Safety third.$aftey first.
Good on them for owning up. Hopefully this will help with the fatigue problem.
The responsibility lies a little on both sides. Many fatigue events are caused by the pilot, and many are caused by the company. And a mixture of the two is common.
More than anything we need better education about fatigue for both crew members and flight ops.
I'll settle for a comfy robe and some nice soft slippers in the cockpit.....
and some warm milk.
What kind of edumacation do you suggest? We got an FAA approved fatigue risk management plan. The end all be all fix to fatigue. It has a lot of great advice, such as drink coffee at TOD and keep your hotel room cool. Personally, I don't need to be educated. The company needs to address some of their scheduling practices. Throwing money at the cargo cutout, saying UPS pilot's work fewer hours a month, and "our pilots are used to night freight, so no worries"....that just doesn't cut it.
"commuting the day of a trip, we often put ourselves at risk of fatigue."
I can't disagree with you there. If you're gonna do that you better be sure you are the type that can go there and still be rested enough to get the job done. If you want to cross the country on Fedex at night and show in the morning, you need to be the type that can sleep all night on Fedex.
What kind of education do the crew schedulers need? They are just filling squares and plugging holes. Do you really expect a scheduler to tell a pilot his schedule is fatiguing? When pigs fly......
"No, schedulers need to be able to recognize a schedule that is at risk. It isn't too much to expect a scheduler to be educated about the job that they do."
With all due respect, in my experience, that's simply ludicrous. I don't disrespect the skeds where I work. I understand what their job is and what they are trying to do. But to think they give a rip about Fatigue? Are you really suggesting a line sked should analyze an assignment for potential fatigue? What planet do you live on? You gotta be kidding me....
When you experience it, you're all "damn, dude."I can't speak to your pilot group, but many pilots don't truly understand the insidious nature of fatigue, and how to recognize it. It's like being drunk, literally, so when you are impaired your ability to recognize that impairment is impaired as well.
As someone who has actually run a fatigue program, I've read nearly 1,000 fatigue reports. The company surely contributed to their fair share, and schedulers are woefully undereducated about fatigue. But crew members had plenty of blame to go around. Probably 35%-40% of the fatigue events were pilot induced. From not resting when we have the opportunity to commuting the day of a trip, we often put ourselves at risk of fatigue. Often the choices on day one or two manifest themselves on day 4.
Anyway, my point is only that industry-wide we have a problem, and that problem is mostly one of understanding on both sides of the operation (pilot and company).
Quite so.just because your given a rest period dose not mean your body is ready to accept it. you cant force your self to seep when your body dose not want to. i know i spent 30 years of rotating shift work with many back of the clock shifts!