Mesa/Go HI sleepy fallout = FAA BS

[Soverytired]

1. This certainly won't further the cause of more sane FAA rest requirements. 15 hrs is plenty, unless there's some sort of flip/flop scheduling going on . . . not here, apparently.

2. The non-sleep APNEA pilot doesn't have a leg to stand on, and good riddance to him/her. There are many pilot errors I'd be willing to give a one time pass on (cuz we're all human and no one was hurt), but falling asleep on a 15 minute flight isn't one of them.

3. The sleep APNEA pilot case is more interesting. I wonder if he'll have grounds to get a job back at Mesa (i.e. fired for a unknown medical condition), if he'll get workers comp, or ever get a medical back?

It also seems curious that the FAA suspended the ticket of a guy with sleep apnea. Maybe they thought he should have self-diagnosed himself earlier and gone to the doctor?

My money, however, is on the APNEA pilot going cheap and using Mesa-ALPA legal counsel. In my humble OPINION, this is never your best option, particularly when you're in this kind of trouble.

 

[Salukipilot4590]

narcolepsy is when you fall asleep instantly, you're standing there and then lights out. sleep apnea is a disruption of sleep causing lack of quality rest.

Totally agree...I was just diagnosed with sleep apnea due to my tonsils (They were F'kin HUGE! Like golf ball huge!) about 2 weeks ago. Had to have "emergency" surgery to get them out on the 11th and now feel like a completely different person.

I imagine the same for that guy or something along those lines. If you feel you arent getting quality sleep go see a Dr. about it...you might need to get fixed up!

 

[Stifler's Mom]

3. The sleep APNEA pilot case is more interesting. I wonder if he'll have grounds to get a job back at Mesa (i.e. fired for a unknown medical condition), if he'll get workers comp, or ever get a medical back?

It also seems curious that the FAA suspended the ticket of a guy with sleep apnea. Maybe they thought he should have self-diagnosed himself earlier and gone to the doctor?

I'll tell you what. I bet there are many of us out there that have this condition and are totally unaware of it.

A major clue for anybody, is if they snore when they sleep. Snoring is your airway closing while you are breathing, and your body reacts by waking yourself up just enough to reopen the airway. (ie, you never get quality rest while you are asleep)

(They were F'kin HUGE! Like golf ball huge!)

That's what she said. (Sorry, couldn't have a completely serious response)

 

[pdub20s]

I know the FO...When I was going through initial ground, he was staying in the same hotel as us ERJ guys. He use to go party and get slammed drunk the night before a in-doc or systems test(surprisingly he aced em) and we would have to drag him out of bed to get him to the hotel van. He almost got us into a fight at a bar one night cuz he was hitting on this guys chick. I am not surprised to read he was the FO. He had received a few talks from our union reps about his professionalism.... It finally caught up with him

 

[Ratherbsurfing]

How is that FAA BS?

They fell asleep with 40 people on board and could have continued straight out to sea until the low fuel warnings woke them up when it was too late. They did something wrong and they got punished. I don't care if its Mesa Airlines or my own airline, that's not BS, that's the way the world works.

Amen. They screwed up, got disciplined, and have to go on living. Hopefully they take more responsibility for their actions than Avi8tor2000 evidently would. And they're only done in aviation if they give up.

 

[Ezralite]

Mesa.......

.....sucks

 

[Soverytired]

I know the FO...When I was going through initial ground, he was staying in the same hotel as us ERJ guys. He use to go party and get slammed drunk the night before a in-doc or systems test(surprisingly he aced em) and we would have to drag him out of bed to get him to the hotel van. He almost got us into a fight at a bar one night cuz he was hitting on this guys chick. I am not surprised to read he was the FO. He had received a few talks from our union reps about his professionalism.... It finally caught up with him

Interesting. I'm glad someone at least had the cojones to bring professional standards into the picture so he at least had some chance to realize that he was screwing up. It's hard to turn in another pilot for anything, but professional standards is a great place to start.

Sad thing . . there are a small amount of these types of pilots at all airlines. All ages too; some guys just never grow up. What a waste of a good career.