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FAA to check overweight pilots for restful sleep
FAA's concerns that overweight pilots or controllers could lose sleep that could hurt their performance at work. (www.usatoday.com) 기타...
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Total, unnecessary, BS. Like they don't have anything better to do.IMHO
When safety in aviation gets down to the numbers we see in much of the developed world, the low handing fruit to increase safety is in eliminating causes for pilot fatigue.
I can see within a generation that pilots are tested for fatigue when they show up for duty and/or at the start of each flight segment. (when the diagnostic technology gets mature). There are already lots of biometric devices in widespread use (eg. fitbits). It's only a matter of time for us to better understand rest and fatigue, and be better able to tease out status of individuals' tiredness from their biometrics.
I can see within a generation that pilots are tested for fatigue when they show up for duty and/or at the start of each flight segment. (when the diagnostic technology gets mature). There are already lots of biometric devices in widespread use (eg. fitbits). It's only a matter of time for us to better understand rest and fatigue, and be better able to tease out status of individuals' tiredness from their biometrics.
Rest and fatigue are pretty well understood now but people just tend to look at total hours off and on and not what a person has gone through previously. The data is there but nobody will pay any attention to it. The extra hour is nice but what about all the cargo jockeys that did not get it on account of the $. Until people quit looking at the bottom line and start looking at good detail on what it costs to get there, things won't ever change
There may be required rest hours. But there are pilots who commute to work from a city other than where they are based or other than where their trip begins. This commute often can be on a red eye that gets in the morning of their trip, which may impact both the quantity and quality of the pilot's sleep before they show up to work.
There may be a difference between pilots in the amount of sleep they need. But let's not take invincible cowboy pilots' word for it. Test the mental acuity of each pilot at different states of rest and know for sure.
I can invision a time, when a short mental acuity exercise may be as important or more important than hours of sleep and/or hours off (which may or may not result in sleep).
You can now measure hours of sleep with cheap of the shelf technology. Passengers deserve to have a pilot that has slept, and is ready to handle whatever emergency may appear on that day.
There may be a difference between pilots in the amount of sleep they need. But let's not take invincible cowboy pilots' word for it. Test the mental acuity of each pilot at different states of rest and know for sure.
I can invision a time, when a short mental acuity exercise may be as important or more important than hours of sleep and/or hours off (which may or may not result in sleep).
You can now measure hours of sleep with cheap of the shelf technology. Passengers deserve to have a pilot that has slept, and is ready to handle whatever emergency may appear on that day.
Yeah, that DH is a big part of it. Ain't nothing like sleeping in your own bed and getting up and going to work.
Testing for mental acuity may change the practice of deadheading. Those pilots who show a decrease in mental acuity (prob. most pilots) by taking the redeye to work, ould hav ti change that practice. All pilots should be paid enough that they can afford to live on whatever city they at based or can afford a hotel room the night before they pilot commercial aircraft (so they can commute in the day before and get a full night's sleep).
Pilots partying till 3am also is not conducive to good mental acuity. Those that can't miss half a night of sleep without impacting their duty mental acuity test would also change that behavior.
The point is that insufficient sleep whole on layover between two or more days on duty is not the only reason pilots show up unfit for duty.
Let's do what we can to make sure every pilot is fit to command an aircraft filled with passengers every time they show up to do so. Being on their game and having the metal acuity to get out of an unexpected mess is part of the job responsibility. Every passenger deserves a competent and an awake pilot.
Pilots partying till 3am also is not conducive to good mental acuity. Those that can't miss half a night of sleep without impacting their duty mental acuity test would also change that behavior.
The point is that insufficient sleep whole on layover between two or more days on duty is not the only reason pilots show up unfit for duty.
Let's do what we can to make sure every pilot is fit to command an aircraft filled with passengers every time they show up to do so. Being on their game and having the metal acuity to get out of an unexpected mess is part of the job responsibility. Every passenger deserves a competent and an awake pilot.
While there is some red eye, there is a lot of crash pad too. That is some better but not much, in my opinion. However, in regard to the partying, I have seen crews come in, have the required layover time and skewer part of it by staying up for whatever reason, so who knows.
Yeah, I've seen some of these crash pads. They make college dorms look like a luxury.
Rather than regulating every possible sleep-depriving situation/ behavior, simply testing for mental acuity takes care of them all in a simpler and more effective way.
You could use fitbits today to measure sleep in advance of showing up fir duty. Short of mandatory reporting by a regulator, airlines would have to negotiate such testing in collective bargaining. But individual pilots xan use their own fitbit device to make sure they've gotten the sleep they need to be mentally prepared to do their job.
Rather than regulating every possible sleep-depriving situation/ behavior, simply testing for mental acuity takes care of them all in a simpler and more effective way.
You could use fitbits today to measure sleep in advance of showing up fir duty. Short of mandatory reporting by a regulator, airlines would have to negotiate such testing in collective bargaining. But individual pilots xan use their own fitbit device to make sure they've gotten the sleep they need to be mentally prepared to do their job.
You know, a decent Motel room probably would not be that big a deal for a big iron line dawg. The RJ pilots are where it would hurt; the ones who could afford it the least.
They're the ones I'm thinking about when I say should be able to 'afford' a good night's rest before their work day.
Those crash pads often aren't any better than a hostel, just populated with fligt crew. Often they don't provide te best sleeping environment either. Loud snoring will keep many from sleep, even if the others are also working in aviation.
Those crash pads often aren't any better than a hostel, just populated with fligt crew. Often they don't provide te best sleeping environment either. Loud snoring will keep many from sleep, even if the others are also working in aviation.
