Can't Sleep

[fly2002]

well i've done the night cargo schedule now for nearly a year. I will leave my company for Mesa Airlines. I can't stand the sleeping in shifts anymore. My schedule has me not working on the back side of the clock...it has me working two clocks. I sleep for 4 hours...wake up....work for 3 more...then TRY and sleep an additional four hours. So two complete "shifts" of sleep.

I haven't seen a cloud i've flown through in over a year. My battery is always half-charged. As mentioned above ...some can handle the wierd sleep....some cannot. I have found myself constantly tired..lacking basic motor skills...dangerous behind the wheel....and that's after landing a 23k pound airplane only minutes before.

I don't even fly much...about 1.8 a day...that isn't anything. It is all handflying....but like people on this board say....it's all about the sleep. What is daylight? What are friends? Family?....all of these things you will miss out on paying the "night cargo" dues. I look like i'm on drugs just going to the store to buy a pack of smokes!!! Geez...i'm trying to think back on this mornings flight....I remember the landing...everything else is seriously a blur.

I cannot even imagine some of the guys on here that attempt to have a "normal" schedule weekend. I ALWAYS stay up till at least 4:30am on the weekends. I can't FORCE myself to sleep...ya just gotta let is happen. Do i close the shades in the day? Yeah....I don't put up blankets/ aluminum etc. like my captain does though. I DO go into hibernation mode though. The apartment has to be cold.....lots of covers on the bed. I even used nyquil for a while...just a really small shot when i got home. By the time it was to sleep...it had taken effect. Ok i'll stop ranting. I am glad i did the night cargo thing though. I'm also glad that i flight instructed for a year as well. Next week is my last week and I am thankful. Clouds...sun...warmth..daytime!!!!! I've learned a lot about myself...and what i want to do with my life as far as flying is concerned. No more cargo....no more night shifts.. If FedEx or UPS call in a few years....they can shove it. That type of flying...while terrific (career goals) for some....it's not for me. Ok...sorry for the rant guys/gals...this thread just kinda sucked me in based on my own experience.
East coast guy

 

[DitchDriver]

Staying awake

A fellow freightdog suggested eating sunflower seeds, worked wonders for me... while bag lasted.

 

[Kaman]

Hello,
A lot of good suggestions here. I came from a military background and primarily operating from carriers. Hence, we all lived by the flight schedule and what I found worked the best when we were really pushing it was to try and establish and maintain a routine. I think that having regular hours will lend itself much better than the crazy hours we had in a CVW.
Most importantly, eat regular meals, sleep when you can get a nap, exercise and try and keep flying in a "box" only opened when you report for duty.
On the subject of naps. You will be amazed at what a 20-minute power nap can do for you. Don't let yourself sleep too long though, the military did some studies that suggested no more than a half-hour on the naps, otherwise you'll be lethargic vice refreshed. Obviously, this is going to vary by the individual, but seemed to work pretty good in actual practice. As a final resort, you could check with your AME and see what he suggests.

Regards,

ex-Navy Rotorhead

 

[de727ups]

"If FedEx or UPS call in a few years"

Don't worry...you don't beg, borrow, and steal for a job like that and it isn't going to happen.

Some of our schedules will kill you but if you are senior enough to hold a clean line then it's usually five or six on, and then you have eight or nine off to be normal. No doubt, night freight four or five days on, two or three off, is a killer. The sleeping three or four hours, twice a day, is too.

With some seniority, though, you can fly days and/or get a lot of time off. I only flew 100 hours block last year and got paid for 975......

 

[Wang Chung]

Don't let yourself sleep too long though, the military did some studies that suggested no more than a half-hour on the naps

The latest recommendations I've seen is to not limit napping time - get as much as you can, when you can. Not sure about the 30-minute studies.

Just leave yourself time to fully awaken after the nap.

...but do whatever works best for you.

 

[freighthumper]

----If your plane has an auto pilot, you can hang a stop watch with a timer alarm around your neck, set it for about 5 to 7 minutes, take a snooze and when the alarm goes off, check that all is well, reset and repeat. If you don't have an autopilot then the altitude alerter will provide one for you ---
You ought to talk to this guy i know who used to do that, and forgot to reset his alarm.......he ended up flying to canada on accident..good thing he woke up eventually

 

[Jmmccutc]

Nyquil...drink the whole damm bottle...

 

[starvingcfi]

just have your gf lie next to you and say "let's cuddle"

you'll pass right out. works every time.

 

[Dave Benjamin]

----If your plane has an auto pilot, you can hang a stop watch with a timer alarm around your neck, set it for about 5 to 7 minutes, take a snooze and when the alarm goes off, check that all is well, reset and repeat. If you don't have an autopilot then the altitude alerter will provide one for you ---

In a human factors class I learned that the really short "catnaps" are not all that productive. I can't find the textbook right now but in order for a nap to be effective I think it needs to be at least 20 minutes. Probably not a good idea if you're single pilot.

Here's a link http://human-factors.arc.nasa.gov/zteam/

 

[trfenwyd]

mmmm....sleep

whatever you do, DONT nap in the airplane.. Make sure you are exercising when you are up, a good diet (NOT ATKINS) and drink plenty of fluids. Also, I stuffed towels in the window to keep out light.

Also, if you're falling asleep in the airplane. Eat and apple, it'll keep you busy and awake for a good 20 minutes. Enough for approach and landing if necessary.

 

[DirkkDiggler]

Jerk off and take a melatonin. works great

 

[FN FAL]

If you don't want to fall asleep while flying, don't read college textbooks. I was holding for 2.5 hours on saturday trying to read that text book in the warm sunlight and it made it really tough to stay awake flying 10 mile legs real slow.

I was so groggy in one turn inbound, I undid altitude hold on the autopilot on the way to hitting the nav button to re-intercept the localizer. I caught it, but it sure gives you the shivers.

I could imagine a tired frieght dog accidently hitting the appch button instead of the nav button to fly the inbound legs of a hold, then taking a cat nap to the end of an undesired ILS...followed shortly there after by a dirt nap.

 

[CUEBOAT]

Aluminum Foil over your window and Duct Tape works wonders, i've been doing it for alomst a year now.