I was at the controls, trying hard to keep my eyes open. My copilot knew how tired I was and kept looking over to check on me. I quickly opened my eyes, and by some miracle we were still in position on the other aircraft. I gave up the controls to my copilot and sat there feeling max stupid for the rest of the flight. I had neglected to use ORM when I should have, and because of my lack of sleep, I jeopardized the lives of nine people.
Crew rest is in the books for a reason.
All too often, however, it takes a backseat to doing things like messages and LSO duties. Nichols, now attached to NAS Brunswick, wrote this article while he was with HSL-44. This US Government system is subject to monitoring. Please review the Privacy, Security and External Link Notice .