Power napping in the cockpit

"Still, almost no one believes the American flying public is ready for napping pilots."

This stuff pisses me off. Seriously, if other airlines around the world, and even the military allow it, who CARES what the public thinks. THEY'RE not the ones up front making the decisions, so let those who make the rules make them, don't base it on what Joe Schmo thinks in the back, but base it on safety. So what they're saying to is that they'd rather have a pilot up front who is exhausted which could lead to a mistake, rather than allow ONE of the pilots to take a quick snooze. I'm so tired of 'what the public thinks'
 
"Still, almost no one believes the American flying public is ready for napping pilots."

This stuff pisses me off. Seriously, if other airlines around the world, and even the military allow it, who CARES what the public thinks. THEY'RE not the ones up front making the decisions, so let those who make the rules make them, don't base it on what Joe Schmo thinks in the back, but base it on safety. So what they're saying to is that they'd rather have a pilot up front who is exhausted which could lead to a mistake, rather than allow ONE of the pilots to take a quick snooze. I'm so tired of 'what the public thinks'

Who cares what the public thinks.

To quote George Carlin:

"Think about how stupid the average person is...then realize, that half of 'em are stupider than that!"

Any informed passenger with a brain knows that this napping issue is a safety improvement. The rest of them are to be ignored.
 
Solution? Staff a relief pilot on flights and increase ticket prices by 70%. Or, better yet? Give these guys and gals a workable schedule!!!!!
;)
 
Any informed passenger with a brain knows that this napping issue is a safety improvement. The rest of them are to be ignored.

How many pax are actually informed? They hear 'napping in the cockpit' and I'm sure they'll start screaming in horror
 
How many pax are actually informed? They hear 'napping in the cockpit' and I'm sure they'll start screaming in horror

Half of the passengers would scream in horror if they sat in a jumpseat during a flight. They wouldn't know WTF was going on, and they'd see the runway coming up at them on landing while very likely thinking to themselves, "ZOMG WE'RE GONNA CRASH....oh wait...didn't crash...WE ARE SO LUCKY TO BE ALIVE...wait...looks like that every time...YOU TWO ARE DANGEROUS!"
 
Half of the passengers would scream in horror if they sat in a jumpseat during a flight. They wouldn't know WTF was going on, and they'd see the runway coming up at them on landing while very likely thinking to themselves, "ZOMG WE'RE GONNA CRASH....oh wait...didn't crash...WE ARE SO LUCKY TO BE ALIVE...wait...looks like that every time...YOU TWO ARE DANGEROUS!"

I dunno, most people are pretty sharp. At my last two gigs I flew with passengers everyday who sat up front. The honest truth is that the people who'd been doing it for any length of time knew when things were outside of the ordinary.
 
I think pilots are out to lunch, just as much as passengers are.
This board and its plethora of discussions certainly proves that.
 
I strongly disagree with the opinion of who cares what the pax think. It's their lives and they have every right to be concerned. Not caring creates an Us Vs Them mentality.

Solution is to educate the pax. As has been pointed out, and my experience agrees with, those pax who know what to expect (knowledge-based expectations) are almost nonchalant about the whole deal. The pax crying OMG is only responding to their fear of the unknown. That coupled with knowledge that speed kills imparts an abject fear.

How to educate the pax? One way would be how pilots used to call out various landmarks on the PA. Another would be articles in the in-flight magazine which speak of the flying experience (explain the various noises of the gear, flaps, etc).

I believe SWA's humor is to get the pax to actually pay attention to cabin briefing and to calm them. Humor used as a means to impart knowledge.
 
Most passengers think we're sittng up front all steely eyed with a vice-like grip on the yoke, ands beads of sweat pouring from our foreheads the entire time. You know...like they see in the movies.
 
"Still, almost no one believes the American flying public is ready for napping pilots."

This stuff pisses me off. Seriously, if other airlines around the world, and even the military allow it, who CARES what the public thinks. THEY'RE not the ones up front making the decisions, so let those who make the rules make them, don't base it on what Joe Schmo thinks in the back, but base it on safety. So what they're saying to is that they'd rather have a pilot up front who is exhausted which could lead to a mistake, rather than allow ONE of the pilots to take a quick snooze. I'm so tired of 'what the public thinks'

Well, those people in the back are the customers so of course you have to care about what they think.

If properly explained & with some education, the public would accept the idea of napping in the cockpit
 
In flight naps may be a mitigated risk to some extent, but for short-haul operations, I don't really see it as practical or feasible.

I'd rather see real, workable schedules and rest periods that some stop-gap sham of sleeping in my duty station.
 
"Still, almost no one believes the American flying public is ready for napping pilots."

Ha!

That's like saying "America is not ready for stinky poo"

Umm...

Errrr....

Aww, I guess ignorance is bliss.
 
In flight naps may be a mitigated risk to some extent, but for short-haul operations, I don't really see it as practical or feasible.

I'd rather see real, workable schedules and rest periods that some stop-gap sham of sleeping in my duty station.

Definately feasible on a lot of the current route structure including the 5-8 legs a day regional pilots too.

I don't see anything wrong if someone needs to take nap for whatever reason. I would rather have the pilots less fatigued when it counts at 200 1/2 and blowing snow, than dog tired. There isn't a whole lot going on in cruise that one pilot can't mind the store.
 
Solution? Staff a relief pilot on flights and increase ticket prices by 70%. Or, better yet? Give these guys and gals a workable schedule!!!!!
;)
Well said sir. I doubt the public cares and I think even fewer would care if they had to pay more. I never can sleep on an airplane, but sometimes 3 minutes of closing my eyes rests them and mitigates the effects.
 
I think the only real problem here is one pilot thinking the other is flying the airplane, and both end up taking a nap. Not that i have any personal experience with that...
 
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