Power Ranger and gang: Just because Captains have defined, but limited authority over their planes (except in an emergency), does not imply that we, or the First Officers or Flt. Engineers, can often, or on a regular basis, just call our Crew Schedulers on impulse and say "I'm pretty tired due to the jerks in the next room last night, whose noise preceded our 11 "continuous duty" hours ago, and need to leave after the next landing for a hotel room-if no other pilots can substitute, that's too bad").
It is not that easy. Only naiive laymen believe that we are more than "liabilities on a financial balance sheet". With many large companies we are viewed as a labor commodity, pure and simple, no matter how shiny our gold or white stripes. The "Naval Officer" image is merely a facade for the publics' peace of mind.
Anyone who thinks that fatigue can always be quantified/qualified or that counting on sympathy from one's employer is a simple matter, has never done this job and therefore has no job experience whatsoever which can bolster any (academic) claim that refusing to continue with a flight duty period is a simple decision to make. Only a civilian or military line pilot, in contrast with those who observe the business from outside the cockpit, understands the reality of business revenue, or "hacking the mission". One of my FOs once stayed on continuous duty as Learjet Captain for 30 hours (Connie Kallita cargo ops), without a rest break, because no relief Captains were available at certain cargo stops, and he felt that he could push himself, in order to move the freight.
There are those who do this job and those who don't: these two categories are totally separate from each other. Riding on jumpseats or flying actual simulators are clearly no substitute. Anyone with a little extra cash can buy some computer games and fly simulated combat missions or delude themselves also into thinking that they can easily comprehend the reality outside their windows. Considering changing traffic, fuel, weather decisions based on very limited information while flying a Shorts 360/F-27/B-737/DC-9... In good or bad weather with various, changing combinations of systems problems, changing braking action, winds with various levels of caffeine and blood sugar, can quickly endanger your career if you (or the Dispatcher or ATC) figure something wrong, which nobody notices and corrects, or you slide off a runway, or you bypass one questionable airport in favor of a more distant suitable airport (ie "why was it not suitable?") due to a possible pax heart attack, in which the passenger soon dies or is crippled from a massive stroke. "Why couldn't you begin an approach for an almost max crosswind landing on a wet runway after an NDB approach with no VASI etc?"
Any attorney can find fault with any decision we make, based on interpretation of compliance or "willful disregard of...some tiny obscure regulation buried within a stack of books and manuals"
1) Let's see the non-cockpit "aviation experts", who are so often lionized by the media, go fly their simulators in real conditions with real systems, with partially blocked radio calls.
2) When the airlines recall the furloughed pilots who now or will soon have no more paycheck and then begin hiring, these "experts" are welcome to submit a resume/CV and application form for a Flight Officer position. Maybe enough time on a cable or sattelite tv (telly) remote control device will somehow add to one's pilot "instrument time".
My company is an "equal opportunity employer". Welcome aboard.
[ 21 December 2001: Message edited by: Ignition Override ]
[ 21 December 2001: Message edited by: Ignition Override ]</p>