Originally Posted by
crewdawg
To be fair, I felt the same after my OE trips, but have since figured out what works for me, and feel 10x better. The real question is balance. On the WB, over the last 15ish months, I've averaged 8 days/month gone from home. As a line holder this month, I'll work 9 days for a full month of pay...vs a 717 guy that will work 16 days. Who has more exposure to disrupted sleep and/or high calorie meals? That's not a rhetorical question to prove one side of a conversation, I'm genuinely interested in finding out. Sleep disruptions are part of the business but as I learn more about them, limiting them has slowly become a greater concern of mine.
I don't disagree. As an east coast 717 pilot it's a lot easier than a west coast. Staying up an extra hour or two to finish the day is never as difficult (for me) as waking up extra early. I can't imagine a poor west coast guy doing a 0430 east coast pick-up. For me, I do a lot better with a ridiculously early wake up than a 6 hour time zone change, especially since I don't sleep well on a plane. More power to those who truly get the required sleep. To those who think they're exceptional and only need 5 hours, listen to the podcast or watch the linked video. Most likely you're not special, are fooling yourself, and are slowly but surely killing yourself.