"Capt. Doug" wrote in message ...
Robert Perkins said:

wrote in message I think the pilot's mistake was not so
much that he was asleep while another had the controls; the safety problem
with that is not as
critical in a 2-crew airplane at cruise. snip, snip

Cap sez:

Walker's flies a few times per week, one hour out and one hour back, always
during the day with the crew being home every night. It's not a high demand
job. Doing back-to-back red-eyes out to LAX can tax one with fatigue, but
not doing a cake job like Walker's. Besides, a professional pilot makes sure
he is well rested before taking a flight, or he calls out sick. snip, both ends

Pac sez:

Right you are Cap Doug... but, Boy, I'm not touching this one with a
ten-foot pole. But you ougtta see how many people are awake on the
flight deck of a "back door" round the world flight somewhere around
MNL to BOM. ;-) Time zones, circadian rhythm disruption, short
layovers, and fatigue from struggling to understand foreign
controllers (over 80% of communication is through facial expressions.)
NASA did sleep studies in the 90's; wired us up for six mo's. The
preliminary report concluded we "were operating in a dangerously
impaired state" from sleep deprivation "most of the time" (night cargo
ops.) Big box-hauler management got wind of this, and saw to it that
the report (which was on their property, and published voluntarily
with their consent,) was never published. UPS pilots sued, and then I
never heard what the outcome was.

Keep the door closed! Never know who's hiding in a suspicious looking
box with a camcorder!

pac "cargo dog" plyer