Colgan Mgt on fatigue: no serious concerns.

[Slick]

From the Wallstreet Journal:
(quote) Despite workdays that can last 16 hours, "I don't have any serious concerns about fatigue with this airline," Colgan's vice president of flight safety, Daniel Morgan, told the board Wednesday.

(http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124222144768115205.html)

I wonder how alert these board members feel at midnight, after starting their work day at 8am, (16 hours earlier).

 

[IslandDriver]

Well...lets look at other industries. Resident Doctors make 25 K a year and often work for 24hours on duty....or more. How about Nurses who do double shifts...that is 16 hours and they are on their feet for the whole time....How about Police or Fire Fighters. Many of them work 24 hour shifts.....

These are all saftey related jobs....

Many of us worked at regionals..long hours commuted and worked other jobs...and Thank God we did not kill anyone...it comes down to being a proffesional and showing up ready for work...If you do not like the conditions or the job...this is America...a free society...leave your empoyment.

Is there room for improvement....sure.....but be real....no one can make the regionals pay more.

 

[Flyprdu]

Well...lets look at other industries. Resident Doctors make 25 K a year and often work for 24hours on duty....or more. How about Nurses who do double shifts...that is 16 hours and they are on their feet for the whole time....How about Police or Fire Fighters. Many of them work 24 hour shifts.....

These are all saftey related jobs....

Many of us worked at regionals..long hours commuted and worked other jobs...and Thank God we did not kill anyone...it comes down to being a proffesional and showing up ready for work...If you do not like the conditions or the job...this is America...a free society...leave your empoyment.

Is there room for improvement....sure.....but be real....no one can make the regionals pay more.

You are a regional CEO's wet dream.

 

[XJohXJ]

Well...lets look at other industries. Resident Doctors make 25 K a year and often work for 24hours on duty....or more. How about Nurses who do double shifts...that is 16 hours and they are on their feet for the whole time....How about Police or Fire Fighters. Many of them work 24 hour shifts.....

These are all saftey related jobs....

Many of us worked at regionals..long hours commuted and worked other jobs...and Thank God we did not kill anyone...it comes down to being a proffesional and showing up ready for work...If you do not like the conditions or the job...this is America...a free society...leave your empoyment.

Is there room for improvement....sure.....but be real....no one can make the regionals pay more.

Give me a friggin break. You say: "leave your employment". Have you missed the last year or so? What do you do after you just "leave your employment"? The job market's not so hot, haven't you noticed?

I don't know about you, but in the America I live in, I prefer that people stick up for themselves and fight to improve the conditions in the jobs they have. That's what adults do.

 

[indianboy7]

Policemen, firefighters, doctors and nurses aren't in a position to kill hundreds of people at a time. They also have much more support in an emergency situation.

For pilots, there are only two people who can prevent errors and recover from them. Fatigue on only one pilot effectively reduces response capability by more than 50%. If one firefighter screws up because he is tired, only 5% is taken out.

When everything is normal and not stressful, fatigue is a minor inconvenience. The problem arises when normal becomes hectic and suddenly we're not capable of handling the problem. If we do everything we can to minimize fatigue in the first place, the hectic times will be handled much better...

 

[IBNAV8R]

Well...lets look at other industries. Resident Doctors make 25 K a year and often work for 24hours on duty....or more. How about Nurses who do double shifts...that is 16 hours and they are on their feet for the whole time....How about Police or Fire Fighters. Many of them work 24 hour shifts.....

These are all saftey related jobs....

Many of us worked at regionals..long hours commuted and worked other jobs...and Thank God we did not kill anyone...it comes down to being a proffesional and showing up ready for work...If you do not like the conditions or the job...this is America...a free society...leave your empoyment.

Is there room for improvement....sure.....but be real....no one can make the regionals pay more.

Medical errors kill 120,000 people per year. Perhaps not a good comparison.

 

[makersmarc]

Well...lets look at other industries. Resident Doctors make 25 K a year and often work for 24hours on duty....or more.

What you have stated, while true at one time, is simply no longer the case. I think you need to check your facts.

Residents usually make in the 40's. There are STRICT limits on duty time.

I found this article after about 20 seconds of research:
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/359/25/2633

There are many more similar articles. While residents may be on duty for 80 hours a week, that is averaged over two weeks and INCLUDES "on call," the physician equivalent to a reserve window.

When this was first brought up as a solution administrators loudly protested that they would have to hire staff to fill in for the times that residents were not available. They would no longer have a cheap supply of physician labor, and their costs would go up. Guess what? It all worked out okay, hospitals didn't close their doors, executive compensation remained the same, yada, yada, yada.

I fully expect the same vociferous complaints from airline management that health care administrators made. The fact remains that more pilots will be needed, compensation will need to be raised, and some industry-wide adjustment will need to be made in the itinerant nature of our pilot workforce.

 

[WSurf]

Amtrack Train driver. Max Duty day 12hrs.

 

[flynryan15]

What really needs to happen here is Colgan crews call in fatigue! If they have worked you to the bone use the new fatigue awareness program and make the call! This should be happening industry wide, and if people are getting disciplined let it be know!

We front and center on this stage right now folks and we have a big audience! This is our chance to get something done!

 

[DX Rick]

Well...lets look at other industries. Resident Doctors make 25 K a year and often work for 24hours on duty....or more. How about Nurses who do double shifts...that is 16 hours and they are on their feet for the whole time....How about Police or Fire Fighters. Many of them work 24 hour shifts.....

These are all saftey related jobs....
.

Nurses and Doctors, yes they can work between 16-24 hours per shift. But the hospital also supplies rooms with plenty of beds so they can take a nap if they'd like.
Firefighters also have a room where they can sleep, because there is no way in hell they're fighting fires for 24 hours.
As for police officers being on duty for 24 hours, never heard of it. Not saying it's not possible, but never heard of it. So it must not be that commom. And I have 3 friends that are cops, 1 is SWAT.

 

[flynryan15]

How about this instead of looking to justify a 16hr duty day because another career field may work that long. TAKE a stand and improve the career field you got into!

 

[JA PILOT]

In my opinion, Colgan Management murdered that poor girl and those pax for only for a $16,000 a year job. It cost them nothing to do it, if you account all the money the airlines stuffed in there pockets for decades.
The shame is that most people in America will never realize the truth because, we only care about the get rich or die trying mentality which we believe everyone is entitled too.

 

[CopilotDoug]

What really needs to happen here is Colgan crews call in fatigue! If they have worked you to the bone use the new fatigue awareness program and make the call! This should be happening industry wide, and if people are getting disciplined let it be know!

It's a golden opportunity, especially with all the media attention on Colgan and the regionals. Are pilots going to take a stance against fatigue, or continue to live in fear of management? What would your Union tell you to do?

 

[CopilotDoug]

The shame is that most people in America will never realize the truth because, we only care about the get rich or die trying mentality which we believe everyone is entitled too.

we only care about that $49.99 ticket

 

[flynryan15]

It's a golden opportunity, especially with all the media attention on Colgan and the regionals. Are pilots going to take a stance against fatigue, or continue to live in fear of management? What would your Union tell you to do?

I know before I was furloughed XJTALPA was very Pro fatigue call.

 

[Propsync]

In my opinion, Colgan Management murdered that poor girl and those pax for only for a $16,000 a year job.
The shame is that most people in America will never realize the truth because, we only care about the get rich or die trying mentality which we believe everyone is entitled too.

I respect your opinion but disagree. It is one's choice to commute, not required. Regardless of pay, that is the decision of many, majors included. I may seem biased, but I spent all of my glorious days as a regional pilot in base. I couldn't wrap my head around traveling around in airplanes on my days off. I understand cost of living concerns, but if you can't handle the commute and show up shredded, you shouldn't be working, period. That responsibility is on the person to be fit. I quit my gig after eight straight months of 100 hrs. block. I was shredded, I quit.