F.W.S. (Flying While Sleeping)

[rausda27]

Re: Are you guilty of FWS? (poll)

Speaking of nodding off I heard a good story once about a check airman that had a habit of dozing off during checkrides.

It was a private pilots checkride and the student as nervous as most are. He planned the cross country and the examiner told him to go ahead and fly the first few waypoints. The student looked over after about 10 minutes and realized that the sound he was hearing in his headset was of the examiner snoring. Too nervous to wake him the student proceeded to fly to each and every waypoint on his flight plan, dutifully filling out the entire nav log as he went. Upon arrival at his destination, he tuned in the ATIS at his arrival airport which promptly woke the examiner up. The examiner looked at the student, looked outside for a second as asked the student "where the hell where they"? The student responded at" xyz airport" to which the examiner replied "Boy, fly me back to Kxyz..NOW!!!" (The airport names have been deleted obviously)

 

[tonyw]

Re: Are you guilty of FWS? (poll)

Hey, no fair, you gotta share. I'd love to have that examiner for a ride. How's he gonna fail you if he has to admit that he fell asleep during the flight?

 

[derg]

Re: Are you guilty of FWS? (poll)

Actually, NASA says a short nap improves safety in a crew environment.

A little info from a NASA study about short naps

The passenger should know that it's better that one of the pilots was resting rather than sinking into "microsleep" events during final approach.

 

[Mr_Creepy]

Re: Are you guilty of FWS? (poll)

Thank you Doug! I couldn't find that story.

 

[PA44]

PIC

I have that pic your talking about, buit i dont know how to post it

If someone can walk me through, i could probably do so, I will be scanning it from the original!

 

[Mr_Creepy]

Re: PIC

I was "forced" to watch CNN down at the FSDO today and they interviewed the guy who shot the video.

He clearly stated that the aircraft had reached cruise altitude and the captain had looked at the co-pilot and said "you have it" before taking off his headset and tipping his head back.

As far as I can see the only thing this guy is guilty of is not shutting the cockpit door! Isn't that a security thing now anyway?

Flying the 1900s we learned that passengers can exceed known and expected limits for stupidity when observing pilots. A few cases in point:

1) A lady complained that the pilots were "reading a bible" before take-off, which upset her very much. It's amazing what Jepp binders look like isn't it?

2) Another lady complained that the pilots were "holding hands" on the takeoff roll. Captain' hands on top of the quadrant, FO's backing him up underneath!

3) An irate passenger wrote in from Arkansas (trouble seems to come from that state) about the following, and this is in a 1900 with no FAs:

"The stewardess walked up and down the aisle once on the ground and then went to the front of the plane and talked to the pilot for the entire flight. I was never served a beverage."

Wendy Nilson still keeps that letter as a joke

Last I heard she was a CRJ captain in PHX.

 

[ready2fly]

Re: PIC

[ QUOTE ]
from Arkansas (trouble seems to come from that state)

[/ QUOTE ]
HA!

But, not NEARLY as much as from Texas.

 

[derg]

Re: PIC

Ahh yes, the open Beech 1900 door.

These are reports that I got from the chief pilot that people wrote about me while I was a Skyway pilot:

And keep in mind that all of this was written during my 21 month tenure at Skyway.

"Crew confused and reading instructions before flight" (We had to MEL something)

"Pilots had ice on the wings and did nothing about it" (We had to accumulate at least 1.5" in order to activate the boots)

"First officer landed with mixtures full lean and obviously didn't do a 'GUMP' check" (Those aren't mixture controls in a turboprop, dumass!)

"Landing in the snow, an alarm went off and the pilots landed anyway" (Radar altimeter alerter)

My favorite: "FO tried to handprop the engine with magnetoes on and the door open" (While boarding, we'd turn the propeller by hand to form an "X" so passengers wouldn't walk into the blade)

"Crew was arguing" (?!?!)

And the one that takes the cake... This is a true story but fortunatley doesn't involve me. In seat 1A (or 1C, I can't remember), there is a little plug that an FAA inspector can hook up a headset to in order to conduct a line check. Some private pilot plugged in his David Clarks into the headset port without the crew's knowledge and eavesdropped for a 90 minute flight from Indianapolis to Milwaukee then wrote the chief pilot about how the crew was "...cursing, telling dirty jokes and talking about non-flying related topics while in cruise..."

And the worst part? Since we were pretty deeply involved in contract negotiations, the company wanted to FIRE THE TWO PILOTS.

 

[Mr_Creepy]

Re: PIC

LOL Doug you bring back some excellent memories

There was an email circulating around a while back with "most heard sayings on a BE1900." My favorite?


1. <high pitched piercing whine as of air escaping a balloon> ...

CA: Hit your window.
FO: What?
CA: Hit your window!
FO taps window ...
CA: No HIT it!! HARD!
FO: No way dude I'm on probation!
CA leans across and smacks the foward vent window, whining stops ...

You have to be a 1900 pilot to appreciate that

 

[fly22]

Re: PIC

Another lady complained that the pilots were "holding hands" on the takeoff roll. Captain' hands on top of the quadrant, FO's backing him up underneath!

I saw a pilot do this with a guy in a 206 flying the Grand Canyon

 

[I_Money]

Re: PIC

I am impressed he could get to sleep on such a noisey plane and on such a short flight!! I take of my hat off to him!!

 

[JEP]

Re: PIC - Pilot resigns

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida (AP) -- A charter pilot resigned Friday after a videotape surfaced apparently showing him sleeping during a flight from the Bahamas while a co-pilot flew the plane.

The man was the captain on a Walker's International flight from Walker's Cay to Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport last Sunday. Fifteen passengers were onboard.

The incident is under investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration. Neither the agency nor the company would release the pilot's name.

A videotape taken by passenger Chris Ballard shows the pilot with his eyes closed and apparently sleeping during the flight.

He said the co-pilot, who was flying the plane, noticed him taping the pilot and a woman taking photographs.

"He didn't wake him up, so I wasn't going to get up and go into their area and wake him up myself," Ballard told CNN.

[Under FAA regulations] when two pilots are necessary for a flight, then they are both required to remain awake, alert and performing their flight-related duties.
-- Kathleen Bergen, FAA spokeswoman


Bill Jones, Walker International's general manager, said the man had been a charter pilot with the company for about a year. He said the man denied he was sleeping during the 55-minute flight, but decided that the videotape and the resulting publicity "made a difficult situation."

"He thought it was the best thing to step down," Jones said.

Jones said the co-pilot "reports that at no time was he aware that the other pilot was asleep." He said interviews with about half of the passengers revealed an uneventful flight and no signs that one of the pilots was asleep.

Jones said: "When I see the video it looks very bad." He said the pilot does not have a lawyer. The pilot did not immediately return a phone message left with the company, which flies about six round trips to the Bahamas every week.

Kathleen Bergen, an FAA spokeswoman in Atlanta, said the pilot faces sanctions ranging from a warning letter to a suspension or revocation of his pilot's certificate.

"I would not assume the pilot is guilty based on news reports. We have to do our own thorough investigation," she said.

Bergen said under FAA regulations, "when two pilots are necessary for a flight, then they are both required to remain awake, alert and performing their flight-related duties."

 

[Mr_Creepy]

Re: PIC - Pilot resigns

I'd like to know what regulation that is. I can't find anything that says anything other than "except for physiological needs and necessity of visiting the cabin, the pilots must remain at their assigned stations during critical phases of flight."

 

[derg]

Re: PIC

[ QUOTE ]
LOL Doug you bring back some excellent memories

There was an email circulating around a while back with "most heard sayings on a BE1900." My favorite?


1. <high pitched piercing whine as of air escaping a balloon> ...

CA: Hit your window.
FO: What?
CA: Hit your window!
FO taps window ...
CA: No HIT it!! HARD!
FO: No way dude I'm on probation!
CA leans across and smacks the foward vent window, whining stops ...

You have to be a 1900 pilot to appreciate that

[/ QUOTE ]

Ahh yes, so true. Ever delatch the triangular cockpit window it in flight just to scare the crap out of your first officer as the cabin pressure equalizes on approach?

I uhh, know someone who did.

 

[Mr_Creepy]

Re: PIC

[ QUOTE ]
Ahh yes, so true. Ever delatch the triangular cockpit window it in flight just to scare the crap out of your first officer as the cabin pressure equalizes on approach?

I uhh, know someone who did.

[/ QUOTE ]

We were having "Landing Wars" one day so on the captains approaches I would try to freak him out. Several times I would open and close that window rapidly to make his ears hurt

Ever dump the cabin to get rid of, well how can I say it, "flatulation residue vapors?"

 

[MikeD]

Re: PIC

Don't know what the big deal is either. Military transport crews are allowed naps. Hell, the 130 has two bunks on the back cockpit wall.

 

[derg]

Re: PIC

[ QUOTE ]
Ever dump the cabin to get rid of, well how can I say it, "flatulation residue vapors?"

[/ QUOTE ]

Never dumped the cabin, but turned off the cabin air and blasted the cockpit air in the 1900 to send it backwards!

 

[Mr_Creepy]

Re: PIC

If you do a very very quick cabin dump, the smelly stuff is sucked right back in to the cabin. It's funny because if you open the doors you can see all the passengers looking at each other trying to figure out "who did it?"

 

[davetheflyer]

Re: PIC

Personally, I can't sleep sitting up.

We would dump the cabin in the J41 in the summer to get rid of the hot, surface temp air and then replace it with cooler stuff at cruise. Our ECS and AC wasn't all that great.

 

[Cleared_ILS_RWY_9L]

Re: PIC

I find it hard as hell to sleep in the FE seat on the 727. Damn Boeing! That seat needs to recline waaaaaayyyyyy back, but no, it's up and stays up.