kyklin
Apr 15, 99, 12:26 pm
Very interesting article... a good piece by Ms. Brannigan
April 15, 1999
Page One Feature
Tired Delta Crew Diverts Flight,
Blames Cramped New Berths
By MARTHA BRANNIGAN
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Just how tired were Delta Air Lines Capt. Roscoe McMillan and his crew last Wednesday when he diverted his Atlanta-to-Tokyo flight to Portland, Ore., and called it a day?
Too tired, in his judgment, based on more than 30 years as a Delta pilot, to continue safely with the 14-hour journey to Narita International Airport, according to what the captain told Delta officials. The problem: Two of the other pilots couldn't sleep in the aircraft's controversial new berths, and based on earlier experience, Capt. McMillan figured he couldn't either.
"The captain felt the crew had not had satisfactory rest," says Bill Berry, a Delta spokesman.
An Uncommon Reason
Delta management, however, isn't so sure. Mr. Berry says this is the first time a pilot has diverted a flight because of the new beds, which Delta began installing in December on its long-haul McDonnell Douglas MD-11s. And while flights are sometimes cut short when bad weather or other delays eat up the pilots' legal flying time, Mr. Berry says he is unaware of any diversions caused when a captain pronounced himself or his crew too tired to finish the job.
But Capt. McMillan, who has a perfect flying record and a reputation for being outspoken, has been campaigning against the bunks from the start. In a recent posting on the pilots' union's private Web site, he wrote of the new setup: "I think it stinks."
He isn't a lone crusader. Delta pilots who fly the planes, backed by their union, hate the new type of bunk, which they have dubbed "the coffin." This replaces "the condo," -- pilot parlance for the more comfortable and spacious precursor. Since the switch, union officials say they have received a litany of complaints from MD-11 pilots that the new bunks impair their on-board rest. No other U.S. passenger carrier uses the newer type.
Delta adopted the new berths as part of a redesign of its international service, scrapping First Class and reconfiguring its long-range jets with an upgraded Business Elite class. Among other things, the new bunks allow for more seats, which Delta says will translate into $40 million in additional revenue from the five altered planes over the next five years.
Whatever the beds' benefits, the Air Line Pilots Association has filed a grievance against Delta over them and has lodged a complaint with the Federal Aviation Administration that they don't meet federal guidelines. (The FAA hasn't yet ruled on the complaint.)
Delta says that the beds don't pose a safety problem and that it has offered to make substantial changes to address pilots' concerns. Meanwhile, Delta is itself investigating the incident on Flight 55. If the airline determines that it was a union stunt rather than a safety decision, Capt. McMillan, who is 59 years old and is scheduled to retire in 11 months, could be dismissed.
A CEO Out of Sorts
Leo F. Mullin, Delta's chief executive officer, is furious and has registered his displeasure with the union chief. After all, 110 passengers on Flight 55 were inconvenienced for several hours, as were passengers on Flight 51, Portland to Tokyo, which was held up to accommodate the Atlanta passengers.
There's no doubt that the FAA considers tired pilots a safety hazard. Pilots aren't allowed to fly more than eight hours without rest. Sleeping quarters are required on all flights of 12 hours or more, and such flights use double crews so two pilots can fly the plane while two rest.
That was the setup on Flight 55 out of Atlanta on April 7. The crew included Capt. McMillan and his first officer, Randy Young, plus a relief crew, Capt. Bob Pfister and his first officer, Steve Petroski. The jet left the gate at 10:47 a.m. All four men worked the cockpit until the plane reached cruising altitude. Around noon, the two relief pilots slipped back to Business Class to eat and then catch some shut-eye.
Before they could turn in, though, the off-duty pilots had to engage in a process that many pilots complain is humiliating and time consuming: assembling their berths. Located in view of the front passenger cabin, just behind the left front door of the cockpit, the double compartment pulls out like a telescope from a space that once housed a lavatory. Once fully extended and locked in place, the bunks block the left front door of the aircraft -- a concern to some pilots.
The upper bunk stretches 6 feet 11 inches, while the bottom is 6 feet 5 inches. Both are roughly 30 inches wide and are fitted with slim leather mattresses and pillows. Before they can insert themselves into their bunks, the pilots must hang 2-inch-thick noise-deadening drapes that attach to the ceiling and wrap around the unit. The whole process takes as long as 20 minutes.
"It's like the Three Stooges putting up a doll house," says Delta Capt. Bud Musser, chairman of the international safety committee for the pilots' union. "It's free entertainment for Business Class passengers."
Certainly, it's a far cry from the days of "the condo," a comparatively expansive two-bed rectangular unit in the center of the Business Class cabin, 5 feet 1 1/2 inches wide, 6 feet 8 inches long and 6 feet 11 inches high. No assembly required. And pilots could stand inside and put on their pajamas before reclining on comfortable bunks. A light, unavailable in the new bunks, told them when the lavatory was occupied.
On Flight 55, the pilots changed into their sleepwear in the cockpit, stepped into the Business Class cabin, and tucked themselves in. Toilets in the lavatory a few feet away flushed. Bells and alarms from the cockpit throbbed through the less-than-soundproof curtains. A buzzer sounded each time a cockpit door opened. The beverage carts clanged and bumped one end of the unit. After about 2 1/2 hours, the pilots returned to the cockpit and told Capt. McMillan they hadn't gotten any sleep.
Language Barriers
Capt. McMillan, who is a little over 6 feet tall and of medium build and who had flown this route before, was skeptical he would do any better when his break came. By this time, the aircraft was over northern Canada and headed over the North Pole. Capt. McMillan asked whether the crew thought they would be at the top of their game in 10 more hours, when they would be dealing with Russian and Japanese air-traffic controllers whose English isn't always perfect.
That's when Capt. McMillan called a Delta dispatcher to say the crew was too tired to complete the trip and was planning to divert. At first, the puzzled dispatcher misunderstood. Speaking in sky code, he asked the captain if he was being hijacked. Capt. McMillan reiterated that the crew was fatigued.
Capt. McMillan and the dispatcher decided that the plane should land in Portland, where Delta could put the passengers on another flight to Tokyo. Over the loudspeakers, Capt. McMillan broke the news to the 110 passengers, who had completed the first of their journey's three scheduled food-and-beverage services. Because of the "configuration" of the airplane that day, he told them, they were unable to continue to Tokyo.
The plane landed in Portland at 3:26 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time, seven hours and 39 minutes after leaving Atlanta. The passengers were directed to Flight 51, held over from its scheduled 1:05 departure. The crew spent the night in a Portland hotel and returned to Atlanta on Thursday.
On Friday, Capt. McMillan and the rest of the crew were summoned to explain the matter to several members of Delta management, including two chief pilots and Capt. Michael J. Quiello, system manager of international operations for Delta.
A 'Premeditated' Act?
After the pilots, who took along a couple of union representatives, told their story, the managers questioned whether Capt. McMillan had "premeditated" his move. That notion could derive from his previous complaints about the beds on the pilots' union's Web site. Of the reverse Narita-to-Atlanta flight, he has written: "This trip snatches the diurnal cycles of the best of us through a knot hole. You are tired anyway, but if you can't sleep on board, then fatigue will paralyze you."
And recounting a colleague's experience on that route, he wrote: "Had I been in charge, had the leg been longer than 12 hours, had weather and possible delays been involved, and had there been a crew member who could not sleep as there obviously was this day, then I would have stopped in Portland or some other place short of the destination."
The union is standing by Capt. McMillan. "He made his decision based on the safety of the flight and the belief that the crew members were not adequately rested," says Karen McGuffey, a union spokeswoman.
Even Delta's Capt. Quiello, who is part of the team scrutinizing the incident, acknowledges that the decision in such situations is ultimately the pilot's. "We trust our captains implicitly," he says, "until we have reason not to."
---------------------------------------------
URL for this Article:
http://interactive.wsj.com/archive/retrieve.cgi?id=SB924064192774505832.djm
April 15, 1999
Page One Feature
Tired Delta Crew Diverts Flight,
Blames Cramped New Berths
By MARTHA BRANNIGAN
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Just how tired were Delta Air Lines Capt. Roscoe McMillan and his crew last Wednesday when he diverted his Atlanta-to-Tokyo flight to Portland, Ore., and called it a day?
Too tired, in his judgment, based on more than 30 years as a Delta pilot, to continue safely with the 14-hour journey to Narita International Airport, according to what the captain told Delta officials. The problem: Two of the other pilots couldn't sleep in the aircraft's controversial new berths, and based on earlier experience, Capt. McMillan figured he couldn't either.
"The captain felt the crew had not had satisfactory rest," says Bill Berry, a Delta spokesman.
An Uncommon Reason
Delta management, however, isn't so sure. Mr. Berry says this is the first time a pilot has diverted a flight because of the new beds, which Delta began installing in December on its long-haul McDonnell Douglas MD-11s. And while flights are sometimes cut short when bad weather or other delays eat up the pilots' legal flying time, Mr. Berry says he is unaware of any diversions caused when a captain pronounced himself or his crew too tired to finish the job.
But Capt. McMillan, who has a perfect flying record and a reputation for being outspoken, has been campaigning against the bunks from the start. In a recent posting on the pilots' union's private Web site, he wrote of the new setup: "I think it stinks."
He isn't a lone crusader. Delta pilots who fly the planes, backed by their union, hate the new type of bunk, which they have dubbed "the coffin." This replaces "the condo," -- pilot parlance for the more comfortable and spacious precursor. Since the switch, union officials say they have received a litany of complaints from MD-11 pilots that the new bunks impair their on-board rest. No other U.S. passenger carrier uses the newer type.
Delta adopted the new berths as part of a redesign of its international service, scrapping First Class and reconfiguring its long-range jets with an upgraded Business Elite class. Among other things, the new bunks allow for more seats, which Delta says will translate into $40 million in additional revenue from the five altered planes over the next five years.
Whatever the beds' benefits, the Air Line Pilots Association has filed a grievance against Delta over them and has lodged a complaint with the Federal Aviation Administration that they don't meet federal guidelines. (The FAA hasn't yet ruled on the complaint.)
Delta says that the beds don't pose a safety problem and that it has offered to make substantial changes to address pilots' concerns. Meanwhile, Delta is itself investigating the incident on Flight 55. If the airline determines that it was a union stunt rather than a safety decision, Capt. McMillan, who is 59 years old and is scheduled to retire in 11 months, could be dismissed.
A CEO Out of Sorts
Leo F. Mullin, Delta's chief executive officer, is furious and has registered his displeasure with the union chief. After all, 110 passengers on Flight 55 were inconvenienced for several hours, as were passengers on Flight 51, Portland to Tokyo, which was held up to accommodate the Atlanta passengers.
There's no doubt that the FAA considers tired pilots a safety hazard. Pilots aren't allowed to fly more than eight hours without rest. Sleeping quarters are required on all flights of 12 hours or more, and such flights use double crews so two pilots can fly the plane while two rest.
That was the setup on Flight 55 out of Atlanta on April 7. The crew included Capt. McMillan and his first officer, Randy Young, plus a relief crew, Capt. Bob Pfister and his first officer, Steve Petroski. The jet left the gate at 10:47 a.m. All four men worked the cockpit until the plane reached cruising altitude. Around noon, the two relief pilots slipped back to Business Class to eat and then catch some shut-eye.
Before they could turn in, though, the off-duty pilots had to engage in a process that many pilots complain is humiliating and time consuming: assembling their berths. Located in view of the front passenger cabin, just behind the left front door of the cockpit, the double compartment pulls out like a telescope from a space that once housed a lavatory. Once fully extended and locked in place, the bunks block the left front door of the aircraft -- a concern to some pilots.
The upper bunk stretches 6 feet 11 inches, while the bottom is 6 feet 5 inches. Both are roughly 30 inches wide and are fitted with slim leather mattresses and pillows. Before they can insert themselves into their bunks, the pilots must hang 2-inch-thick noise-deadening drapes that attach to the ceiling and wrap around the unit. The whole process takes as long as 20 minutes.
"It's like the Three Stooges putting up a doll house," says Delta Capt. Bud Musser, chairman of the international safety committee for the pilots' union. "It's free entertainment for Business Class passengers."
Certainly, it's a far cry from the days of "the condo," a comparatively expansive two-bed rectangular unit in the center of the Business Class cabin, 5 feet 1 1/2 inches wide, 6 feet 8 inches long and 6 feet 11 inches high. No assembly required. And pilots could stand inside and put on their pajamas before reclining on comfortable bunks. A light, unavailable in the new bunks, told them when the lavatory was occupied.
On Flight 55, the pilots changed into their sleepwear in the cockpit, stepped into the Business Class cabin, and tucked themselves in. Toilets in the lavatory a few feet away flushed. Bells and alarms from the cockpit throbbed through the less-than-soundproof curtains. A buzzer sounded each time a cockpit door opened. The beverage carts clanged and bumped one end of the unit. After about 2 1/2 hours, the pilots returned to the cockpit and told Capt. McMillan they hadn't gotten any sleep.
Language Barriers
Capt. McMillan, who is a little over 6 feet tall and of medium build and who had flown this route before, was skeptical he would do any better when his break came. By this time, the aircraft was over northern Canada and headed over the North Pole. Capt. McMillan asked whether the crew thought they would be at the top of their game in 10 more hours, when they would be dealing with Russian and Japanese air-traffic controllers whose English isn't always perfect.
That's when Capt. McMillan called a Delta dispatcher to say the crew was too tired to complete the trip and was planning to divert. At first, the puzzled dispatcher misunderstood. Speaking in sky code, he asked the captain if he was being hijacked. Capt. McMillan reiterated that the crew was fatigued.
Capt. McMillan and the dispatcher decided that the plane should land in Portland, where Delta could put the passengers on another flight to Tokyo. Over the loudspeakers, Capt. McMillan broke the news to the 110 passengers, who had completed the first of their journey's three scheduled food-and-beverage services. Because of the "configuration" of the airplane that day, he told them, they were unable to continue to Tokyo.
The plane landed in Portland at 3:26 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time, seven hours and 39 minutes after leaving Atlanta. The passengers were directed to Flight 51, held over from its scheduled 1:05 departure. The crew spent the night in a Portland hotel and returned to Atlanta on Thursday.
On Friday, Capt. McMillan and the rest of the crew were summoned to explain the matter to several members of Delta management, including two chief pilots and Capt. Michael J. Quiello, system manager of international operations for Delta.
A 'Premeditated' Act?
After the pilots, who took along a couple of union representatives, told their story, the managers questioned whether Capt. McMillan had "premeditated" his move. That notion could derive from his previous complaints about the beds on the pilots' union's Web site. Of the reverse Narita-to-Atlanta flight, he has written: "This trip snatches the diurnal cycles of the best of us through a knot hole. You are tired anyway, but if you can't sleep on board, then fatigue will paralyze you."
And recounting a colleague's experience on that route, he wrote: "Had I been in charge, had the leg been longer than 12 hours, had weather and possible delays been involved, and had there been a crew member who could not sleep as there obviously was this day, then I would have stopped in Portland or some other place short of the destination."
The union is standing by Capt. McMillan. "He made his decision based on the safety of the flight and the belief that the crew members were not adequately rested," says Karen McGuffey, a union spokeswoman.
Even Delta's Capt. Quiello, who is part of the team scrutinizing the incident, acknowledges that the decision in such situations is ultimately the pilot's. "We trust our captains implicitly," he says, "until we have reason not to."
---------------------------------------------
URL for this Article:
http://interactive.wsj.com/archive/retrieve.cgi?id=SB924064192774505832.djm