Mesa pilots both asleep, allegedly
 

I wonder if this has anything to do with their industry low work rules and rock bottom scheduling, 8 days off a month.

http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/s...8/daily15.html

Jonathan Ornstein, chairman and CEO of Mesa Air Group (Nasdaq:MESA), in Phoenix, told Pacific Business News Tuesday: "At this point, it is under investigation by Mesa, and until that investigation is complete and we have a better understanding of what happened, we can't comment."

Between the lines:
"Until we start treating our pilots right, this stuff will probably keep happening, but as long as we dont have a crash, we will keep putting money first, pilots last."

I'm not a Mesa pilot, but it could happen and it does happen at other airlines.

I hope it was a highspeed/CDO/standup, to outline the problem... but even if it was, I expect no rule changes to come from the FAA

I always brief my F/O, "I better not wake up and catch you sleeping!" This is obviously the captain's fault for not giving a thorough brief...:D

Haha, that's an important brief!

not the first time this has happened. Didn't it happen to mainline a few years back, keep thinking it was a united flight, that somehow ended up over the pacific after passing up LAX or SFO....

An airbus did it in Denver less than a year ago, I think. I know it happened, but can't remember the date.

It was either United or Frontier in a bus.

They woke up to ATC yelling at them b/c they reached DEN and the FMS was flying circles over the last fix in the box.

FWIW, Frontier does a fair amount of stand ups, as does SKW. We all do the damn things.

Just because it *can* happen or *has* happened at any airline doesn't mean it's "OK". A private student overflying his destination on his first solo XC? No big deal. TWO "professional" pilots overflying their destination on a Part 121 flight with passengers on board?!? BIG deal!!!

I just can't imagine anyone trying to justify that happening like it's not that big of a deal... ***...

I don't know how Frontier handles a stand up, but at SKW, we don't actually "stand up", but instead go to the hotel for a few hours of nappy time.

What about Mesa? My understanding is that they don't get a hotel, and are left to "resting" in the plane.

Frontier's standups also involve hotel time. Some are actually really nice standups, for example ABQ and OMA, pilots get paid 6Hrs for 2Hrs of flying, 7 hours in a hotel bed, and back in DEN early next morning. Not for everyone though... as several in a row can certainly lead to fatigue.

At Mesa.... well, let's just say that pilots and flight attendants become experts at making beds out of passenger seats. I even recall, some time ago, a Mesa crew (2 pilots, 2 FA's) on a red-eye/standup combo schedule (red-eye flight to YVR, sit for 3 hours, then fly back), having to sleep on the floor of the baggage claim area in Vancouver (they were not allowed to stay on the plane and sleep because of it being an international flight). Just the kind of thing that helps our profession: passengers seeing a crew, in uniform, sleeping on the floor with plane blankets and pillows... :(