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The pilot rest facility on the 767 operating on long international flights is a business class seat with a privacy curtain. It is lousy for getting rest. The seat is located near the noisy mid galley. But worst of all, whenever a really fat person zips by, … – Bob
Oh, come on. The pilot’s not sleeping with the tray table up. That same intrusion occurs with any other aisle seat. Other passengers are expected to sleep in the business class without the benefit of the curtain which can clearly darken the cabin and provide additional privacy.
I hope your airline is installing true lie-flat seats in biz class and then coupled with the privacy curtain it will be pretty good.
1. I think Bob’s “rest” is a lot more important than anyone else considering he’s the one flying the plane. I mean who cares if a passenger nods off or isn’t quick to react….
2. The tray table was placed there just to prove his point. The video is too dark to see just how many times the curtain is bumped.
The pilots are to report for duty rested, right? This is for a mid-flight nap for an extra or relief pilot on board, not for the 8 or 10 hours of sleep they should get between flights right?
What do you think the airline should do about it?
Reporting rested for duty?
We try. But…..there’s that whole reality thingy which sometimes has other plans. Managing fatigue is a constant battle in this profession.
As for long flights, our pilot union contract requires our airline to provide us with a business class seat with a privacy curtain for flights of 8 up to 12 hours. For flights 12 hours or more, our union contract stipulates a lie flat rest area such as bunk room. Note, if management had their way, we wouldn’t be allowed a rest area so they could have extra seats to sell. And the FAA could care less if we slept on a dog mat on the floor.
The FAA requires a crew of 3 pilots for flights over 8 hours, and 4 pilots for flights over 12 hours. This allows us to take rest break shifts once at cruise. For takeoff and landing, the most critical phase of flight, all 3 or 4 pilots are in the cockpit.
Our 767s are getting lie flat seats installed. That should help us out a little bit, but a quiet bunk room where we have a much better chance of getting sleep is the preferable option. Getting a few hours of sleep onboard makes a huge difference in improving our performance as pilots.
Bottom line is there is always going to be some level of fatigue in play during a long flight. I’d like to tell you that your pilots are 100% wide awake upon landing in Europe after an all night flight from the US, but that would be a lie. We are only human afterall.
The extra pilots we have onboard, and the rest facility help manage those fatigue related risks.
I want my pilot to be rested!
The 3rd song track on the below website pretty much sums it all up.
Could always go to work for FedEx or UPS…no pesky passengers their to bump into your tray table.
Or perhaps the First Class cabin should just always be reserved for crew…it’s usually just non-revs anyway; why not kick them out and use it only as an “on-duty” employee lounge?
That looks mighty unsatisfactory as an adequate rest facility!
In my current airline we have a crew rest compartment (around 6-8 bunks) for rest on what is usually ULR (ultra-long range) flights for pilots and cabin crew, on the 346 and the 773.
We do operate one 12 hour flight though on a 332 with NO rest facilities whatsoever.. I heard will be changed in the near future though.
Heather Poole 
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