Sleepless in the Cockpit

FAA minimum-rest regulations leave airline crews sleepy, cranky, and klutzy. Current FAA regulations do not ensure the safety of the flying public.

(PRWEB) December 3, 2003 --Diana Fairechild, well-known air travel safety expert and author, and former international flight attendant who flew ten million miles, comments on the FAA guidelines for minimum crew rest.

There is recent concern in the news that airline crews may not be getting enough sleep to ensure flight safety. It is important to note that this is not a new problem.

Every FAA regulation has someone's blood on it.

The amount of rest time allotted to crewmembers by FAA mandates is now significantly less than it was when I was flying. And now, due to new security rules, flight attendants can no longer enter the cockpit on their own. As a result, pilots no longer have flight attendants to help them stay awake on red-eye flights.

I have been writing about the problem of crew sleep-deprivation for over a decade starting with my 1992 book Jet Smart, which deals with the many health hazards of flying, and what passengers can do to protect themselves. Since then, I have seen the question of crew rest resurface in the news primarily after air disasters blamed on pilot errors. On each occasion, the FAA defended their minimum-rest mandates for airline crew.

Airline pilots normally begin crew rest 15 minutes after the captain sets the aircraft's brakes upon gate arrival. Flight attendants do not always get that extra 15 minutes, so according to the FAA, they could be officially on their layover break while caring for deplaning passengers: wheel chairs, lost luggage, unaccompanied minors, and more.

Once the plane is empty, the entire crew makes its way on foot from the back of the airport to curbside, stopping in Customs on international trips, then waiting for the van, sometimes for as much as 45 minutes. Check in at the hotel lobby can take up to an hour, and crew rooms are often the most distant from the main lobby, or next to ice machines or elevators, whatever the airline can obtain at an additional discount.

Of course, it's almost impossible to fall asleep on demand, especially after a hectic workday. Then, after sleep, time is required to prepare one's self and attire for yet another day of facing the flying public. To top it all, crews are required to be present at least one hour prior to scheduled departure time. This means leaving the hotel at least two hours prior to departure.

Pilots are supposed to be guaranteed eight hours "behind the door" of their hotel rooms, but must raise the issue themselves when those eight hours are compromised by delays. In such instances, the airlines are known to bully crews that claim "fatigue." I was involved in such a dispute and became frightened from the bullying, then compliant in subsequent similar incidences.

Today's flight attendants are not even guaranteed eight hours "behind the door" of their hotel rooms. Layover time is whittled away in airports, in buses riding to hotels and back, in pre-flight briefings, and in airplanes prior to takeoff. While your flight attendants are checking the plane for bombs and box cutters and helping to stow your luggage, they could officially be on their rest breaks.

A flight attendant friend of mine saved time once she got to her hotel room by simply lying down in her uniform, then waking up fully dressed--and applying fresh lipstick before passengers boarded.

Landings are a critical phase of flight when crews must be prepared for emergencies. The problem is they occur at the end of often grueling duty-days with inadequate rest. I remember many times seated upright on rigid jumpseats, my body falling asleep without my permission.    

To avoid this flight hazard, some of us rotated into the lavatories for thirty minutes on long night flights to try to catch up--pillow on the sink, passing out on the toilet under bright lights.

What the FAA calls "adequate rest" actually produces chronic sleep deprivation. Torturers use this type of sleep deprivation to weaken and disorient prisoners. Maybe crew sleep deprivation should be brought to Amnesty International, not the FAA! As an airline insider for many decades, I've watched the FAA sweep this problem under the seats every time it surfaced.

Pilots say, "Every FAA regulation has someone's blood on it." The FAA only looks at lives lost in crashes, instead of chronic, decades-long stress, such as sleep deprivation, that can contribute to cancers.

In the short term, sleep deprivation has many indicators including unclear thinking--hence the very real potential of difficulty handling emergency situations (for cabin crew), and landing airplanes (for cockpit crew). When thinking is messed up, our ability to ascertain our own level of alertness is also poor, so we don't even know when we're not thinking clearly.

All industries have traditions. Medical interns endure sleep deprivation for a few years, then they go on to become well-paid physicians who play golf on Wednesdays. Flight attendants endure sleep deprivation for the duration of their careers. While interns are slowly gaining ground against the problem, flight attendants are migrating deeper into sleep debt.

The airline industry lives across so many time zones that crewmembers are routinely sleep-deprived even without current egregious FAA rules.

The impact of chronic sleep deprivation on crewmembers is compounded by more radiation per year than nuclear power plant workers are exposed to; airplanes that are sprayed with toxic pesticides (sometimes with crew on board); cumulative jetlag; recirculated air that causes everyone's exhalations to mingle germs and viruses; and hypoxia (oxygen deprivation) due to cabin altitudes and airline cost-saving practices.

What will it take to make flying safer for everyone? For the rest of the story, ask Flyana at www.Flyana.com.

###

Press Contact: Amelia Wong, www.Flyana.com/form.hml, 808/ 828-1919.

DIANA FAIRECHILD is an aviation health and safety authority and expert witness. She has been seen on Dateline, Extra, Hard Copy, CNN, ABC and NBC. Her first book, Jet Smart, broke many stories, which have subsequently been confirmed. Here are some examples. Jetlag is cumulative and chronic jetlag diminishes brain capacity. Airplane drinking water is not filtered or tested and aircraft water tanks are filthy. Passengers get sprayed with pesticides on many international flights. Cramped seating combined with low air pressure can cause deep vein thrombosis. Pilots deliberately cut back the passengers' fresh air supply to increase company profits. Reduced oxygen on planes can be dangerous for passengers with lung and heart conditions. Air rage is caused by oxygen deprivation.

Fairechild writes for Flyana.com and is author of five books.
-- Jet Smart (out of print)
-- Jet Smarter: The Air Traveler's Rx
-- Strategies for the Wise Passenger: Terrorism, Turbulence, Cardiac Arrest, Streaking, Too Tall
-- Noni: Aspirin of the Ancients
-- Office Yoga: At-Your-Desk Exercises

Fairechild's books are sold at online bookstores and Flyana.com.

###

airline crew passengers sleep deprivation faa regulations rest sleep flight attendant pilot torture

Bookmark -  Del.icio.us | Furl It | Technorati | Ask | MyWeb | Propeller | Live Bookmarks | Newsvine | TailRank | Reddit | Slashdot | Digg | Stumbleupon | Google Bookmarks | Sphere | Blink It | Spurl