BUFFALO FATALITIES: Feb, 2009. Fifty people killed. Investigators now say that pilot error caused the accident. The question is not why did it happen on this flight, but why doesn't it happen more often?

Both the pilots commuted by air to their work assignments: flying standby can be stressful and flying all night is fatiguing. Prior to reporting for work, the first officer flew all night from her home in Oregan, to Seattle, to Memphis, to Newark. The Captain was also a commuter; the night before this trip he flew to Newark from his home in Florida. It is estimated that over 50% of airline cockpit crews are commuters.

It may be that both pilots were groggy from commuting. How scary is that? We want pilots alert and not endangering the lives of passengers. Today's regulations give pilots a minimum of eight hours rest between flights. But is that enough?

MIRACLE ON THE HUDSON

Jan. 2009. No fatalities when the plane landed in the river — a miracle. Another miracle was that the three exhausted and sleep-deprived flight attendants managed to get 150 people, including children and passengers with mobility challenges out of their seats and onto the wings.

In less than two minutes, three flight attendants got two slide-rafts inflated and 150 people out of the sinking plane.

Exhausted? The flight attendants had been working three days in a row, four cities a day, about fourteen hours on duty each day. They had begun this fourth day in Pittsburgh, flown to Charlotte, on to LaGuardia, and were headed back to Charlotte when the plane splash-landed in the Hudson.

In other industries, workers have 8-hour shifts. Flight attendants can be kept working on airplanes for 18 consecutive hours!

In the airline industry, everyone looks the other way: the airlines, the FAA, the flight attendants' unions, even OSHA.

Flight attendants' sleep deprivation should be an airworthiness issue because flight attendants are responsible for saving the lives of passengers. While we wait for responsible parties to do something about this horendous problem, I've suggested for many years that crew sleep deprivation should be brought to Amnesty International. Maybe they can get the ball rolling in this area.

MY EXPERIENCE WITH SLEEP DEPRIVATION

After flying many years, I still hadn't realized how deeply fatigued I was until, one time, after I had moved my residence. For a number of months, every time I came in from a trip, I would still drive to my old home from the airport because, in fact, I was driving my car in my sleep, on automatic pilot. I realized I had no memory of being in the car, that my last memory was finding my car in the airport parking lot, and I was drawing a blank for the entire trip home.

Then I found out that I wasn't the only crewmember nodding off when I should have been alert. As an in-flight purser on international flights, I had a key to the cockpit and entered the cockpit whenever I needed to coordinate cabin services with the captain.

One night, I entered and found all three pilots asleep. On long over-water flights, the airplane is often on automatic pilot but, of course, all the pilots are not permitted to sleep at the same time.

Today new security measures prohibit flight attendants from entering the cockpit unannounced, so no one monitors if both pilots are sleeping. There are now only two pilots on board.

For 21 years, I worked at least ten nights a month, and many nights I was on duty over 14 hours. Sometimes sitting upright on landings my body would fall asleep without my permission!

Today working conditions are worse for flight attendants. At least I was guaranteed 8.5 hours in a hotel room between flights. Today, flight attendants can often only count on about four hours in a hotel room between flights.

This "time off" now officially starts when the captain sets the aircraft's brakes after arrival (instead of when we arrived in our hotel rooms). So now flight attendants are on their unpaid "time off" when they are attending to wheel chairs, unaccompanied minors, and lost items and saying "Bye, bye, thank you for flying with us."

Once the plane is empty, crews make their way on foot from the airport's runway side to curbside, stopping in Customs on international sectors, then waiting for the crew bus, checking in at a hotel, trekking to the most distant wing of the hotel reserved for crew, unpacking a little, eating a little, washing. If a flight attendant could then fall asleep on demand, she might get four or five hours of sleep before heading back to the airport for her next flight.

Crews must arrive at the airport about two hours before departure: to run the security gauntlet, check the plane for bombs and box cutters, count the provisioning of meals and amenities—all the while still officially on their "time off!"

Dear Passengers, in an in-flight emergency, whether it's a fire, a hijacking, or a water landing, the pilots won't come out of the cockpit. Your capable, sleep-deprived flight attendants will be there for you.

FLYANA'S TIPS FOR FLYING SMART CLASS

1. Pay attention to the emergency briefing every flight and take time to read the brochure in your seat pocket. Before flight you may even want to google the aircraft type to familiarize yourself with exit locations and steps needed to get out in a hurry.

2. Be kind to flight attendants. After enduring years of pay cuts, loss of pensions and decreasing respect from the public, please tell them when you see them on board: "Thank you for taking care of us."