at weight control and noted that because the pilots are young, they're able to absorb a high amount of fatty acids for brain development.

Military experts hope the research will eventually help improve pilots' performance. National Transportation Safety Board statistics show 80 percent of civil and military accidents are caused by human error.

The study used a flight simulator that required students to descend in cloudy weather when the runway wasn't visible and using only the plane's computers. The pilots then had to climb into a holding pattern. They also took tests that required memorizing and repeating numbers and comparing shapes.

Based on their test scores, pilots on the high-fat and high-carb diets performed substantially better than the high-protein eaters. The high-fat dieters did slightly better than the high-carb dieters. More study is needed to determine whether the findings will have a lasting effect.

So for now I guess that if your deciding to fly around in a plane, you might want to stop by the local McDonald's and geta burger or two just to be on the safe side.