10 hour turns

Tomorrow I go back on the road, and despite the title of this blog, I may not post until I get home. It's not that there is nothing to talk about. I am taking pictures all the time of things I eventually would like to discuss. The problem is 10 hour turns...

For example, last tour I had a very busy 6 days, during which I didn't write any posts - there was absolutely no time to sit down and write something coherent - and you deserve the best. Many people don't know this but most airline contracts allow "10 hour turns" from landing to the next takeoff. Some more generous employers allow 1/2 hour to an hour for the crew to close up the airplane at night and to prepare before a flight, but not usually. So this ten hours (which may come after the maximum 14 hour duty day) must include packing up your things from the airplane, dealing with the FBO, calling the hotel van (and often waiting for it), traveling to the hotel, checking in, settling into your room, ironing your shirt for the next day, etc. With all that has to be done in the morning to get yourself ready and back to the airport, you can imagine that a 10 hour turn rarely allows for 8 hrs of sleep, much less logging for blog posts. It makes a little easier to understand those hardworking pilots that dozed off into the sun on their way to Hawaii not too long ago. Doesn't forgive it, but we all have felt their pain. See CNN story on NTSB findings: http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/06/10/sleepy.pilots/index.html?eref=ib_travel

I'm going to keep trying though! Let me know if there is something YOU want me to talk about.