I was interviewed today on a morning radio show for KABC in LA. Ostensibly the interview was about my trip on JetBlue, but we talked more about swine flu and pilot sleep schedules than anything else. I guess the show's doing a special tomorrow on how much sleep commercial pilots have been getting. Or haven't, as it were.
I felt like the host was implying that pilots are choosing to not get enough sleep, which is obviously not true -- the airlines are the ones who set the schedules and work you guys to death. But when that happens, what can you do about it? Anything? Have you ever had to step up and say, no, I can't fly on such a small amount of sleep? I know that there are federally mandated limits, but I also know that they're not always followed.
I felt like the host was implying that pilots are choosing to not get enough sleep, which is obviously not true -- the airlines are the ones who set the schedules and work you guys to death. But when that happens, what can you do about it? Anything? Have you ever had to step up and say, no, I can't fly on such a small amount of sleep? I know that there are federally mandated limits, but I also know that they're not always followed.