No pressure fatigue calls?

[Flybywire44]

Would someone PM the link to the FRF form that the Safety Dept sends out?

 

[FishandFly]

Believe it or not, many fatigue calls are not fatigue. How mny fatigued pilots have called in fatigued on their last leg home. I'd be willing to bet, none. But because a few pilots do take advantage we are all under more scrutiny. Fatigue does happen, and if you are genuinely fatigued you can call in legitimately. Just be prepared to answer a few questions, no big deal. Also, the FAA has become interested in fatigue. One of the reasons why we are asked the circumstances behind it is for the FAA data base.

The fact that pilots don't call in fatigued on their last leg means they should have called in fatigued on the outbound leg before the leg home.

Should anything happen that is contributed to pilot fatigue, I think the lawsuits that will follow have significant merit. Our CPO has openly hammered people for calling in fatigued for months and now they are officially fighting it.

For those of you who know about this kind of stuff, should the safety dept rif say that this report is also being forwarded to ASAP and the local FSDO. Can we openly document the interaction with the CPO?

 

[FightingIrish]

But Irish, both of those guys may have been fatigued. In regard to operating the aircraft it doesn't matter how they came to be fatigued-they did the right thing. I agree that perhaps they should act like adults in order to not be in that situation (and not get paid for it), but you should give them props for doing the right thing once they realized they had screwed up.

Doesn't the company then have the right to investigate and see if the pilot was being responsible by not showing up rested? Should these pilots just get a free pass even though it was their fault that they were fatigued?

The two cases IMHO are different. The outstation issue was I believe pilot induced fatigue. The Dallas commuter I believe was using fatigue as an issue because he was ticked off at the company. We do ourselves no favor by using fatigue as a way to "screw the man".

A few bad apples are making us all jump through the hoops. If you are legitimately fatigued, you don't have anything to worry about. The company is even paying some people when they don't have to.

 

[FightingIrish]

Believe it or not, many fatigue calls are not fatigue. How mny fatigued pilots have called in fatigued on their last leg home. I'd be willing to bet, none.

We had one recently that involved a commuter calling in fatigued after only 3 short legs and a long overnight with a late day duty in. Doing his last roundtrip would have caused him to miss his last flight home that night. The problem is, this puts even more pressure on the other pilots. Somebody has to do these flights. We do have a schedule to complete.

 

[SLUF4]

So what are the limits and who decides them? If a pilot is on a trip one leg to the outstation and gets there at 9am, there all day and has a 0500 duty in and can't sleep does he get paid? What if there are kids running up and down in the hall? What if you do an adrenaline inducing approach and have an 8 hour layover and can't sleep? Would you get paid then? There are way too many scenarios to discuss here of course. The point is that there are many ways to become fatigued even on your first day of a trip after being off a few weeks.

 

[COOPERVANE]

I like the terms "pilot induced fatigue" and "company/schedule induced fatigue"

If your baby is up all night screaming and you got NO sleep, are you fatigued? Of course. But that is "pilot" induced and not the fault of the company.

If at an overnight a soccer team keeps kicking the ball up and down the halls all night long and you get no rest, is that fatigue? Of course. But it is clearly not your fault. Hell, it's not really the company's fault either. But fatigued is fatigued.

If you stayed out too late drinking on an overnight, I might ask you to call in SICK. and IRRESPONSIBLE, but not fatigued.

Look, this is the ONE tool we have to say uncle, and it used to be no questions, no foul in the past. But we are screwing ourselves by abusing it.

 

[Tarzan]

Look, this is the ONE tool we have to say uncle, and it used to be no questions, no foul in the past. But we are screwing ourselves by abusing it.

Therein lies the problem.

 

[ASA_Aviator]

I like the terms "pilot induced fatigue" and "company/schedule induced fatigue"

If your baby is up all night screaming and you got NO sleep, are you fatigued? Of course. But that is "pilot" induced and not the fault of the company.

If at an overnight a soccer team keeps kicking the ball up and down the halls all night long and you get no rest, is that fatigue? Of course. But it is clearly not your fault. Hell, it's not really the company's fault either. But fatigued is fatigued.

If you stayed out too late drinking on an overnight, I might ask you to call in SICK. and IRRESPONSIBLE, but not fatigued.

Look, this is the ONE tool we have to say uncle, and it used to be no questions, no foul in the past. But we are screwing ourselves by abusing it.

The questions aren't to give you a hard time. The company is doing research to see how to mitigate the fatigue issues. They are even convening groups of reserve pilots to discuss the issue, and looking into software to evaluate trips to reduce circadian rhythm swaps.

Just because someone asks you about your fatigue, that doesn't mean you are being pressured, or disciplined. The safety department wants the form filled out to help with determining the risk to the operation.

Believe me folks, if the safety department feels that there is a substantial risk, things will get changed. The only way to determine the risk is to compile data. Be honest, and report what you're seeing out there, reserve guys. It will be a good tool for you to speak directly to the management about the issue.

 

[SLUF4]

I agree with ASA Aviator, but they have been collecting data for what, 2 years now? When are the changes coming?

 

[COOPERVANE]

ASA Aviator,

I completely agree with you. I don't think the company is doing it to give you a hard time. The company NEEDS to gather data about fatigue so they can avoid those types of schedules.

What I am saying is I HOPE the only ones getting a hearing (and given a hard time) are the ones who drank too much last night or had to pick their roommate up at a bar at 2 AM. Sorry....not valid