Originally Posted by
130drvr
I flew 5 years for DHL before coming here. No comparison to even 2 red eyes a week here. I would show at 4PM on the west coast, fly to Cincy arriving at 1AM. Sit 3-4 hours for the sort and then fly to the East Coast. Getting to bed at 8AM. This times 3-4 nights in a row gave me very bad headaches. Say what you will about 117, we have much better protection than the freight guys. Circadian rhythm is no joke and that style of flying does shorten your life.
I used to fly nights in the AF, but that was a 4PM show and home in bed by 2AM, with no 4 hour sit. Still got old after a while.
That doesn't sound fun at all - the 3-4 hour sits in the middle of the night. We're you able to nap for a couple hrs?
I flew most of my trips on the 756 fleet to Europe out of EWR. Departed at night, arrived in the AM. We usually landed around 2-4 AM EST (our body-clock) so it wasn't nearly as bad in my experience.