about sleeping

[rettofly]

Re: thanks

About long-term effects: I thought that as long as you get enough sleep, it doesn't matter when you do it. But it would be good if cruxx or somebody (maybe me) could find that study.

I flew nonsched for almost 2 years. For me, the problem was my inability to sleep after 10AM. I'd get in around 0500 from an all-nighter, grab some breakfast and a shower, and off to bed as my bride was heading off to work.
Hang out during the day, do some chores, try to catch a nap and listen for the phone or the pager. Not much sleep there. Usual drill was for the pager to wake up about halfway through supper, so the meals AND sleep were interrupted.
Scared myself silly one night coming back to base with no F/O (we had high turnover). Lost 12 minutes in IMC with no autopilot. Told Dispatch when I phoned in my arrival that I would no longer do single pilot trips that had a chance of ending after midnight.

 

[Wang Chung]

About long-term effects: I thought that as long as you get enough sleep, it doesn't matter when you do it. But it would be good if cruxx or somebody (maybe me) could find that study

Maybe I can find that someplace in my human factors stuff.

There is a brand new book coming out (it should be available any time now- I have it on order from the publisher, www.ashgate.com) called Fatigue in Avation: A guide to Staying Awake at the Stick. The authors are military aviation human factors/psychology researchers, and the book should be an outstanding reference for aviation fatigue research (It is written for pilots, not academic poindexters if I understand correctly).

It might be worth ordering, but only if you're a human factors geek like me. Managers and ops people won't give a rat's ass, that's for sure.

Wang

 

[spitfire1940]

Wang--you're right that management doesn't give a rat's patootie (apologies to spelling nazis if I mucked that up). I know that sometimes I can't drive without falling asleep after 11pm. I would guess that flying through a thunderstorm would help keep you awake at the stick.

rettofly--you believe in guardian angels? 12 minutes?! Scared silly is a mild way of putting it. Guess you had it trimmed out pretty darn good. thanks for the story. Glad you're still among us.

Any of you read "Spirit of St. Louis" by Charles Lindburgh? He hadn't slept in more than 20 hours when he took off for his 33 hour NY-Paris flight. Lots of hallucinations and "lost minutes" on the first non-stop transatlantic. No wonder they called him Lucky Lindy.

 

[rettofly]

rettofly--you believe in guardian angels? 12 minutes?! Scared silly is a mild way of putting it. Guess you had it trimmed out pretty darn good. thanks for the story. Glad you're still among us.

I do believe! Ultra-smooth IMC over VA / WV en route to TYS. Thank God the ol' Bandit holds trim really well.

 

[Xfr8dog]

Two things thats helped me considerably are #1- spending the cash on a REALLY comfortable bed. When i get home and go to sleep on that thing I can get really long nights or (see #2) days of sleep... #2- I "blacked out" for all intents and purposes my bedroom, hung on old heavily painted canvas over the one window so it blocks out the sun better than a hotel room curtain. The combination lends itself to many long hours of sleep. Supposedly you can "catch up" to a certain extent.

Another thing a person might do is cut out alcohol. When youre under the influence you never get to the REM, or really deep sleep that your body needs to rejuvenate itself... of course i dont know many freight dogs that are able to do that...

 

[boxjockey]

Amen to that which is holy!!! BEEEEERRRRRR!!!!

Box

 

[wingnutt]

Re: thanks

Fly freight and never see them...

...i wouldnt say its quite that bad. the first company i flew for was mostly day stuff. the downside was that i would only end up seeing the family once a day; either just before they went to bed, or right after they woke up...but never both, unless it was a weekend

the second company was alot more night stuff, but it was all scheduled and like previously mentioned, a nice dark window covering did me wonders. id come home about 9am, see the family for an hour or two, sleep like a banshee, then see the family for another hour or two before heading out the door about 9pm. as far as things go, that worked out quite well.

the third company was the hardest. i was hired directly as a floater and life as i knew it went out the window. it was fun in the aspect that i had alot of time off with the family, but was basically a 24 hour on-call pilot. there was absolutely no-way to plan sleep, in fact most of the routes ended up splitting your sleep in half...4-5 hours in one city and 4-5 hours in another. that was the worst in my opinion.

to answer the question, i didnt have too much of a problem getting back on normal sleep schedules, it might have taken one day for me to adjust back, but never more than that. i had alot of fun in cargo, it actaully opened alot of doors which allowed me to get out and find a life. ive now got a week on/week off schedule that absolutely rocks

 

[spitfire1940]

Looks like painting the windows black is a must for daytime sleeping. I figure with the kids at school, there shouldn't be too much noise--so maybe it should work. Never know till you try. thanks to all who replied

 

[icefr8dawg]

autopilots and sleep

Anyone had the pleasure of waking up in the "to/from bank" as you pass the station still asleep? I think the ARC/Sperry autopilots in the old 310's do it best?


There is so much to say for the scheduled verses on demand cargo world. I never fell asleep during a scheduled run but used to do on demand/pager stuff in a smooth running/flying 402 that would put me to sleep quite easily. I think it was the more than adequate heat in the 402 compared to the 310's miserable heater. Not to mention the comfy cabin.

D

 

[uscpilot]

Re: autopilots and sleep

There is so much to say for the scheduled verses on demand cargo world. I never fell asleep during a scheduled run but used to do on demand/pager stuff in a smooth running/flying 402 that would put me to sleep quite easily. I think it was the more than adequate heat in the 402 compared to the 310's miserable heater. Not to mention the comfy cabin.

D

You sure it wasnt the crack in the good ole janitrol heater that was putting you to sleep? I was using mine the other night when I was cleared ..... ..... and then I woke up when the heater overtemped. I wish I could get those two hours back.
Kidding.
usc