Roflkopt3r
February 09, 2011, 09:12 AM
The crucial point here is that this title isn't "one or two pilots admitted this", we're talking about totally different levels of scale...
http://theforeigner.no/pages/news/hundreds-of-norwegian-pilots-admit-in-flight-sleeping/
Out of 389 Norwegian pilots, 206 admitted to already have fallen asleep during flight without warning their co-pilot. Now this is scary, isn't it?
Head of norwegian pilots organisation says, that pilots easily work 60 hours a week, and often have to work 13-15 hours without a proper break. Pilots would often be pressured not to take mandatory breaks, because of cost reasons of the airlines.
Some comments during the interviews:
"12 hour flights in ice and snow are totally irresponsible."
One said, that he and his co-pilot both fell asleep at the same time once.
Another pilot stated, that he worked 17 out of 21 weekends and barely sees his family.
In my opinion there are certain jobs which just cannot work with that much pressure - be it in terms of money or working time. Especially jobs high on responsibility -such as pilots and doctors- are just too dependend on full reliability, which also means that the working people should get enough free time... and enough payment, too imo. Just imagine a doctor who worries all day because his wife is pregnant and he gets all worried about not beeing able to have enough financials to live with that.
It's certainly not a Norwegian problem either, it's probably at least as bad (or worse) in 95% of all other countries.
Imo politicians are responsible to assure safety here. This resembles a debate in Germany: Some years ago, trucks needed to have two drivers on board to make sure that each driver could rest properly. This law was discarded, ever since there have been a lot of crashes and casualties involving sleeping truck drivers.
Probably politicians thought it would be good for logistic companies because it's cheaper to pay for a funeral once in a while then paying for a second driver...
Planes obviously already have two pilots, but imo airlines should be forced to give them enough breaks.
Perhaps it's that politicians care too less about the "human factor". They love demanding technical standards to increase safety, but looking at such numbers of working time and stress on people in responsible positions, it seems that politics totally failed.
http://theforeigner.no/pages/news/hundreds-of-norwegian-pilots-admit-in-flight-sleeping/
Out of 389 Norwegian pilots, 206 admitted to already have fallen asleep during flight without warning their co-pilot. Now this is scary, isn't it?
Head of norwegian pilots organisation says, that pilots easily work 60 hours a week, and often have to work 13-15 hours without a proper break. Pilots would often be pressured not to take mandatory breaks, because of cost reasons of the airlines.
Some comments during the interviews:
"12 hour flights in ice and snow are totally irresponsible."
One said, that he and his co-pilot both fell asleep at the same time once.
Another pilot stated, that he worked 17 out of 21 weekends and barely sees his family.
In my opinion there are certain jobs which just cannot work with that much pressure - be it in terms of money or working time. Especially jobs high on responsibility -such as pilots and doctors- are just too dependend on full reliability, which also means that the working people should get enough free time... and enough payment, too imo. Just imagine a doctor who worries all day because his wife is pregnant and he gets all worried about not beeing able to have enough financials to live with that.
It's certainly not a Norwegian problem either, it's probably at least as bad (or worse) in 95% of all other countries.
Imo politicians are responsible to assure safety here. This resembles a debate in Germany: Some years ago, trucks needed to have two drivers on board to make sure that each driver could rest properly. This law was discarded, ever since there have been a lot of crashes and casualties involving sleeping truck drivers.
Probably politicians thought it would be good for logistic companies because it's cheaper to pay for a funeral once in a while then paying for a second driver...
Planes obviously already have two pilots, but imo airlines should be forced to give them enough breaks.
Perhaps it's that politicians care too less about the "human factor". They love demanding technical standards to increase safety, but looking at such numbers of working time and stress on people in responsible positions, it seems that politics totally failed.