Do Sleepy Pilots Threaten Air Safety?

I have been an airline pilot for over 25 years and flown for a number of corporations prior to that. With the on set of deregulation and the mess it has caused in the airline industry, the life of a pilot has undergone major changes. You must understand that many times due to the COMPANY relocating equipment and routes, a pilot could find they are based out of as many as 2 or 3 different locations in a year. Depending on senority. There is no way you can move yourself and your family that many times. This may result in a displacement to a base across the country. It is the nature of the business. The FAA chaged many of the flight rules over the years and has futher proposed rule changes that will add to pilot fatigue and longer work days and months. Couple that with low pay and loss of benefits (sometimes even the FREE RIDE as space available) most are only home 12 days a month. Some airlines have made it a firing offense to sleep even the crew room away from the traveling public. A 30 minute nap has been proven to refresh a person and has been a recommendation in many NASA studies on long flights. Don't attack until you TOTALLY understand the very complicated dynamics of this business. You want to blame someone for tired pilots, blame the FAA and the Airline Companies. They keep pushing the flight crews for more and more productivity at the expense of safety

@UpintheAir Bus drivers did know what they were getting into when they took the job which is why you never hear them complaining or anyone writing stories about them. Just because a bus driver doesn't need as much education as a pilot doesn't make their job any different in terms of the stress and low-pay. When you start learning how to fly, unless you acquire many of your hours in the military, you know how expensive it's going to be and you know approximately how long you're going to have to work for a commuter before making decent money. If it's too much for you to handle, DON'T DO IT! No one is forcing you to become a pilot. It's totally YOUR CHOICE! However, do not take on that career path and then cry about it when it all goes down just how you knew it would.

By the way, I have seen a lot more than 1 pilot complaining about money. I live in a townhome complex where a pilot for a major carrier runs 4 crash pads. I see and talk to flight crews all the time. The pilot that runs these crash pads tried to work out deals for his crews around the neighborhood when he first started getting them up and running.

First thing he tried to do was go to a local bar and ask the owner if he would be willing to cut the flight crews deals on drinks if he recommended they go to that bar. The bar owner told him he would give them half off their drinks at $2.50 a pop. The pilot told him his flight crews wouldn't be interested unless the bar charged them only $1 per drink so no one went to that bar.

The pilot set up a personal shuttle service with a driver for his flight crews to get to and from the airport. He charged the crew members $1.75 each way. Most of the crew members still took the local bus because it was only $1.25 each way and they didn't have to worry about tipping.

The pilot had coffee makers set up in the crash pads and charged 25 cents per cup of coffee with an honor system in place. One day one of the crash pads ran out of coffee and a pilot that was staying there called the pilot who ran it and complained there was no coffee and that he needed it. The pilot/owner told him there was a 7-11 down the street if the crash pad was all out of coffee. The sleepy pilot told him he wasn't going to pay the $1.50 that 7-11 charges for a medium coffee.

This is a big crash pad facility in a hub city for a major carrier. Don't tell me I don't know how cheap pilots are!

Pilots have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. They cant pull over to the side of the road if they're tired. Pilots cant slow down to 25 miles an hour when the weathers bad. there are many factors that go into a flight. you don't have the right to criticize pilots unless you picked up a flight case and flown the line. You weep for the passengers and you curse the crews. You have that luxury. I have neither the time or the inclination to explainmyself to some one who rises and sleeps on the very blanket of saftey I provide and then questions the manner in which its provided. I 'd perfer you put a 20 in the tip jar outside the cockpit door and went about your way. Because it was the pilot that just saved your life.

flying an airplane without an autopilot, straight and level will put you to sleep just as fast as with the autopilot on.

I have lived in a crew crash pad as a flight attendant......You are living with people on different schedules coming and going at all different hours. Some of those people are block holders and some are reserves who are on anywhere from a 1 1/2 hour to 3 hour call out. Speaking as a reserve we are on duty 24 hours around the clock with no way of knowing FOR SURE when we will be called out....We are on duty up to 6 days in a row before we are then required about a 24 hour 15+ min rest.
As for the question of why do they not live where they work. Well in this industry you can easily be displaced from your base as coverage for trips and flight schedules change seasonally.....Let me help you understand this. All Major Airlines operate out of bases....Bases are where trips end and begin for crew scheduling purposes. Now keep in mind depending on the airline trips may be any where from 1 day to 6 days long. Now as pilots and flight attendants our companies may see a need for more coverage in another base and based on seniority may require pilots or flight attendants to change bases.....Now they are often required to do so for an undetermined amount of time. I my self was required to change bases for a period as short as just a few months. Now how can you justify picking up and moving your family for an UNDETERMINED amount of time???? The airline industry is at best as unpredictable as are the weather that affects it. Also most pilots, especially in this economy CAN NOT afford to pick up sell their houses and buy a house in very little notice time. They certainly can't afford to live or rent a place in a city like L.A. or New York. Be reasonable people.
AND again and furthermore remember they commute on there own time....When you are on your own time do you not have family, home, and other responsibilities. Some times they only have a couple of days off at a time.....And they like you have lives. The industry as a whole does not pay what they are worth....It doesn't matter if you are commuter pilot of a major airline pilot.....They deserve better duty rigs and better pay.....For that matter so do the flight attendants!!!!
As the statement was made in the show " caught between the industry with the money and the FAA who wont respond" I could not have said it better!!!

Surgeons deprived of some decent sleep soo tired on the Job and now Pilots as well?
Hmmm? Hope I make it on my next flight. Tking that it is Malaysian Airlines I should be ok.

If the new dot laws are put into effect this will happen to alot of truckdrivers also. Only 8 hours of rest in between shifts. What happens if I drive 1 hour too and 1 hour from work, then I have only 6 hours to rest. Wake up and voice your opinion on this.

I am so sick and tired of reading all these articles that are trying to get sympathy for pilots.

All pilots have to start at the bottom and work their way up. Pilots know that when they enter the industry, they're going to have to first work at a commuter airline and make low wages. All the pay scales for commuter pilots are public knowledge so no one can say they didn't know how much they were going to get paid when taking that job. If you cannot make things work in your life for the first few years at these wages, then do not go into the industry.

Once a pilot starts working for a major airline, they start getting paid well. I have been in the industry myself for a long time now. I know many pilots personally. They are some of the cheapest people I have ever known. No pilot working for a major carrier has any excuse that they cannot get a nice place to sleep for the night. They can easily afford it but they are cheap, plain and simple. I've seen pilots working for major carriers complain about having to tip shuttle drivers $1.

Another point is why are pilots the only ones that get sympathy for being tired and over-worked? There are millions of people in America that are tired, over-worked, and under-paid. Why does no one care about them? Perhaps you're going to tell me it's because other people aren't responsible for the lives of many like pilots are. Well what about bus drivers for city transportation or Greyhound? They are responsible for many people's lives just like pilots are. I guarantee you many of these drivers are tired, over-worked, and under-paid too.

Why don't they have and enforce a policy for how many hours a pilot can fly before they have to have at least 10-12 hours off before they can fly again? If a pilot could only fly for 8-10 hours max and then had to be off for at least 10 hours they wouldn't be falling asleep in the sky like that. Something needs to be done about sleep deprived pilots in order to keep the passengers and crew safe while flying.

Ladies & Gentlemen,
Please let consider the reality of the situation. I can speak with some experience you see because I am a Flight Attendant.
Do you realize that under current regulations a pilot and flight attendant may only have a 9 hour and 15 minute overnight. You may say that seems like plenty of time to sleep. Well consider that the 9 hr 15 min may begin from the time the aircraft door opens at the final destination for that day until the door closes for the next take off the next day.....now lets minus the time it takes to deplane passengers, the time it takes to get the hotel van (assuming of course that the van is there to pick up the crew on time), getting your room keys, getting into room, getting ready for bed, then unwinding and going to sleep......Now this is under the perfect conditions that you would only be down now to an 8 hr or 7 hr 45 min night. NOW God forbid you have the van that has to swing back around to pick up another crew that just arrived or you are at an airport where the van has to stop at multiple Terminals, or that you get the room next to the elevator or Ice machine. Lets also consider the possibility that your flight attendants and/or pilots are on reserve.....this means that they DO NOT have a set monthly schedule. This means they may be given a trip that reports for duty at 4:45 am today and a trip that reports at 10 pm another day.....Ask your self "Do you sleep well if you DO NOT have a set schedule?"
Lets also consider that you may work a 14 hour duty day but that the airlines can push you up to a 15 hour duty day with a lovely little 9 hr !5 min overnight!!!! Please note that duty time is the time your Airplane is scheduled to take off on the first leg of the day till it lands and opens the doors on the last leg of the day. Now hard time is the time you are actually in flight.
Also please think about the fact that we can work (at my Co.) up to 6 legs a day......Now when you consider that please think about that water bottle in your seat back pocket.....Do you see the way it expands an contracts during flight....HELLO PEOPLE!!!! Do you not think that that is what your organs are doing (hence the term "JET LAG").....You do 4 to 6 legs a day and see how you feel.......And just think as a passenger your just sitting back in an uncomfortable seat......What if you are a pilot with 200 to 800 Peoples lives in your hands each day at work, or a flight attendant who has to deal with people Physically, emotionally and mentally everyday at work......AND G-forces well we won't even get into that......
Their really needs to be more respect and consideration for these professionals ( both Pilots and Flight Attendants. You deal with 200 to 800 personalities (most of which are not in a positive mood due to the stresses of travel) each day in your job with poor sleep and see how you feel......Trust me it wears on the body physically and mentally!!
Legalities need to be examined, company practices in relationship to the legalities need to be closely watched!!!! After All YOU ONLY GET AS GOOD AS YOU DEMAND......When it comes to the safety of passengers and crews LETS DEMAND THE SAFEST Trasportation!!!

Sincerely A Concerned Flight Attendant