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This is Your Captain Sleeping..... Will the New FAA rest rules make a difference?
Patrick Smith's (hey that's me) ASK THE PILOT column takes a look at the new flight/duty time rules... An excerpt: "...Perhaps the most important change is the one stipulating that pilots must now receive a minimum 10-hour rest period between assignments (i.e., workdays), with an opportunity for at least eight hours of uninterrupted sleep. Until now, not only have rest periods been reduceable to as few as eight hours, the very definition of “rest” itself has failed to account for… (www.salon.com) More...
1 - the new rules are better than nothing.
2 - 10 'rest' hours might not be enough.
3 - beats working a regular job for 40-50 hours per week for 10 years before you are making the same +100K per year, and even then you don't get to work just 4 days on with 5 days off.
2 - 10 'rest' hours might not be enough.
3 - beats working a regular job for 40-50 hours per week for 10 years before you are making the same +100K per year, and even then you don't get to work just 4 days on with 5 days off.
The fact that these rules don't pertain to cargo pilots is bogus, and they extended the flight hours for pilots instead of flying 8 hours they can now fly 9, which means that instead of having a relief pilot on your flight to europe it will just be two pilots trying to stay awake for 9 hours on a flight on the backside of the clock. Where do you get that pilots make 100k a year? Some do for sure, but my husband has been with the airlines for 11 years and hasn't made that yet. He also doens't get 5 days off in a row unless he has vacation...
Well as usual the freight world has been left out. Sad to see the same old "who cares it a frieghter" attitude still applies. When its the freighters that really could use better rest due to the oddities of irradic schedules.
Even though I'm not a pilot, I think it's alot like Driving a car with no sleep
only worse because you can't just pull over to the side of the road and rest.
only worse because you can't just pull over to the side of the road and rest.
Irregular hours and lack of daylight exposure play a role in brain rest and alertness. Many of the parameters are altered with age with the two ends of the spectrum requiring more sleep than those in the middle...unfortunately I am on the wrong end of the curve.
Changes are likely to be incremental, but the important part is that they will be made on the basis of physiology not purely economic criteria. Ultimately we will see individualized analysis of sleep patterns as part of aircrew medicals.