Originally Posted by
ghilis101
Allow me to interject since I'm now a high risk candidate for landing at the wrong airport. In the past year, both the airplanes I currently fly (747-400 and c-17) have landed at the wrong airport. Both airplanes have "magenta lines" and a thousand ways to back up the approach. One of them has a HUD.
The c17 was being flown by a crew of all instructors (check airman equivalent)
The Atlas 747-400 crew by default is very senior (most junior captain is 12 years or so).
So what's our takeaway? It was a bad day, we've all experienced such incredible fatigue that we swear up and down we didn't do what we just did.
So there is some evidence to suggest that this was a fatigue related incident?
I know that fatigue is certainly a drum to beat in the industry to try and get out dated work rules changed/improved, but it seems as much as some jump to citing causes and it is often beaten on in the forums that we should let the investigation be conducted before spouting off causal factors, that citing fatigue is often an accepted practice without any evidence of such actually being the case.
Then the CAMI goes off on a wild goose chase to investigate OSA, which directly relates to fatigue, and transportation/safety related folks regulated by the DOT clamor about unfair practices.
Americans in general are a fatigued bunch.
Sleep Deprivation in America: Risks and Effects
For the past few years, the Sleep in America polls -- conducted on behalf of the National Sleep Foundation - have provided a snapshot of the nation's bedroom woes. Today, about 20% of Americans report that they get less than 6 hours of sleep on average, and the number of Americans that report that they get 8 hours of more has decreased.
"It's no secret that we live in a 24/7 society," says Carl Hunt, MD, director of the National Center on Sleep Disorders Research at the National Institutes of Health. "There are many more opportunities to do things other than sleep - 24-hour cable TV, the Internet, email, plus long work shifts."
Mistakes can be made by any aircrew.
They WILL be made by aircrew and targeting the blue threat/risk assessment and operational risk management seeks to reduce those risks.
At the same time, you have to be able to stand up and say 'I/we/they made a mistake' and look at how to prevent similar mistakes in the future. However this came about - in the end - they failed in their mission.