Sleeping... Pilots?

[SCCutler]

Captain and FO, both asleep in Denver airspace...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,307019,00.html

[rottydaddy]

Hmmm... they may have to start equipping "Otto" with a sharp stick...

[Ken]

This is three and a half years old and it's never come to light? Ya gotta give them credit for sweeping this under for so long!

The little bit from the report make it sound like the whole event is excusable.

[Dave Taylor]

I always say to whomever is my copilot, "Don't let me wake up and catch you sleeping!"

[Bill Jennings]

Originally Posted by SCCutler

Captain and FO, both asleep in Denver airspace...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,307019,00.html

This doesn't bode well for the NASA ASRS program. If pilots start getting called to the carpet in the media (and/or elsewhere), these reports are going to drop to zero.

[Ken Ibold]

I can see it now. The government that gave you ELTs that don't work will now mandate a "snooze button" feature that will induce you to punch a button on the panel every 10 minutes to acknowledge that you're not asleep. Coming soon to a TSO near you!!

[Skip Miller]

Originally Posted by Ken Ibold

I can see it now. The government that gave you ELTs that don't work will now mandate a "snooze button" feature that will induce you to punch a button on the panel every 10 minutes to acknowledge that you're not asleep. Coming soon to a TSO near you!!

...and hooked to an air horn in the cockpit if you fail to push the button on schedule.

HONK! OK, I'm awake!!!!

-Skip

[Grrrrrrrr]

Originally Posted by Ken Ibold

I can see it now. The government that gave you ELTs that don't work will now mandate a "snooze button" feature that will induce you to punch a button on the panel every 10 minutes to acknowledge that you're not asleep. Coming soon to a TSO near you!!

Actually, I'd kinda like that in my car sometimes, on long trips.

[Tony]

Originally Posted by Bill Jennings

This doesn't bode well for the NASA ASRS program. If pilots start getting called to the carpet in the media (and/or elsewhere), these reports are going to drop to zero.

this report was from a telephone survey that NASA did of pilots over the last few years, it is completely seperate from the ASRS program.

[Skip Miller]

Originally Posted by Ken Ibold

I can see it now. The government that gave you ELTs that don't work will now mandate a "snooze button" feature that will induce you to punch a button on the panel every 10 minutes to acknowledge that you're not asleep. Coming soon to a TSO near you!!

I know you have never done this, Ken... but have you ever seen your wife repeatedly push the snooze alarm without really waking up?

-Skip

[Ken Ibold]

Originally Posted by Skip Miller

I know you have never done this, Ken... but have you ever seen your wife repeatedly push the snooze alarm without really waking up?

Every day, Skip. I've resorted to sending the dog in. Dog breath seems to be extraordinarily effective.

[Greg Bockelman]

Originally Posted by Ken Ibold

I can see it now. The government that gave you ELTs that don't work will now mandate a "snooze button" feature that will induce you to punch a button on the panel every 10 minutes to acknowledge that you're not asleep. Coming soon to a TSO near you!!

Already here in the 777. At about 10 minutes we get a message on our screen that says "Pilot Response". Moving almost any control will cancel it. If that doesn't happen we get an aural warning. If we don't respond to that, shortly thereafter, we get another aural warning that is louder. Kind of hard to sleep through that.

[SCCutler]

Originally Posted by Greg Bockelman

Already here in the 777. At about 10 minutes we get a message on our screen that says "Pilot Response". Moving almost any control will cancel it. If that doesn't happen we get an aural warning. If we don't respond to that, shortly thereafter, we get another aural warning that is louder. Kind of hard to sleep through that.

...not that you've ever heard it, right, Greg?

[Greg Bockelman]

Originally Posted by SCCutler

...not that you've ever heard it, right, Greg?

LOL. Don't have to be asleep to hear it. Just don't do anything with the airplane for 15 minutes. Not hard on a trans Pacific flight between reporting points.

[Cap'n Ron]

Since it was reported to NASA and the pilots' company, I can't see how this was "swept under the rug." And it ain't the first time it's happened, either. I know of one involving a 727 going HOU-MSY very late at night, and all three guys fell asleep. One of them woke up about 100 east of JAX with nothing but black out front and silence on the radios. They just barely made it back to JAX!

[Skip Miller]

Originally Posted by Greg Bockelman

Moving almost any control will cancel it

The dog will let you touch something?

-Skip

(Old joke, I know... but I couldn't resist!)

[Greg Bockelman]

lol..

[Checkout_my_Six]

They shouldn't have had the pasta......

[Bill Jennings]

Originally Posted by Greg Bockelman

Already here in the 777. At about 10 minutes we get a message on our screen that says "Pilot Response". Moving almost any control will cancel it. If that doesn't happen we get an aural warning. If we don't respond to that, shortly thereafter, we get another aural warning that is louder. Kind of hard to sleep through that.

So, you guys can nap in 20min shifts.

[PJ Gustafson]

Actually, railroad engineers are required to radio in and report every so many miles to make sure taht they're not asleep. Perhaps they should take that pilot response feature from the 777 and apply it to other aircraft...

[iAm a Suspected Terrorist, I am an airline passenger]

Originally Posted by Ken Ibold

I can see it now. The government that gave you ELTs that don't work will now mandate a "snooze button" feature that will induce you to punch a button on the panel every 10 minutes to acknowledge that you're not asleep. Coming soon to a TSO near you!!

Like the dead man switches that the train engineers have.

[CountryAir]

Originally Posted by Greg Bockelman

Already here in the 777. At about 10 minutes we get a message on our screen that says "Pilot Response". Moving almost any control will cancel it. If that doesn't happen we get an aural warning. If we don't respond to that, shortly thereafter, we get another aural warning that is louder. Kind of hard to sleep through that.

Hook a TENS unit (set to stun) to your leg which contracts the muscles which kicks the rudder...all involuntarily and completely autonomic. ZZZZZZZZZZZ

[CountryAir]

Both of us slept our way across most of OK on the way to Ada. I drowsily woke up and spotted our destination but it took the mental power of both of us to figure we should probably start to descend. We overflew to about 08 nm past and then turned around to make an uneventful landing. Neither of us were in the mood to push the nose over very much. Long legs on the back side of the clock caused that.

A local pilot returning from a flight to upstate NY had fallen asleep and woke up almost 20 nm out to sea. He made it back in one piece. Lucky him.

Fatigue is the method. **** poor planning is the culprit.

[Greg Kainz]

I used to slip up forward in the Hawkeye and catch both guys asleep at the wheel, and George doing a 4.0 job keeping us straight and level (a rare occurrance THAT was!), especially on the oh-dark-thirty launches. Fortunately for us, we usually flew a 100nm racetrack pattern, so no course reversal was a pretty good hint to slip forward and check on the crew. The aileron bell crank came thu the back cockpit bulkhead and usually got someone's attention when wiggled ... sometimes a bit more vigorous wiggle was required, depending on how warm the sunshine thru the windscreen and how early the briefing was ... :-)

[Grant Prellwitz]

I know some commercial pilots who talk about setting COM2 to the ATIS freq at the destination and turning it up REAL LOUD to make sure they're awake. Can't see trying it, myself!