'More than half' of pilots have slept while flying

reply to post by hknudzkknexnt


The purser usually can get in, if they can't get them on the phone.

Thats completely insaine..

just as i have been trying to get over my fear of flying something like this comes up ~

reply to post by 727Sky


I retract my earlier sentiment. I had been recollecting a documentary based on the lives of co-poliots and regional airmen, and it is them who are making low wages with high demands. I was wrong about commercial captains, especially ones that have been at in for a few years.

My apologies.

that is a very scary thought!

I think you would expect this on medium haul flights, say 4-7 hour range. On the short flights they dont have time for naps and the cockpit workload is demanding. On the longer flights they have a relief crew that change shifts.

Still I think its bad practice if both pilot and co-pilot fall asleep. Too many bad things can happen with a plane flying on autopilot. There could be a mid-air collision and traffic control being unable to communicate, or mechanical problems could develop. At least one person should be awake while the other is napping.

reply to post by EarthCitizen07


On two crew long haul airplanes like the B777-787 we have one or more relief pilots, so napping is not a problem.

On the B737 short and medium range it is all a different story.
In my current company we're allowed to practice "controlled napping" with one CA present on the flightdeck.

One pilot at the time of course

I used to drive a delivery van.
After a day of work heading back on the highway sometimes it was a struggle to stay awake. would like to have pulled over for a 15 minute nap, but couldn't do that. I just..got ..to get off this highway, turn off the heat, straighten out my back, open the window, turn up the radio. Just got to get off this boring highway.
I would catch myself nodding off, very scary!

Oh those red lights! I drifted off on a few of those.

So I understand how dozing off can happen before you realise it, but at least a pilot is less likely to hit a tree before he snaps out of it!

reply to post by EarthCitizen07


They don't have time on a short flight? Two Go! Airways pilots overflew Hilo on a 45 minute flight because they were asleep.

hamishsubedei
just as i have been trying to get over my fear of flying something like this comes up ~

I too get some jitters as a pax, when its landing in IFR conditions

Zaphod58
reply to post by EarthCitizen07

 

They don't have time on a short flight? Two Go! Airways pilots overflew Hilo on a 45 minute flight because they were asleep.

There are always exception to the rule but you would expect the medium haul pilots to doze off more, I guess cause they get bored so many hours in the cockpit bs'ing each other, and figure the chance of something going wrong is small.

One thing thats worth mentioning is that airplane crews put in more hours per week now than they did in the past. That means work fatigue. Are the unions still strong or what? Probably not.

reply to post by EarthCitizen07


The short haul flights are where I expect to see it more. A medium haul crew might get two flights in a day, if not just the one. A short haul pilot like Hawaiian or Go! is going to get as many as ten, with up to an hour down time between some of them.

Zaphod58
reply to post by EarthCitizen07

 

The short haul flights are where I expect to see it more. A medium haul crew might get two flights in a day, if not just the one. A short haul pilot like Hawaiian or Go! is going to get as many as ten, with up to an hour down time between some of them.

10 flights per day???? Seriously?

Wow. What happened to the unions?

reply to post by EarthCitizen07


There's nothing they can do because it doesn't violate FAA rules. Some of them are only 20 minutes long, so 10 flights in a day can work out to an 8-10 hour day, with layovers for deplaning and boarding.

is anything being done to fix the problem of pilots and fatigue ???
how can they risk so many lives like this? think of a fully loaded a380 going down , that would be worse casualties than many wars.

The planes practically fly themselves.

reply to post by hamishsubedei


They've been working on new rules for years but between the FAA and the Union it's taking a lot longer than it should. The problem isn't as bad with the major airlines, but the regional carriers have a huge problem with fatigue.

The Colgan Air crash in Buffalo had a first officer that had commuted from the west coast all night, before boarding the fatal flight. They have crash pads where someone rents an apartment and they cut it up into tiny rooms, including closets, for crews to sleep before they get on their flights.