Blue Dude
Well-known member
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2003
- Posts
- 848
I don't think anyone is trying to minimize the effect of fatigue on transcon turns. If there's one good argument against it, that's it. But dragging out the dreaded VOR 13L into JFK as an argument against is pretty weak. That approach is practically a visual, into a flat terrain airport with beaucoup visual aids. I'd be far more scared of a straight-in ILS to minimums.
I don't think we'll ever see transcon turns. It's just possible to get away with it under the best of circumstances, but I think it would be too unreliable for any kind of consistency. 11 to 12 hrs of flight time? I don't think so.
What I do see happening are pairings that are something like FL to JFK/BOS, to the west coast. Overnight and return the same way. That's maybe 16 to 20 hours of flying in two days, four legs, right side of the clock. And there are lots of possible combinations that would work. Max of say, 10 hrs of flying per day, two legs a day, no redeyes. This is close to what you could do under JAR rules. It also has the attraction that if something goes wrong with the schedule (bad wx, mx, etc.), you're in or near a base in the middle of the day instead of at the outstation with no alternatives. This seems far more tolerant of normal disruptions than transcon turns.
I don't think we'll ever see transcon turns. It's just possible to get away with it under the best of circumstances, but I think it would be too unreliable for any kind of consistency. 11 to 12 hrs of flight time? I don't think so.
What I do see happening are pairings that are something like FL to JFK/BOS, to the west coast. Overnight and return the same way. That's maybe 16 to 20 hours of flying in two days, four legs, right side of the clock. And there are lots of possible combinations that would work. Max of say, 10 hrs of flying per day, two legs a day, no redeyes. This is close to what you could do under JAR rules. It also has the attraction that if something goes wrong with the schedule (bad wx, mx, etc.), you're in or near a base in the middle of the day instead of at the outstation with no alternatives. This seems far more tolerant of normal disruptions than transcon turns.