Yeah, look, don't have a go at the planners or the rosterers - they are just doing what they are told.
It is the bosses and the system that is wrong. And these are driven by "market forces", (in other words, making as much profit as possible).
Why don't we complain about fatigue? Well we do, but the system is geared up against us. They might look into a fatigue report, but we cannot have a national or pan-European pilot's strike because the law prohibits it. So we are in a situation that we know is not right, but we cannot do much about it. The system is skewed to save money by having as few pilots and cabin crew as they can get away with. This means we are rostered up to the max and we are getting tired. As has been said, why are truck drivers mandated to stop after 4.5 hours (and have to prove it with their tachograph), and why must ATC have regular breaks? because everyone knows that the human brain cannot concentrate reliably for more than a few hours without having regular breaks.
But it's not necessarily fatigue. How on earth did a BA jet get airborne with both its engine cowls undone? About five different people (including the pilots) missed the fact they were unlatched. That was probably not fatigue as such, but sheer pressure of work.
In addition to this, flight crews spend a lot of their time in a dry atmosphere at 8,000' altitude. Any program one sees of mountain climbers can appreciate how much strain that puts on the human body. 1 hour at 8,000' is probably equivalent to 2 or more hours at ground level.
Pilots and cabin crew have slipped through the net. But in the old days, a crew might fly LGW to PMI then get off and night stop ! Now somehow, that has become LGW-PMI-LGW and do it all again for the next 5 days, starting at Oh dark o'clock, thank you very much.
The CAA seems to have completely missed the change in our situation. They come and sit on our jump seat for one afternoon on two short sectors and have a nice day, soaking up some of the "glamour", and drinking coffee. What we really need to happen is for the CAA to spend a couple of weeks sitting on the jump seat doing low cost short haul rosters - getting up at 0330 every day for 6 days doing four sector days, and another couple of weeks doing long haul bullets. Then let them say to us what they think of the hours we work and the lack of breaks we have.
The CAA in Gatwick work office hours in lovely offices. They get up at sensible times and go home at sensible times. They have regular rosters - they have weekends off. They have a lovely (subsidised) canteen with wholesome food, and lovely quiet surroundings. I do not begrudge them any of this, but I wish they would realise that our jobs are not like they used to be, and that in todays low cost environment; flight crews now need more protection, not less.
Last edited by Uplinker; 11th Nov 2013 at 13:24.