When you MUST sleep

[WrightAvia]

Whooooo boy... Good thing you're twin rated!

 

[metrodriver]

have your fo fly while you're going to scan the overhead for a while, unless you're single pilot.

 

[avbug]

Red Bull or Go Fast. After the tenth one in a row, you find that you can go solo for a while...after all, it gives you wings.

 

[WrightAvia]

have your fo fly while you're going to scan the overhead for a while, unless you're single pilot.

We don't have an FO, but for safety's sake I set the radar altimeter at it's highest setting, I set the altitude alert of the KLN-89B to it's loudest alarm value and I make sure I set it to my assigned altitude. Also, I find it's just good practice to keep one of the fuel valves off and balance the tanks one at a time (caravan), that way if I have to relight due to running shy of fuel in one tank...I got enough to get back to where I switched tanks last.

In theory...when sombody catches about three REM movements worth of "resting their eyelids"...what's the first thing they look at when their head snaps back up? The DME, the autopilot annunciator, the attitude indicator or the altimeter?

 

[SuperFLUF]

Tylenol makes a product called simply sleep. Its Tylenol PM without the Tylenol.

Whenever I have a short night (scrambling to get 8 hrs in the hotel or less) I pop two of those and hit the sack followed all to quickly by the alarm going off. (It almost seems like the night was shorter when you sleep soundly all night.)
They do leave you with a bit of a "hungover" feeling but its a hell of a lot better than that no sleep feeling.

Quite a few fellow crewmembers have told me that Ambien works great with no hangover but it can be habit forming where as Tylenol PM is not supposed to. (Probably because it doesn't make you feel good.)

 

[avbug]

Or simply notes weather the rocks, trees, and bushes in the windscreen are spinning clockwise, or counterclockwise...

Chew sunflower seeds. Don't unshell them, first. Chew the whole thing. The shells poke your tongue and gums, and keep you awake. It must work. I haven't run into a mountain yet.

 

[banned username 2]

what's the first thing they look at when their head snaps back up?

My Co-Pilot... to see how much drool is on his shirt so I can determine how long we both were asleep.

 

[TurboS7]

Due to the nature of the beast I fly a bunch without sleep and I get to observe my fellow crewmembers who use Ambium and other sleep drugs. Frankly I think that you are better off not using anything and just powering through the day. When I fly to Europe I will use melatonine but I have been using it less and less. I know that I can go a 16 hour day with 3.0 hours of sleep, and I can do fine on 5 hours. The day after the 16 hour I can only go 10 to 12 hours on the 3 and 5. The third day I am so tired I sleep like a baby, so if I have 8.0 hours in the bed I will sleep very hard. We always have 8.0 hours in the bed but as you all know sometimes you just lay there and stare at the ceiling. I think the trance helps though as sometimes I will stare for 3.0 hours and sleep for 3.0 hours and I feel great. The other key is did you dream, if you remember a dream then you got into REM sleep. Reguardless when I have little sleep I am real cranky and I am sure I am no fun to be around. Dicipline when your tired is like pitching a nine inning game, you just have to do it.

 

[Booker]

Tylenol PM

Just FYI, the sleep ingredient in Tylenol PM is dipenhydramine, better known as Benadryl. Not habit forming, but it can leave you quite groggy when you wake up.

 

[spinfreezone]

BEFORE you go to sleep, drink between a pint and a quart of gatorade or water, with two aspirins and a B-complex. The aspirin helps your body process the alcohol more quickly, the gatorade provides re-hydration, salts, and potassium, and the B-Complex seems to soak up the booze.

And you have to get up to wee every 20 minutes.