jawknee21: It’s comforting and like a sauna. I start to get really sleepy which is pretty scary..
ObnoxiousLittleCunt: What if the auto-pilot falls asleep too?
jaxative: As long as the autopilot is fully inflated then it’s all good.
Landlubber77: *Annnnd* ladies and gentlemen, we should be reaching our final destination of Minneapolis shortly, please stow all loose baggage and return your seatbacks to their regu–*is that fucking Alaska?!*
kseif: All the lights and screens in the cockpit have to be bright enough to alert the pilot even in daylight. It gets really hot doing maintenance checks with no airflow in there.
Source: am one of those people who do maintenance on aircraft, often in the cockpit since I’m small.
Darkersun: I can see that. Most things on a jet airliner are automated, and once the plane is in the sky going the direction it needs to go, you don’t really need to *do* anything.
As long as the pilot is awake for takeoff, landing, and moving the plane out of turbulence, I’m okay with that. And I’m usually very nervous on flights.
squarecorners: They can use the same type of technology that Cadillac uses for it’s automated driving system. If the camera can’t see your eyes, it starts to make noise until you wake up and pay attention.
holladvt: While this may be interesting and something to talk about, please learn the difference between a study and a survey. This was not a study. It was a survey. And it also wasn’t conducted by the BBC but a pilots union in the UK the BBC only reported on the findings. Stop trying to whore karma by creating misleading clickbait titles.
Chrushev: Very good video on topic that showcases how automated commercial airliners are – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lw6mjVIdbbc
NWBoomer: In 2008 both pilot and copilot fell asleep on a flight from Honolulu to Hilo Hawaii. The flight attendant noticed they had overflown the airport and were heading out to sea. She pounded on the cockpit door until she finally got one of them to wake up.
https://www.seattletimes.com/life/travel/faa-suspends-pilots-who-fell-asleep-on-hawaii-flight-overshooting-airport/
Inspire_Me_: Fuuuck. How do you go back in time and unread something?
RescuePilot: ITT – people who know practically nothing about aviation making false statements about aviation.
michael-streeter: At least when they pass away it will be peacefully in their sleep, not panicking and screaming like their passengers 😋
soda_cookie: British pilots only or worldwide?
mdgraller: I thought it said 2013BC and I got really confused
LoosingInterest: TLDR; fell asleep, lost control, lived to tell the tale.
Fell asleep on climb whilst PIC on single pilot freight op. Things got pretty exciting as the aircraft rolled and the freight shifted aft causing a rather interesting tumble (when I woke up) before settling into a fairly flat spin. Rode that bad boy all the way from FL120 to A015 before it recovered. When I landed 2 hours later, as I taxied off the runway and reduced the power, the bastard plane sat on its tail. Had to shut down on the taxiway and shift the freight back so I could taxi in. Aircraft was a C208B Grand Caravan, no autopilot required for single pilot ops, so tight-arse operator didn’t install them – saved about 30kg which could be dedicated to freight…apparently.
Thank goodness for night freight ops and remote airports with no towers or ramp agents! Boss never found out, and I have never told this publically.
Hdjskdjkd82: I just want to point out that the point of the pilot in a airplane nowadays isn’t so much to fly to only fly the plane, but to manage it. Automation is great at doing certain things, but isn’t great at making decisions. Pilots are the people in the first place to program the plane and to make sure the plane follows the desired instructions (often times automation doesn’t do what its supposed to because of bugs or a shortcoming in the design rather than pilot error) and make any changes needed during the flight in a vary dynamic environment. While pilots only physically fly the plane for takeoff and most landings, pilots during cruise still have many duties in flight that automation cannot handle and likely never be able too such as being the safety net if system fails, checking for errors, being trained to handle worst case scenarios, and making the safest decision. This is just a simple explanation why pilots need to be awake and alert…
MoreGull: And here I am wishing I could ever sleep on a flight. Maybe I should become a pilot so I can finally get a nap in.
Mikeyyezzy: They problably get jet lag
yarf13: Dude I’m flying on a 14 hour flight tomorrow. Worst timing ever!
Aquilon97: Considering I never hear that this is the cause or a plane crash, and that it happens so often yet so few planes crash, I’m gonna to ahead and say it’s not really a problem. Seems like everything is ok
Franztur: Planes will pretty much fly themselves as long as the weather is decent. My uncle use to do a Lot of cross country flights and said he would sleep all the time.
fizzer82: Meh, most planes have alarms to wake em up when they haven’t touched any controls in a while. With automation, the pilots are pretty much only there in case something goes wrong (numerous sounds would be waking them up in that case), or they need to modify the flightplan due to ATC, but the latter rarely happens during cruise.
Giant_aardvark: “The study also recommended that all airliner companies raise prices by x% to appear as though they actually give two flying fucks.”
throwawayoftheday29: Why don’t they just open a window, that’s what I do when I’m driving and I get tired
Krusty_Krushers: Not much to run into at 30,000 feet I guess
J4CKR4BB1TSL1MS: > But of the 500 commercial pilots surveyed by Balpa, 43% said they believed their abilities had been compromised at least once a month in the last six months by tiredness, with 84% saying it had been compromised at some stage during the past six months.
>
> And 49% said pilot tiredness was the biggest threat to flight safety – three times more than any other threat.
That’s it, I’m bringing an air horn next time I’m flying.
Silmarlion: We actually have a procedure for sleeping in the cockpit while flying.
GreyRice: Its okay, rest up buds. Just be alert while landing
iLitz4u00: This is like the end of a joke and you have to nervously laugh because it’s so scary.
rockweasel: How many pilots were flying this plane?
scots: “What in the hell are these goats doing up here in the clouds?”
hellomireaux: They should play a recording of my upstairs neighbor stomping around all night. That would definitely keep them awake.
HoloKK: I don’t fear this at all. I mean… There is always a clock ticking in their brains that will make them wake up. I can remember setting myself to wake up early just by focusing on it…
mathUmatic: unsurprising for trans-oceanic flights with autopilot engaged, cruising altitude, between waypoints. I’d almost prefer they get some rest than [accidentally almost land on the taxiway](https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/Pages/DCA17IA148.aspx)
jrm2007: I have fallen asleep driving and that requires a lot more attention that in theory should keep you awake but it doesn’t.
However, if the pilot took ten minute naps while his copilot stayed awake, they should be fine — 10/20 minutes is plenty.
bateschas: Good thing the autopilot didn’t fall asleep.
synonymous6: My best friend flies short haul flights in Australia. He’s told me many a time how he’s fell asleep. He even sets up alarms on his phone to go off before he hits the descent.
IceQueenCat: Jesus wish I didn’t read this my flight is in 10 hrs
kingers: They should let a few passengers every flight have a direct video feed to the pilots cockpit so they can jumpscare them every once in awhile.
Also imagine how fun that’d be as a passenger
moaningpilot: I’m a flight attendant and it’s very common for pilots to go on something called controlled rest. This is where one of them goes to sleep and instead of us calling them every half an hour for the standard welfare check, they call us every half an hour. If they’re any more than five minutes late, we call them as it sets off quite a loud noise in the flight deck.
BlueKnightBrownHorse: Great… Well it already costs 1060 dollars to go home one way. I’m sure these new regulations are going to make flying much more affordable.
Sleekpwns: This is fucking terrifying to have read. I’ve never been afraid of flying, and I’m probably going to forget about this by tomorrow morning, but holy fuck I’m actually kind of scared to fly now.
DoctorFrankz: I read the first pilot as pistols and was very confused as to why pistols fell asleep during flights.
Chris-TT: Well if you were in my plane and I fell asleep I think we might have a problem… No autopilot and only 2 seats so no co-pilot ether!
Fewwordsbetter: I never sleep.
I should be a pilot….
RadSpaceWizard: Does that include the long flights when pilots are supposed to sleep? I feel like that’d be a really easy way to manipulate the percentage and get more clicks and ad money.
lionkinglife: Eeek. As a frequent domestic flyer that’s somewhat terrifying.
ZyraReflex: Is that 29% of those who had fallen asleep or 29% total?
Vandersauce: meh autopilot takes care of the midlfight stuff, make an article when they’re asleep for takeoff or landing
gamman: One of my instructors fell asleep once whilst transiting back from the training area.