Airline Pilot Central Forums - When hiring picks up again........

I have been in the room for "fatigue fact finding" meetings and must say that the vast majority of the calls (with subsequent meetings) are a hands down thing- you can look at the schedule and see weather or mx issues (or even just a time clock swap/ 2 long days with little rest/etc) and it's a non-event. I have yet to be in a meeting where I said to myself afterwards "man, that pilot abused the system". That being said there will ALWAYS be a few bad apples- no matter what airline (regional or major). That being said the word "fatigue" is designed as a safety measure. To say you can come in from a couple days off and never be "fatigued" in your career is to say you will never make a mistake. Some just call in sick and we never hear about the issue being "fatigue". I don't have any infants in the house but I could easily see the argument of being home for a couple days taking care of a sick child all through the night, showing up in the morning and by 7pm you are toast but still have a flight to do going to your overnight. It can and does happen. I commuted for a while (hub to hub and not by choice) and had a few times where I had to start the day on a 6am flight for a 1pm show (gotta have 2 flights) and didn't finish til late and was toast by the time I got to the hotel to start a SCHEDULED 8 hour overnight. The idea that a 12 hour overnight would create a "liar" when calling fatigue also has it's issues- a body clock swap where you can't fall asleep just because you are technically in "rest" or a party going on at the hotel could easily cause someone to only have a couple hours of sleep and cannot complete a 12 hour duty day SAFELY. Isn't safety first? I will not tell a pilot what to do, but would ask the question of "would you rather explain being fatigued or fight the company and FAA over a violation, accident, or worse?" The word "professional" involves putting 100% into your job- if you can't do it safely (the most important part)- you need to step aside just as your FAA certificates require. Just as others have pointed out there needs to be a balance and it should be a joint effort on the union and companies behalf in terms of scheduling and policies, but the pilot is ultimately responsible for the safety of the flight and being able to determine if he/she is fatigued. When hiring resumes again it will be competitive to move on and your record, experience, and professionalism will determine your ability to truly be competitive. NOT calling in fatigued when you are fatigue could effect your record, undermines the experience that you SHOULD have as a airline pilot, and puts a black mark on the word "professional". That's just my viewpoint, and now I will step off the soapbox.