80% of pilots admit flying while too tired
 

EIGHTY per cent of airline pilots flying within the UK and Europe admit to suffering tiredness that impairs their judgment, a disturbing new study has revealed.

Here's the story...


Comments anyone?
Best,
PE

"He said: "This is a shocking finding. If you make a mistake at 30,000ft it is a little bit different from a worker who has not got several hundred people's lives in their hands."

A bit simplistic! Such a mistake would not immediately be fatal! How does this 'overtired pilot' get home? Probably driving his own car in which 1/10th of a second of inattention could kill him! Driving tired is more immediately dangerous than flying tired, with 2 people in the cockpit checking each other IMHO. That said the findings don't make pleasant reading.

the only real surprise is that its only 80%!

Whatever.:mad:

I can only surmise that the other 20% are telling porkies !

Which is why I sleep in the cruise!!!:ok:

The other 20% were asleep at time of survey, so couldn't be pressed for an answer.

100% of the people writing this post have certainly experienced it.

Interesting figure, I'd be interested to see the figures for non airline operators , police or ems operators for example. They use for the most part single pilot machines with crews moving from day to night shifts and back again frequently, greater risk to aircraft, crew and bystander there I think than in a multi crew machine at altitude.....

mb, the fear adrenaline probably keeps em from crashing...

That's why it's 80%, the other 20% are micro napping in the hold and can't remember! Now, where was I???

It's most airline's rostering policy these days! With the LoCo's using FTLs ad a guidline rather than an absolute maximum - what do people expect! A bit of a non-news story for us pilots perhaps, but how aware are the travelling public of the problem?

Having previously flown for the Police for a few years, in my experience it wasn't such a huge problem. "Captain's Discretion" was relatively infrequently used because of the knock-on effect on rostering. It was strictly controlled by the terms of the Police Air Ops Manual.

On the other hand, I'm now in a different job. I am another of those pilots who, having realised I was too tired to continue to drive home because of extremely long duty hours. I have pulled off the road for a quick ten minute zizz on quite a few occasions. Once I was awakened by my wife ringing me at 01:00 hrs, asking where the hell I was. I was freezing cold in my car in a layby, having slept for about three hours. Trouble was, I was supposed to be back on shift at 06.30!

As a licensed certifying Engineer I have regularly had to work and certify after working shifts of 24 hrs or more how I ever managed it I will never know! certainly was not pleasant and something I will never do again takes days to recover, I hope this practise is now defunct within the airline Industry but somehow I doubt it!!!

It is said that the 'working time regulation' within the aviation industrie will become mandatory, rather than optional....

BUT, they still don't really understand the industrie as it is...

Many people HAVE to work SO MUCH overtime to live.....

As it is.. It doesn't recognise the differece between living five mins from an airfield and an hour or two away....

We are limited to where our work can comence..... And where we live.....

Regulation is needed yes, but in the right proportions.....

WTR is a good idea ONLY if people ar paid enough to live on within these restrictions......

Regards.....

A ground handlers perspective......

Flying for an executive operator, I should admit that overduties report and tiredness is very usual. But please do not complain, the door is here and you know, be happy to have a job!

Have a safe nap euh flight today:zzz:

i first heard this as a joke but rings scarily true

"I wan to die peacfully in my sleep like my father, not screaming in terror like his pax":sad:

If an operator want take the risk to be out of businees by having tired pilots resulting to a crash, that's his business...

If I had my company, i would take care of my pilots...