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04-02-2016 | 08:36 AM

#26

Adlerdriver

Gets Weekends Off

Joined: Jul 2007

Posts: 4,065

Likes: 40

From: 767 Captain

First off, I was joking about cancelling with pay for wx and purple has plenty of pay protections and one-in/one-out trips.

My real point is that you keep referring to what the contract can do for us to help with fatigue, and I would like to understand what you mean.

Quote:

Originally Posted by FTFF

Perhaps then the contract can ensure the schedules allow guys to get adequate rest during the day and/or rely on sort periods and sleep rooms to meaningfully compensate for a lack thereof

Maybe your schedules differ greatly from ours. Unless you’re flying an AM out and back at purple, if things are on schedule, you’re usually at the hotel by early morning.
If you show up in the hotel lobby sometime around sunrise, immediately get a room, it’s quiet, with a nice bed, good curtains and you don’t need to be back at the jet for 13 to 15 hours – what more can written words on a contract do for you to ensure you get adequate rest during the day? That’s kind of up to you, isn’t it? Back at the hub, if you have access to a quiet sleep room, with clean linens, a bed, a phone for a wakeup call and shower facilities – again, what is the contract going to do to ensure you get a nap.

Quote:

Originally Posted by FTFF

But even with my limited exposure to them I have more than a few ideas on how to ameliorate the experience without simply removing myself from the problem as you have proposed. My comment was aimed more at the general disregard for circadian rhythms and to suggest to the OP that even though the schedules are currently fatiguing they could be improved.

I’m really asking (and have several times). What “scheduling limits and practices” and “scheduling improvements” do you have in mind that would help mitigate fatigue? We’re all in the same biz and unfortunately our contract is what it is for a while. You say you have more than a few ideas on how to “ameliorate” the domestic night freight experience we’ve all done at one point or another in our time at brown or purple. Let’s hear them.

In my experience, the “general disregard for circadian rhythm” occurs on the international side of things at Fedex. Flying around Asia for 10 hours of duty all night and landing at NRT at 0800L and leaving 24 hours later to fly another 10 hours all day is the definition of circadian disregard. From a scheduling perspective, it’s highly efficient since the two guys who brought the flight in 24 hours ahead of you are ready to take your jet and start their work day. Ending those would be high on my list of contract changes – but that would mean more crews, higher costs in the name of safety. Maybe next time.

Domestically, at least you swap your body clock to nights (as best one can) and stay that way for the week.

Both situations are going to create fatigue and there’s only so much a contract can do to mitigate that. Putting limits on numbers of legs, duty period length, and ensuring proper rest facilities can all be put in writing (and it is). If you can’t sleep when you’re given the opportunity, I don’t see how you can point a finger at the contract and cry foul.

You had some pretty good advice in your first post. “Find what you can do easily and try to bid those schedules”. It sounds like domestic ain’t your bag, since you can’t sleep during the day. I prefer international as well, but, as I’m sure you know, that has its own set of challenges. When I did fly domestic, I was able to sleep in the day. It was rare that I didn’t get at least 7 hours and 8-9 was pretty normal. I didn’t bother trying to nap on the turn at the hub for fear of ruining my day sleep (plus I usually felt pretty good anyway) - lucky I guess.

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