Originally Posted by
DAL 88 Driver
Is that the price of safety? The "hotels in domicile" sounds like a plausible solution on the surface... until you realize that most guys would probably just go home anyway and do whatever it is they wanted to do that motivated them to bid the CDO in the first place. They STILL wouldn't be getting 8 hours of sleep and they STILL would be flying that early morning flight on maybe 3 or 4 hours of sleep in the 24 hour period. It would be legal on paper (except maybe the part about how they didn't give themselves an opportunity for 8 hours of sleep per FAR 117) but I sure wouldn't put my family on that flight.
That's a non sequitur though. SDP's can and have been done safely. They are also hugely popular, as long as there are protections built in. The last TA did not do enough IMO in that regard, and gave way too much latitude to the company.
The biggest threat to circadian disruptions is constantly shifting your waking hours. A PM report followed by a day sleep and a red eye followed by a 5am show is
WAY less safe than reasonable SDP's, especially if people stay on the same schedule. Some will make the arguement that some people will play Johnny Hero and try to run a business or be Super Parent at home or paint the house or whatever instead of sleeping, but those kinds of people will disregard their rest obligations regardless.
As for the 8 hours of sleep, honestly, what percentage of pilots on any 5AM report do you really think got a full 8 hours? Even with a reasonable commute by car where you get up around 3 to leave the house at 4, are
most pilots really in bed and falling sound asleep for a solid 8 hours or quality REM sleep by 7PM? You know that number is extremely low.
How about the international flights? Sure they usually come off a 24 hour or more layover, but napping on the way over and then trying to sleep twice in a 24 hour period is very rough on circadian cycles. Those trips are mostly commutable though, so people bid them for that reason as well, and I'm sure many pilots spend all of their report day doing the type A hustle instead of priming their circadian pumps.
There is nothing inherently unsafe about a SDP that is in excess of the challenges we already face with domestic and international operations in an increasingly 24 hour world. The key is in the details.
The last TA didn't have enough protections and I didn't like how we got sand bagged about it. But we're not doing ourselves or anyone else any favors by reflexively pulling the fire alarm any and every time this issue comes up. SDP's aren't any more dangerous than many other operations we currently do, and if done right (the big if in question) they can be safer than some things we currently already do.
The possibility that someone will ignore their opporunity to rest is always present for SDP's and everything else we do. The fact remains that if SDP's were done right they would be hugely popular, pay well, result in a great schedule and if pilots did their part they would be every bit as safe as anything else we do.