Position: Under CassiopeiaAltitude: 35,000 ft.
Winds aloft: From the southwest at 147 mph (128 kts)
Wind component: 8 kt headwind
Never fails... When you are the sleepiest and desperately need tailwinds to reach the sunrise, you can be assured the windstream will rotate away from the tail. It is the natural state of things up here in the moonlight.
My co-pilot and I have been star gazing and balancing fuel tanks between five minute sessions with sealed oxygen masks gripping our heads like the creepy crawly from Alien. Deep breathing cold aviator's oxygen, eating ice, and drinking cups of nasty, double-bagged aircraft coffee made with water from a tank deep inside her belly. I don't like to think about what might be growing inside that tank. I hope the coffee maker kills it... Anything to stay awake crossing the Black Pit.
The sunrise will kick in my daylight circadian rhythm and remove most of the overwhelming desire to fall asleep, but that is still 600 miles away. Falling asleep is dangerous to one's career track, and possibly the health and wealth of everyone aboard; not to mention the CNN factor.
Third Hour
I am writing notes for this blog and also keeping a fuel burn and mileage chart. It looks like this:
1st hour- 8200 pound burn/390 miles across the ground
2nd- 5500 pounds/450 miles
3rd - 5200 pounds/470 miles
4th-
5th-
Normal numbers for a small wind component.
Finally, after several hundred miles of twilight, the sun is peeking over the horizon. Time to break out the Revos.
We can do this...
16 comments:
Hi Dave. Thanks for a great post as always. I was just wondering, is it normal to breathe pure oxygen to stay awake? I have read this in your blog earlier, but all the professional pilots I have asked here in Norway disagrees. Thought maybe the FAA rules might be diferent from JAA.
I have a similar question..
I take it the O2 tanks are checked before every flight for pressure/quantity of oxygen?
Is it easy to get a new tank/refill?
I thought this tech news might be professionally interesting
Blue Lights To Reset Internal Clocks
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/20/0440246
Again, stunning pictures. Could almost be Norway hehe :).
Well, on a more serious note, it could, just as I took the early bird today from TRD(Trondheim) to BGO(Bergen)-ENVA to ENBR.
If the US mainland economy goes down, you could always get a job over here. Indeed we are a flying people, if I'm not to wrong, my airport here in Bergen has one of the highest pax numbers in Europe with 4,8 mill(well considering), and think that there only lives aprox 240 000 people here!
Dave,
Your blog is without a doubt the most entertaining thing on the internet. Very well written and concise. I have always been fascinated with air travel, and with this blog being available, it makes me enjoy it even more. Keep up the great work up there.
Bill F in Calgary
It always brings a smile to my face seeing a new post here Dave. Another entertaining and informative story - thank you!
Keep it up and happy landings.
Dave (Belfast, Ireland)
Great post as always Dave, its a joy to get such an excellent insight into the flight deck! Keep it up, great pics also. Gerard - Ireland.
mats- yes, pure oxygen will help you stay awake, without a doubt. The effects only last about ten minutes, though.
devastator- the tanks are filled on a regular basis to 1700 psi. We can take them down to 900 psi and that takes a few days, unless, of course, the masks are donned for smoke or depressurization.
I would rather die in my sleep like my father than screaming in terror like his passengers.
Cheers from a old freight dog.
Joe
I thought that it had been proven that sleep deprivation was a sure guide to poor judgement.
This has been discussed quite a bit with doctors working long hours under duress.
Has not poor sleep been compared with drunken driving?
Well, anon of 8:52, I think it is safe to assume that Dave's story is not to be read as a report with every word in its very literal meaning but much rather as, well, yes: A story. The way I read it does not give me the picture of irresponsible folks in the flight decks. They were not sleeping but constantly kept themselves updated on the situation of their flight as far as fuel or possible airports for en-route diversions. Story-telling does allow putting a focus on one particular aspect of a story and what happens is that this aspect appears more pronounced than it would in a neutrally written factual report. I like this blog for its stories more than for its numbers and facutal information.
You might be right, though, that crew scheduling does use their folks to limits. Limits set by reasonable and agreed-upon safety standards. Limits not set by life and death, as I would like to add, because the word 'limits' itself sounds like a pretty strong word.
When a return ticket from my hometown of Munich, GER to London, UK is sometimes just around 50 EUR on some airlines, I do however wonder which parts of the calculation were subject to severe cost cutting. The fact that one of the airlines in question does not hire cabin crew members who are union members might be a hint. Yes, it is technically not legal to ask whether someone is a union member when doing a job interview, but this is another thing. People still fly this particular European airline a lot and this seems to prove them right. People actually fly them so often that they are Germany's 2nd biggest airline.
Let's all keep pushing our limits in a safe manner.
anon 852- we line pilots figure that adrenanlin surges will get us through emergencies at 0300 hours.
I personally know two pilots that have decided to fight red-eye flights in the courts (as being un-safe)and both lost their cases.
Is back side of the clock flying dangerous? I don't think so, as long as the crew sleeps during the day. No matter what, circadian rhythm will make you sleepy at 0200 hrs.
Sounds like another Fi-Fi driver put a .40 Caliber hole in his cockpit. What is your personal opinion of the FFDO program?
Hey Dave,
Been following your blog for a few weeks now. I see that you live in Phoenix. Which part are you in? I'm from Sierra Vista, and currently go to the U of A. Nice to see a fellow Arizonan around here.
Looks like those A-319's are tough machines, they can take a slug through the cockpit wall and land safely. The pistol discharged shortly before the plane was going to land at about 8,000 feet near Charlotte.
Dave, I have to do my first red eye on Monday SFO-ATL. I have been able to avoid them till now. In addition to double bag coffee (gotta love it!), try "Red Bull" and "Star Bucks;Double Shots". From a whipper snapper to a veteran.
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