ABC Investigates lack of pilot sleep

[pilotyip]

European rules

I doubt the rest rules are going to be so onerous that any flying after 10pm is going to be outlawed. And yeah, if a guy is too tired to fly for any reason at any time, he shouldn't be flying. However, you and I were both freight guys flying back of the clock during portions of our careers, and we adjusted our lives accordingly. Howver I can definitely say without hesitation that I was abused and the FARs did nothing to protect me. I don't think the FAA, the unions, or anyone else is going to say that flying is unsafe.

Concerning international flights, although I only have a few hundred hours of experience and less than a year in that area, we have a 3rd or 4th pilot with designated pilot rest areas during breaks (including bunks, sound suppressing and darkening curtains, and/or lay flat seats) to help mitigate the effects of fatigue. I think domestic and international flying need to be handled differently.

So what's the limit of ultimate crew rest? I don't know, but we need something better than we have now. Whatever it ends up being, it's going to be a fuzzy, squiggly line no matter what the FAA (with ALPA input) decides to do because I think when we're talking about what is fatiguing and what isn't, the interpretation is extremely subjective as you point out.

Zantop flew under the European rules on a contract in England, the European rest rules were much different when you flew at night you had limited duty and additional rest. The flights could have done under one flight crew using the US rules, but we had to have two crews and flew every other night.