Originally Posted by
krismiler
ULH is making Emirates B777 Pilots leave in droves, they can only stand it for so long. Most Pilots who have been doing LH for many years look at least 10 years older than their actual age and will probably be dead in their late 60s. Having a successful career and getting a wide body command at an early age can be very bad for your health. At least the QF Pilots live at home and are protected by employment legislation and unions, unlike the EK crews
The health implications of ULH need investigating in greater depth, this would undoubtedly result in recommendations for strict cut backs well below current limitations, possibly even only allowing a few years of ULH flying. This might not suit the Pacific Barons or the company but other occupations with a toxic or dangerous environment are heavily regulated.
Agree with the last paragraph. Night flying alone and the resultant lack of sleep is a massive contributing factor to poor health. Add jet lag and flying to that and the problem is worse. Crew rest sleep is at best 3 hours if your lucky on a ULR sector as you won’t sleep both breaks. QF had protections to limit the effects of unhealthy night flying. It was called night credits and limited the flying you could do if scheduled at night. That was traded away by a union president which subsequently went on to represent Qantas in EBA negotiations. What a coincidence!
But the negotiating team fails to understand the significance and most pilots haven’t seen or comprehend how it will effect them.
The issue is not the unions access to the data.
Its that sunrise proposes close to 23 hour tours of duty in case of LHR direct.
Studying shorter sectors like LA or SFO isn’t close to what is being proposed.
Unless it’s identical it’s scientifically invalid.
Its neither as long, does not depart at the same time of day nor has the same time zone shift.
Plus you need to look at a crew member who’s potentially older, how many similar trips has he/she flown in a roster? What does the data say after a few years of doing that?
vast difference in doing such patterns depending on age.