May 7, 1999


Delta Upholds Pilot Sleep Decision


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Filed at 2:38 p.m. EDT

By The Associated Press

ATLANTA (AP) -- Delta Air Lines pilots may soon be resting easier on
long flights.

The carrier said Friday it has upheld one pilot's decision to cut short a
14-hour flight to Japan because his relief pilots had trouble sleeping in
cramped quarters they dubbed ``the coffin.'' The airline also is working
on a design for a larger bunk area.

The issue became public after Capt. Roscoe McMillan landed his
MD-11 in Portland, Ore., on April 7 rather than continue on from
Atlanta to Tokyo. The 110 passengers were transferred to another flight.

Delta spokesman Bill Berry said the carrier interviewed McMillan and
other crew members as part of a standard investigation into any disrupted
flight.

``The end result is that we support the captain. He said he took the
action because he didn't think his relief pilots would be as sharp as they
should be,'' Berry said. ``He said it was based on safety concerns, and
safety comes first.''

The 59-year-old McMillan, who has more than 30 years experience with
Delta, faced a reprimand or even dismissal if the carrier's management
had decided he diverted the plane as a protest. He said he landed the
plane because the two relief crew members said they didn't get sufficient
sleep.

The pilot, due to retire in less than a year, didn't immediately return a
phone call Friday.

Berry said McMillan has continued his normal flying schedule since the
landing, and there have been no other problems on the Tokyo flight,
Delta's longest nonstop service.

Meanwhile, Delta managers have met with pilots about the sleeping
compartment and engineers have submitted drawings to manufacturers
for a larger chamber, Berry said.

The Air Line Pilots Association, representing Delta's 9,000 pilots, filed a
grievance about the sleep module. A taped phone message to its
members Friday said the grievance is still pending, but ``management has
agreed to consider alternative facilities,'' which the union will review.

The union says the snug bunk-bed units have too little room, lack privacy
and allow too much outside noise to filter in. They are located between
the cockpit and the business-class section and are blocked off by a
2-inch-thick curtain.

Delta had shrunk the MD-11 sleeping space five months ago to make
more room for higher-paying business-classpassengers. The new
modules replaced one the pilots called ``the condo'' because it was
spacious, quiet and private.

Federal regulations require airlines to provide on-board sleeping quarters
for pilots on flights of 12 hours or more. A crew of four alternates at the
controls.

Jim Hall, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, called a
unionsafety official recently to ask about the situation and dispatched an
NTSB member to Atlanta on Wednesday.

NTSB spokesman Ted Lopatkiewicz said the board hasn't taken a
position on the module but wanted to gather information on whether it
contributed to pilot fatigue.

``We have an interest in fatigue in all modes of transportation,'' he said
Friday.