the years between 60 and death are over-rated any way

I'm not an all-night cargo pilot. I have spent more than half a career in law enforcement. Working against your natural body clock will take the years off the end. Either through poor health or through making mistakes at work. The biggest recommendation I can make is to stick with a schedule. If you're working the back-side of the clock, then stay on that sleep schedule. Going from up all night at work to "normal hours" at home will, like the other posts have said, turn you into a zombie. All the best with the flying career!

Cool, I'll spend it as I go!

When you've gone home with a Waffle House waitress at 0700 YOU WILL realize night freight is BAD ---->BAD<---- on the body.

Judgment tends slack off in the morning light, however, performance tends to remain solid but somewhat mis guided at times. (dont ask)

I do wish I was back in the daylight flying pax though.


Seriously there was a study done few years back about shift work. I just tried doing a net search and couldn't find the precise one I was looking for. There were several long term effects especially for workers which rotated their schedules between day and night. OSHA even made some rulings based on it.

The Better Half works at Brown, I fly pax. I'd take her schedule over mine in a heartbeat. She's typically in the same time zone, longer layovers, flys less and more time off. I do 3 on 4 off and am wiped out when I get home due to East coast West coast etc. takes me 1-2 days to feel 100% She sleeps till noon when she gets home and is good to go(twice a month).

Only good to go twice a month? Man, you must have been married even longer than me!

Classic. Trying to save this as a signature line but its too long!!

Love the analogy re: waffle house waitress - I can't beat that one

Am I the only one on this forum who wants to take the last few years off their life??

Night flying doesn't hurt you, missing sleep does. Also, while you may not be soaking up UV like you would during the day, you still are getting dosed by atmospheric radiation.

Do some reading on WOCL, and the effects of "missed sleep opportunities". Like any shift work, your body can adapt and thrive, although the danger is frequent shifts in schedule and timezone.

Here is an article from ALPA.org that is a good primer:

http://cf.alpa.org/internet/projects...ackgr/wocl.htm