ASA pilot says Long Commutes not Fatiguing

[COOPERVANE]

Have you driven in ATL traffic? I think 2+ hour commute is WAAAAAY more "relaxing" than a 1 hour drive in this hellhole of traffic. I'm about ready to strangle puppies when I drive that much here.

That is partly what he is saying

 

[Max Q]

I would enjoy watching ASA try to find parking spots for more local, non-commuters.

 

[EatinRamen]

I used to drive 1.5 hrs to commute to work in TPA. Now I sit for 2 hours in the back of the plane when I commute to my new base. I wholly agree that I am more rested sitting in the back of the plane.

Yes, I am one of those people who can sleep on the plane. So if I need a nap to keep me fresh I have the option to do so on a plane. Not so when I was driving. If anything, I would be more stressed out dealing with stupid drivers on I4.

Some of you jerks need to realize that our commuting priveledges may be at risk, and we need to make sure that regulators and the general public aren't fed fuel to spark the fire against us doing so.

 

[PeanuckleCRJ]

Have you driven in ATL traffic? I think 2+ hour commute is WAAAAAY more "relaxing" than a 1 hour drive in this hellhole of traffic. I'm about ready to strangle puppies when I drive that much here.

Haha! Oh so true.... some ghetto chick talking on her cell phone in the fast lane doing 55 mph all the way around 285.

It's pretty obvious that this ASA guy was trying to defend commuters, which I think is pretty smart. There are much bigger bridges we need to cross before regulating commuting- like realistic rest regulations and improving airline training and hiring requirements. That being said, I half expect the government to take the easy way out and do this thereby screwing the rich overpaid pilots. ( of course copilots don't matter- they don't fly the airplane).

 

[ATR-DRIVR]

I can guarantee you that the government is going to try to go after and regulate commuting. I don't know about you but there are very few cities in which any of the airlines operate hubs that I would want to live in. I live where I want to live and I don't want that to change because of this accident. Everyone needs to pick up the same rhetoric as this guy. Commuting is VERY relaxing!

They do and the airline industry will shut down....

 

[ASACAPT]

I have commuted for 9 years from Florida to Atlanta. If you do it responsibly, as I have, going up the night before for early duty inn's, it can be done safely. I don't think that we can judge all commuters as irresponsible because we have a few bad apples. It is time for everybody to take a deep breath.

 

[Rez O. Lewshun]

Willing to bet his statements were taken out of context.....

 

[HOMER D POE]

you can't deny that commuting due to fatigue was a causal factor in this crash. you can deny it but you can't dismiss it. i know a guy that lives in the JFK crew room for five days at a time. this is appalling. He is not alone. this is the dirty little secret, not low pay, but they're related

 

[lineflyer1]

Lets see,

What I hear is driving your car can be as stressful and tiring as commuting.

Yep, I get good rest when I ride the jumpseat.

It's my right to make my life better by commuting all night, to work and kill myself and 50 others because I'm too fatigued to watch an airspeed indicator.

Ok.

 

[BOX OFFICE]

Isn't Tom Z an ALPA national officer? He is saying what he's supposed to say, toeing the ALPA party line. Move along, nothing to see here...

 

[blesko]

Though I agree that someone needed to say that commuting is fine and tell congress to stuff it, yadda yadda, I dont think I've seen TZ fly a month after month of line flying like the rest of us (lately), so really, thems that dont on a regular basis might not be the voice of the rest of us?

Aren't we really supposed to be professionals? How about travel surgeons that staff hospitals when regular doctors are on vacation and commute in the same day and do surgery, Yes, that does happen. Should we look into them too?

We need our leaders not to take selfish standpoints, get a GROUP together and speak for the masses. What he should have said is at my airline, XX percent of pilots commute and a poll says these results........its the all about me mentality anymore....isn't the "union" about a group not individuality? just curious

 

[wms]

I'm a commuter and am no more tired at the end of the day when I commute in than if I have an early duty-in and stayed up too late watching TV in the hotel.

How many of us have short nights or not enough sleep the night before our trip. Commuter or not, you've stayed out too late with some friends, or stayed up late with sick kids or been out on a date with the wife or just couldn't get to sleep for whatever reason. But we continue to fly the trip because most of us work for airlines that discipline you for doing the right thing by asking to get pulled off the trip for fatigue.

Whatever the reason might be for not having enough rest before a trip, it's not the first 8 hours that are hard. It's the 12th or the 15th or 16th. Even if you are well-rested when you come to work, those days are hard and unsafe. The first problem with fatigue is overlooking small details, and the small details have led to big accidents. Commuting is not the problem. The problem is long duty days with no time to catch up, followed and preceded by short nights, whether at home or in the hotel.

Look at the accidents that are related to this and they didn't happen early in the duty day. They happened at the end of the day or on a backside-of-the-clock trip that was out of sync with the rest of the pilot's schedule.

It's not a commuting issue, it's a "the way the airlines schedule issue". The airlines know this and are going to do anything they can to keep the FAA from addressing flight crew scheduling and fatigue issues.

It's in our best interest to keep this in perspective.

 

[wms]

Maybe they should take the TVs out of crewmembers' hotel rooms, do room-checks the night before to make sure they're in bed, force them to live in the neighborhood where they are based so they don't drive more than an hour to work, etc. Make sure the kids don't come into the room at night and wake them. make sure the wife doesn't get sick and all other imaginable things that might keep someone from getting a good rest before work. If you fly red-eyes, you can't have a day job, you can't cut the grass, wash the car or run errands during the day, etc. Like I said, the issue isn't commuting.

 

[ASABound]

Commuting wasnt the problem in the Colgan Accident. The problem was a capt who should have never been in the lieft seat to begin with, and a co pilot who wasnt assertive.

 

[crj567]

Haha! Oh so true.... some ghetto chick talking on her cell phone in the fast lane doing 55 mph all the way around 285.
.

Yep- ATL is not a good place to drive. Here, people really do try and hit you. They really do get in the fast lane and drive 40 mph, while weaving thru three lanes of traffic.

I don't recommend driving around this place any more than possible. Other cities have bad traffic, but ATL has bad traffic with hate for whitey, press-on-nails and a bad weave! You best watch yo-self around here!