PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Fatigue & journo asking for info
View Single Post
Old 13th Jun 2009, 07:41
  #61 (permalink)  
Wingswinger
 
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Hampshire physically; Perthshire and Pembrokeshire mentally.
Posts: 1,611
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
To my knowledge, in the company I work for 4 pilots have crashed their cars due to falling asleep at the wheel while driving home. One other went off the road when he had a micro-sleep while DRIVING TO WORK. He was on the last day of a particularly taxing series of duties. He sat dazed in his car and called crewing to say he didn't think he would fly that day.

The company I work for uses simulator slots between 2300 and 0500 local time. Leave aside for a moment the stupidity of trying to train people in the dead of night. The simulator is deemed to be located at a major base of the company I work for. It isn't. It's 20 miles away. Pilots who are "out of base" for the simulator detail are given hotel rooms but pilots who are not "out of base" are not, regardless of the distance they commute (plus an additional 40 miles round trip if they live the wrong side) . The managers responsible say they know they have a duty of care but they will not provide a room at the company's expense to mitigate the fatiguing effects of such duty hours. If one wishes to stay safe while driving it's at one's own expense. For those from other bases, it isn't. Wrong.

On the plus side, when I have called in fatigued, I fill in a form and that's it. No call for a chat without coffee.
Wingswinger is offline