>>What is the practise in other airlines with regards to crew rest on board? <<
In the U.S., it's a red flag issue with the major airlines, not so big with the freight dogs.
A Delta crew diverted to Portland, Oregon in 1999 on a ATL-NRT flight due to inadequate crew rest facilities on an MD-11. Most airline contracts mandate at least a business class seat for crew rest or scheduled deadhead travel. At the other end of the spectrum, cargo pilots sometimes deadhead for hours in a cockpit jumpseat on duty.
Here's an account of the Delta divert to PDX:
Delta pilots say new sleeping quarters are a nightmare
By Russ Bynum, Associated Press writer
ATLANTA -- A Delta Air Lines pilot cut short an Atlanta-to-Tokyo flight this month, saying the plane's redesigned sleeping quarters for his crew were so cramped and noisy that they'd never get enough rest to complete the flight safely.
The incident, involving 30-year veteran Capt. Roscoe McMillan, was the culmination of a months-long fight between pilots and Delta, which had shrunk the sleeping space on some long-haul planes to make more room for higher-paying business class passengers.
Pilots call the tube-like bunks "the coffin." Their union, the Air Line Pilots Association, has filed a grievance with the company.
"It's small. It lacks adequate privacy considerations and it's in a noisy area where the activities of the cabin and the cockpit make it difficult, if not impossible, to get sleep," said Capt. Andy Deane, spokesman for the Air Line Pilots Association. "Simply being horizontal is not enough."
Delta says the bunks are safe and approved by the Federal Aviation Administration. The airline has questioned McMillan and his three-member crew and the pilots' union fears he could be fired if the airline decides he acted out of rebellion rather than safety concerns.
The aborted flight was disclosed in a report in The Wall Street Journal yesterday. It happened on April 7 when McMillan landed the plane in Portland, Ore., four hours into a 14-hour trip.
Delta spokesman Bill Berry said Thursday he didn't know precisely what McMillan told the passengers, but they were aware the flight was being ended because of a "crew rest" issue. They were angered because they were forced to wait for another flight to Japan. It was the first time the bunk bed battle disrupted any flights.
"The pilots said they had tried to use the sleep module and were unable to get to sleep because of outside noise. The captain, because of that, made his decision," Berry said. "He felt that his crew could not be sufficiently rested to complete the flight."
Berry wouldn't say if Delta is considering sanctioning the pilot, who is just 11 months away from retirement.
"Probably the issue that the company is looking at ... is tied to a suspicion on their part that this was an act perhaps of premeditation or he was doing this as a gesture of defiance over the rest facility. That is not true," said union spokesman Deane.
McMillan declined to comment when contacted at home yesterday.
The FAA requires airlines to provide onboard sleeping quarters for pilots on flights of 12 hours or more. A crew of four -- two pilots, two co-pilots -- take turns at the controls.
The only Delta flights exceeding 12 hours are nonstop from Atlanta to Tokyo. Three Delta MD-11s are equipped with the bunks.
Until this year, crew members used walled-off sleeping quarters -- pilots called them "the condo" -- located in the middle of the business-class section. At nearly seven-feet tall and five-feet wide, it was spacious enough for changing clothes and far enough from the cockpit area's noisy hubbub.
The new bunks are located between the cockpit and the business class area and include a two-inch thick curtain to keep out noise. Pilots have to assemble the bunks in front of the passengers, pulling them out from the wall in telescoping sections. That can be embarrassing for crew members fumbling with the pieces for the first time, said Delta First Officer Winford Speakman, who co-pilots MD-11s.
"It doesn't instill a lot of confidence in some of our passengers," he said.
The bunks are 30 inches wide at the shoulders and close to 7-feet-long.
"You enter from the top and you literally have to tuck your knees up and insert your legs down into the tube," said Deane.
Crew members can hear the cockpit door opening and closing, toilets flushing from the lavatory at the foot of the bunk, and chatter from passengers who sometimes stand and lean against the sleeping quarters, Speakman said. Flight attendants sometimes bump into them with their serving carts.
"Anytime you have a very loud, overriding noise it's almost like a shock to you," Speakman said. "All of a sudden you get a very loud thump or a bang. As a pilot, we're trained to listen to these things that are out of the ordinary. It will absolutely wake you up in a flash."
Delta spokesman Berry said the captain can ask flight attendants to keep noise levels down when people are trying to sleep.
"You can do your best to create a facility that it conducive to sleep," Berry said. "It's FAA approved. It's the largest of its type of units used by other airlines."
Berry said Delta is looking into making improvements to the sleeping quarters, such as giving crew members a bit more elbow room.
http://www.s-t.com/daily/04-99/04-16-99/a02bu012.htm