Originally Posted by sk84fungirl
I'm really nervous now about flying small planes. I thought I was over it, but I must say...I have one coming up soon and feeling a little hesitant.
While the CRJ does require a
bit more runway due to its lack of LEDs, I doubt the outcome would have been any different in a 737 or MD80.
Originally Posted by lehava
They are considered to be working the whole time. It is no different than them sitting during the day between flights, except it happens at night and usually they will go to a hotel, if for nothing more than a nap and to clean up. It happens all the time, there is a technical term for this kind of shift but for the life of me I cant remember what it is.
We have this all the time in BGM (my home airport). Often the same crew comes in at midnight and goes out at 6am, the 6am is the last flight of their
day, not the first.
We used to call them 'standups', but that was a long time ago. They really are the pits.
I don't think it disrespectful to examine the fatigue aspect. This is a known area of concern - various pilot groups have been pushing for more human(e) rules for some time. Maybe this will be the impetus to jolt the FAA from its legendary 'tombstone' mentality.
(Sorry if that sounds tasteless, but the term has been in use for many years wrt FAA.)