...is in danger of waking up... in Heaven!

 

https://www.itemfix.com/v?t=dgsjzg

Ouch, looks like they could have fared worse. Somehow, I couldn't find anything about this incident, despite having happened less than a week ago.

I only had once a scare, going back to my place. It was a micronap, I think no longer than a second or two, but it scared the hell out of me. Luckily, it was 2 am (i.e., no traffic) and in a straight road, with green traffic light for me. Now that my employer is asking me to show up 2 hours earlier than usual, I could use this for refusing...

Edited January 5, 20233 yr by Luis Hernandez

You would be surprised lol. This looked like a train. I'm surprised the alerter didn't kick in and automatically stop the train. Back in my military days flying cargo, I remember the Air Force took a initiative to combat sleep inertia and flying tired. Of course they talked about physical fitness. They also pushed the work rest policy where you would take up to a 30 minute nap to get a quick recharge. "Your jet and radios, wake me up in 30" 🤣. That actually worked well, especially on those long trips where you were out crossing multiple time zones at odd hours. They also allowed Ambien, but I never played that game. I remember on one of my long trips, we had an extra crew and a flight doc. They did a study where they took uppers. That crew was not allowed to perform any duties, they just took the pills and recorded their sleep cycles for the doc. I knew fighter types took them, but they were studying to see if they were viable for cargo types.

I remember Dirty Harry (Clint Eastwood) once said, "A man has got to know his limitations."  That includes how long you can go without sleep while driving.

I wouldn't attempt to drive cross country anymore.  I find myself dozing off momentarily during the day when on my computer and even longer while watching television.  I wouldn't trust myself to drive 100 miles or more.  It's one of many physical limitations I have acquired with age along shorter attention span and daydreaming a lot more than I used to.

Noel

I too find myself drifting off to sleep while watching TV, a video, or working at my computer.

Fortunately for me, my bladder controls my driving, since I need to stop between fifteen and thirty minutes. This tends to keep me awake.  😜

You'd never make it driving I-5 between San Francisco and L.A. area.  Rest areas are about 65 miles apart! 😳

1 hour ago, charliearon said:

You'd never make it driving I-5 between San Francisco and L.A. area.  Rest areas are about 65 miles apart! 😳

That's why you bring along a wide mouth thermos, Charlie! Consider it a pilot's relief tube. 🙂 

1 hour ago, charliearon said:

You'd never make it driving I-5 between San Francisco and L.A. area.  Rest areas are about 65 miles apart! 😳

So I went and Googled I-5 on Wikipedia...

"The I-5 corridor forms part of the West Coast Electric Highway, a partnership between the states of California, Oregon, and Washington to build and maintain a network of charging stations for electric vehicles. The pact was formed in 2009 and the first charging stations—spaced 25 to 50 miles (40 to 80 km) apart—opened in 2011."

I don't have an EV and have almost run out of gas on I-5 in a gas powered pickup, gas stations are far apart. They are much closer together on I-99 which runs parallel over to the East. 

There's a third parallel road,  which is dirt/gravel, and designated for bicycles only, that runs along the banks of the canal that brings drinking water from N. California down South to Los Angeles. Catfish are large and easy to catch; you see anglers along the bank the whole route. Mostly poor farmers who I'm guessing get most of their yearly protein that way. I used to do that all the time as a kid for the fun of it.

Whenever I drove cross country I always avoided the interstates.  I always drove on the secondary roads so I could see the country and drive through small towns.  I found them more interesting than the service stations on the interstate highway's on-off ramps.

And if nature called along these secondary roads there was always a place to pull over and bush behind which you take a 'rest stop'.

One of my favorites was Highway 50 across Nevada which is named 'The Loneliest Road in America', and it is.

As I said in the thread where we were talking about air versus rail travel...getting there is half the fun.  There is no fun...no adventure...no romance of the highways on the interstate.

Betty and I stopped for breakfast at a diner in small farming community in Nebraska once.  I love to listen in on conversations going on in the booth behind me, What gems of wisdom you can hear!  On this particular occasion the men were talking about hard times when one of them said, "During the depression we talked about hard times over a cup of coffee.  Today we are talking about hard times over steak and eggs."  

I was once going to write an article for a travel magazine titled 'The Land Between the Interstates'.  But Desert Storm started and I got called up and sent to 5th US Army Headquarters at the Presidio of San Francisco and spent a month there providing weather support for the reserve and national guard callups in the 11 western states.  And I never got around to it.

And yes, on my drive out to San Francisco from Denver I drove Highway 50 across Nevada.

Noel 

 

 

21 hours ago, G550flyer said:

They also pushed the work rest policy where you would take up to a 30 minute nap to get a quick recharge. "Your jet and radios, wake me up in 30"

They have this procedure now in the airlines, it’s called controlled crew recovery . It’s meant to be 45 minutes, 5 minutes to get ready, 30 minutes sleep and then 10 minutes to come round and be alert again.

Hiwever some people now think this is an excuse to come to work and just go to sleep, be it the middle of the night or the middle of the afternoon , very lazy and  unprofessional in my view.

When I flew night freight on the turboprops they didn’t have autopilots, quite often someone would fall asleep , if you both fell asleep of course you were dead.

Due to recent events I’ve been. Moved from an airport base only 30 miles away to one which is 170 miles away, about 3 hours of driving. After every overnight long haul flight I now have an airport hotel booked where I’ll get 3 or  4 hours sleep , a shower , a snack and a change of clothes and feel human again. The days of driving straight home nodding off and being desperate for a “comfort break” are well behind me. It’s all about quality of life now.

2 hours ago, jon b said:

Hiwever some people now think this is an excuse to come to work and just go to sleep, be it the middle of the night or the middle of the afternoon , very lazy and  unprofessional in my view.

Yep, its only needed when you are jumping multiple time zones, off your circadian rhythm or just couldn't get any sleep.  

16 hours ago, birdguy said:

Whenever I drove cross country I always avoided the interstates.  I always drove on the secondary roads so I could see the country and drive through small towns.  I found them more interesting than the service stations on the interstate highway's on-off ramps.

I too avoid all controlled access roads these days, Noel. I don't like driving 65 mph and prefer the more sedate 55 mph of the State and US highways. I recently had to make the drive to Little Rock, AR a few weeks ago, choosing to drive the country roads instead. Oddly enough, not only was it 15 miles shorter, but it was also less than 20 minutes longer than taking the 4-lane US roads and the Interstates!

Overall, it was far more relaxing, and I was able to enjoy some truly interesting scenery along the way.

8 hours ago, n4gix said:

I don't like driving 65 mph and prefer the more sedate 55 mph of the State and US highways.

You probably wouldn't like to drove out here Fr Bill.

https://www.speed-limits.com/newmexico

Noel

I remember my late dad telling me that back in the late forties to early fifties, there was a speed limit sign at the entry border of (IIRC) Arizona that stated:

• Fords Do Your Damnedest
• All Others Do Your Best