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Flying gliders cross country is stressful and demanding. As a pilot you must be performing well in order to make good decisions. Your body must be performing well so that your brain can perform well. A cross country flight is likely to be many hours long and you need to be performing well for the entire flight. Most accidents happen at the end of the flight.
Mountain flying human factors are pretty much the same as any cross country flying, so we're just hitting the main points. There are plenty of in depth resources available.
Something else to be aware of: most of these human factors causing degraded performance are worse when you're older. And by 'older' I mean over 40. Remember how your eyes lose flexability when you hit 40? Arms aren't long enough to read a book without reading glasses? Same thing happens with the rest of your body.
You must stay hydrated. Take an adequate supply of water, and drink it. Any flight over an hour I take a liter with me and that is only enough for three or four hours. Your milage may vary, but less than 250ml/hour is definately not enough. Double that for a hot day.
From a study titled Cognitive Performance and Dehydration a sentence from the conclusion:
"Evidence suggests the tasks that require attention, immediate memory, and psycho-motor skills, as well as assessment of the subjective state, are the most negatively affected."
If you drink enough to be properly hydrated, you will need to pee. Make sure you have a way to pee.
Some gliders have relief systems. Some pilots pee in plastic bags (1 liter sandwich bags are common) and some wear nappies. A few use external catheters. Whatever you do, you must have something that works for you. I use biodegradable dog poop bags so I don't feel so bad about discarding them out the window when I'm done.
For longer flights you may need to carry some food. Be careful with food choices. Avoid food that is a choking hazard. Avoid food that is sugary and can cause a sugar rush and crash.
Being well rested is essential.
Hyperthermia is the body overheating. This is likely if you are all geared up for high altitude flight and get stuck down low before contacting the wave.
Hypothermia is the body being unable to maintain the core temperature. This is likely if you're dressed for summer thermalling and get into the wave.
Hypoxia is a lack of oxygen. This can become apparent from surprisingly low levels. The rules say you should have supplementary oxygen if over 10,000ft and must use it above 13,000ft. I generally put on the oxygen as soon as I'm above cloudbase.
Briefing prepared by Phil Plane.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License