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Buffalo Crash Puts Pilot Fatigue Under Microscope

By Drew Nelles,  Newser Staff

Posted May 17, 2009 9:00 AM CDT

(Newser) – You want to be a flashy, high-flying pilot? Get ready for poverty-level wages, grueling commutes, and near-constant exhaustion, the New York Times reports. The inquiry into the crash of Flight 3407 near Buffalo has thrust regional airlines into the spotlight, and with that attention comes concerns about pilots’ challenging lives. One pilot says he’s lucky to get 4 and a half hours of sleep a night.

Like Flight 3407's pilots, many often live far from their flight bases and spend hours flying or driving to work, sleeping in cars or in plane aisles. Airlines deny chronic fatigue is a problem, but even if it’s difficult to prove that exhaustion causes accidents, “the fact that you can’t make this easy and direct link isn’t reason to ignore the problem,” one pilot says.

A sign in memory of the crash victims is posted at Niagara Frontier Sikh Society near the scene of the crash of Continental Connection Flight 3407 in Clarence Center, NY, Wednesday, May 13, 2009.
A sign in memory of the crash victims is posted at Niagara Frontier Sikh Society near the scene of the crash of Continental Connection Flight 3407 in Clarence Center, NY, Wednesday, May 13, 2009.   (AP Photo/David Duprey)
Continental Airlines Flight 3407 burns after it crashed into a house in Clarence Center, NY, Thursday Feb. 12, 2009.
Continental Airlines Flight 3407 burns after it crashed into a house in Clarence Center, NY, Thursday Feb. 12, 2009.   (AP Photo/David Duprey)
In this combo file photo, Capt. Marvin Renslow, left, and co-pilot Rebecca Shaw  are shown. Renslow was piloting Continental Connection Flight 3407, and Shaw was the co-pilot.
In this combo file photo, Capt. Marvin Renslow, left, and co-pilot Rebecca Shaw are shown. Renslow was piloting Continental Connection Flight 3407, and Shaw was the co-pilot.   (AP Photos/Courtesy Jason Peregrine/Central Washington University via the Seattle Times)
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At the very most, if you’re the kind of person that could walk into a hotel room, strip and lay down, you might get four and a half hours of sleep. And I was very senior. I was one of the fortunate guys. - Capt. Paul Nietz

We need to understand, is this an aberration, or are standards sufficiently lax or insufficient, or insufficiently enforced that we need to be concerned about a much broader set of issues? - Sen. Byron L. Dorgan , chairman of the subcommittee on aviation

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