3:12 AM
- Thread starter Texguy
- Start date
Had a 0530 push with a 0410 pickup time at the hotel.
I don't know how everyone else does it, but my body clock is absolutely broken so if I tell myself to get to bed about 2030, I start yawning and getting tired about 2015.
I was just in Mobile and the flight attendants went into the terminal to purchase food. They came back with breakfast and my reaction was "Gee, do they have breakfast all day here in Mobile?" and I looked at my watch and it was about 1015 or so.
I've been up since 0230 PHX time and when I get home today, I'll still probably stay up until well after midnight. Sometimes I can go about 28 hours without sleep, get about 5 hours of sleep and be fine.
Another reason why I'll probably drop over dead at 55!
I have the body clock of a mall goth.
I don't know how everyone else does it, but my body clock is absolutely broken so if I tell myself to get to bed about 2030, I start yawning and getting tired about 2015.
I was just in Mobile and the flight attendants went into the terminal to purchase food. They came back with breakfast and my reaction was "Gee, do they have breakfast all day here in Mobile?" and I looked at my watch and it was about 1015 or so.
I've been up since 0230 PHX time and when I get home today, I'll still probably stay up until well after midnight. Sometimes I can go about 28 hours without sleep, get about 5 hours of sleep and be fine.
Another reason why I'll probably drop over dead at 55!
DE727UPS
Well-Known Member
Now THAT's a good question. Our company expects you to be fully rested before showing up for duty and able to go to the FAR max. The problem is, and one they don't address, is that you'd have to make yourself go to sleep at 8pm one night and later in the week at 8am. It's friggen humanly impossible...at least for this human. The whole body clock thing is a huge problem with airline scheduling and one that the FAA doesn't care to address. 7-8 hours of sleep recommended by one part of the government? FAA rest rules by another? Maybe they need to start talking to each other.
Texguy
New Member
[ QUOTE ]
I have the body clock of a mall goth.
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LOL. I know these crazy schedules are just part of the job. I'm often not sleepy when I should be, so I take melatonin a lot to make me drowsy. It's cheap and doesn't have any side effects, although I doubt it could make me fall asleep at 8 PM. For that I'd probably need some prescription sleeping pills...one more thing to get addicted to.
Oh, and another thing...I'm one of those guys who is a bear until I've had my morning coffee. I love the timer function on my coffeemaker. If I were an airline pilot I'm sure I'd be packing Red Bulls or Starbucks Double Shots.
I have the body clock of a mall goth.
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LOL. I know these crazy schedules are just part of the job. I'm often not sleepy when I should be, so I take melatonin a lot to make me drowsy. It's cheap and doesn't have any side effects, although I doubt it could make me fall asleep at 8 PM. For that I'd probably need some prescription sleeping pills...one more thing to get addicted to.
Oh, and another thing...I'm one of those guys who is a bear until I've had my morning coffee. I love the timer function on my coffeemaker. If I were an airline pilot I'm sure I'd be packing Red Bulls or Starbucks Double Shots.
Bog
New Member
"Sweet Tea, The Crack Of The South."
I've had to awaken at 3am twice this bid. That sucks, especially when you're staring at a 13-hour duty day when you finally get to work.
We won't even talk about last Friday when I spent 11+ hours in GSP waiting for a plane to get fixed, just to hit the hotel for 5 hours of sleep and ferry back to BNA first thing Saturday a.m.
The glamour days are gone. Well, at my company anyway. Probably never existed here, either.
I've had to awaken at 3am twice this bid. That sucks, especially when you're staring at a 13-hour duty day when you finally get to work.
We won't even talk about last Friday when I spent 11+ hours in GSP waiting for a plane to get fixed, just to hit the hotel for 5 hours of sleep and ferry back to BNA first thing Saturday a.m.
The glamour days are gone. Well, at my company anyway. Probably never existed here, either.
Bah, getting up at 3 am? That's nothin'
Try the fatigue of getting up at 9pm, 12am, 3am, 6am, then up for the day with the toddler at 7am. Repeat every day for 7 1/2 weeks.
I'd kill for the days of my beautiful all-nighter transcons followed by a cab ride to LGA, then a 2 leg commute & a 40 minute drive home. I thought that was tiring, at least I got to crash for the day when I finally did make it home.
Try the fatigue of getting up at 9pm, 12am, 3am, 6am, then up for the day with the toddler at 7am. Repeat every day for 7 1/2 weeks.
I'd kill for the days of my beautiful all-nighter transcons followed by a cab ride to LGA, then a 2 leg commute & a 40 minute drive home. I thought that was tiring, at least I got to crash for the day when I finally did make it home.
Nick
Well-Known Member
I went to Anchorage this past weekend. My route back was depart ANC at 4:30PM CDT (2:30PM Anchorage time) to LAX and depart there on a 757 redeye flight to MSP at 2:40AM CDT. We landed at 5:40AM and then I went to work, and to sleep last night at 10:30PM. That is my personal record for hours consecutively awake, at just over 37 hours.
I was talking to both 747-200F cargo crews to and from ANC (I flew up there from JFK at 3:00AM on Friday) about the schedule. One thing that absolutely must end are the double leg transpacific redeye flights. NWA Cargo started them about two months ago, they said, and it is a very, very bad idea. The schedule would be somelike like:
Day 1 at Noon: Depart ANC for NRT and continue to TPE. Duty day of about 12-14 hours. Not too bad since it's daytime for most of the ANC time zone.
Day 2 at 8:00PM ANC time: Start being on duty in TPE, fly up to NRT, change airplanes, and takeoff for ANC finally arriving at around 7:00AM. By the time the landing happens, the crews have often been awake for 24 hours because it is not easy to get quality rest before that 8:00PM duty time start, since the hotel pickup would probably be 7:00PM or so, and wake up to shower, get dressed, etc. would make that even earlier.
I certainly do not understand why someone who lives in the Dallas area would commute to ANC to be an SO on that airplane! Not when MSP, MEM, and DTW are around. I say that because the SO on my flight up from JFK commutes to ANC from DFW. The CA from SEA, and the FO lives near ANC. On the way back, the CA was from SoCal, so he got to at least spend the night at LAX at home. The FO was from PDX, and the SO from SEA.
I think I'd like the European international flying a lot more. However, 4-pilot augmented crew like in the 747-400 might not be so bad because even if you are junior and get the "bad" half of the flight off, you're still off duty for half the flight. The 747-200 crews get NO BREAK.
It's legal, so it must be okay.
I was talking to both 747-200F cargo crews to and from ANC (I flew up there from JFK at 3:00AM on Friday) about the schedule. One thing that absolutely must end are the double leg transpacific redeye flights. NWA Cargo started them about two months ago, they said, and it is a very, very bad idea. The schedule would be somelike like:
Day 1 at Noon: Depart ANC for NRT and continue to TPE. Duty day of about 12-14 hours. Not too bad since it's daytime for most of the ANC time zone.
Day 2 at 8:00PM ANC time: Start being on duty in TPE, fly up to NRT, change airplanes, and takeoff for ANC finally arriving at around 7:00AM. By the time the landing happens, the crews have often been awake for 24 hours because it is not easy to get quality rest before that 8:00PM duty time start, since the hotel pickup would probably be 7:00PM or so, and wake up to shower, get dressed, etc. would make that even earlier.
I certainly do not understand why someone who lives in the Dallas area would commute to ANC to be an SO on that airplane! Not when MSP, MEM, and DTW are around. I say that because the SO on my flight up from JFK commutes to ANC from DFW. The CA from SEA, and the FO lives near ANC. On the way back, the CA was from SoCal, so he got to at least spend the night at LAX at home. The FO was from PDX, and the SO from SEA.
I think I'd like the European international flying a lot more. However, 4-pilot augmented crew like in the 747-400 might not be so bad because even if you are junior and get the "bad" half of the flight off, you're still off duty for half the flight. The 747-200 crews get NO BREAK.
It's legal, so it must be okay.
Screaming_Emu
Joe Conventional
I forget where I heard this, but i think I heard that NW did a study and the guys that fly the 747 to and from asia usually dont live very long after they retire. It takes me a long time to fix my sleep schedule whenever I fly out there as a passenger, can't imagine what its like when you have to stay awake the whole flight AND do it often. That's still my dream job though. If it shaves 15 years of my life I still think it would be worth it...at least I say that now, we'll see if my story changes when I finally get to do it.
Probably true. I always look at the "death wall" down in the pilot lounge and low and behold, there's a lot of guys that expire before their 70th birthday.
Primarily one of the reasons the "I wanna fly until 67!" people crack me up. My first though is, "Hopefully you're flying an Airbus so you don't have a yoke to slam forward when you slump over dead!"
I know it's morbid, but we don't really last all that long for a variety of reasons. Stress, solar radiation, screwed up sleep cycles, poor diet, beer, hot wings.
Primarily one of the reasons the "I wanna fly until 67!" people crack me up. My first though is, "Hopefully you're flying an Airbus so you don't have a yoke to slam forward when you slump over dead!"
I know it's morbid, but we don't really last all that long for a variety of reasons. Stress, solar radiation, screwed up sleep cycles, poor diet, beer, hot wings.
FlyChicaga
Vintage Restoration
But the question is, would you rather die knowing you made the best of life, traveled, met some interesting people, ate and drank yourself silly, and know what it's like in some cities at 4 am on the frontside and backside of the clock.
I dunno, but I guess I'm more the type that figures we could die any minute on this planet. I'm going to try and enjoy it all. Too many people work their asses off for their whole lives, trying to make as much as possible for retirement, then die three years into it from boredom.
I think exercise helps too.
Rum helps more.
I dunno, but I guess I'm more the type that figures we could die any minute on this planet. I'm going to try and enjoy it all. Too many people work their asses off for their whole lives, trying to make as much as possible for retirement, then die three years into it from boredom.
I think exercise helps too.
Screaming_Emu
Joe Conventional
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beer, hot wings.
[/ QUOTE ]
but those two things make it oh so worth it.
beer, hot wings.
[/ QUOTE ]
but those two things make it oh so worth it.
Screaming_Emu
Joe Conventional
[ QUOTE ]
But the question is, would you rather die knowing you made the best of life, traveled, met some interesting people, ate and drank yourself silly, and know what it's like in some cities at 4 am on the frontside and backside of the clock.
I dunno, but I guess I'm more the type that figures we could die any minute on this planet. I'm going to try and enjoy it all. Too many people work their asses off for their whole lives, trying to make as much as possible for retirement, then die three years into it from boredom.
I think exercise helps too.
Rum helps more.
[/ QUOTE ]
I agree 300%. Quality, not quantity.
But the question is, would you rather die knowing you made the best of life, traveled, met some interesting people, ate and drank yourself silly, and know what it's like in some cities at 4 am on the frontside and backside of the clock.
I dunno, but I guess I'm more the type that figures we could die any minute on this planet. I'm going to try and enjoy it all. Too many people work their asses off for their whole lives, trying to make as much as possible for retirement, then die three years into it from boredom.
I think exercise helps too.
[/ QUOTE ]
I agree 300%. Quality, not quantity.
FlyChicaga
Vintage Restoration
Now you see why I am ready to take on Vegas by the horns and ride it like a bull in 2005. You only live once!!!
No insult Amber. If you and Bill were only 10 yrs younger with 2 less kids, I'm sure we'd set fire to Chicago.
No insult Amber. If you and Bill were only 10 yrs younger with 2 less kids, I'm sure we'd set fire to Chicago.
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No insult Amber. If you and Bill were only 10 yrs younger with 2 less kids, I'm sure we'd set fire to Chicago.
[/ QUOTE ]
Hey now, just we're old doesn't mean we're no fun! There's just opportunity to do so. We'll have to get together while my mom is in town to watch the kids. We can still whoop it up with the best of them. Besides if I were 10 years younger, I wouldn't be legal to drink! (I'm not 30 til June.)
No insult Amber. If you and Bill were only 10 yrs younger with 2 less kids, I'm sure we'd set fire to Chicago.
[/ QUOTE ]
Hey now, just we're old doesn't mean we're no fun! There's just opportunity to do so. We'll have to get together while my mom is in town to watch the kids. We can still whoop it up with the best of them. Besides if I were 10 years younger, I wouldn't be legal to drink! (I'm not 30 til June.)