I was in a Human Factors In Flight class and I really couldn't comprehend this: in aviation, what does ambiguity mean and does sleep appear to play a role in the maintenance of sleep?

expat wrote on Jun 13^th, 2012 at 6:27pm:



Im not sure either what is being asked...but I will give it a crack.

In aviation ambiguity means the plane MIGHT fly, MIGHT not. You MIGHT have enough fuel to make it across the large body of water, you might NOT. The mechanic MIGHT have re-connect that gauge or your controls, might NOT have. The runway MIGHT be straight ahead when you get out of the clouds or there MIGHT be a mountain straight ahead.

About sleep maintenance, this one I am serious about. This past fall semester in college I started developing sleep problems. I can tell you that operating on 2-3hrs of sleep every night for months is horrendous, I can also tell you that pulling all-nighters triggered it. Eventually I reached a point where I was too ill physically and exhausted I slept for 8hrs really REALLY hard (God could not wake me up). After I started sleeping 8-10hrs the sleep problems went away. Simply put, good sleep is very important in maintaining sleep! I learned the hard way.

Try doing 25 years of early, late and night shift. Then you can really appreciate how phuqed up your sleeping patterns become. After night shift I have to sleep in two shifts. I come home, get into bed at around 08:00. On a good day I sleep until 12:00, bad day,11:00. Then I am wide awake. So I get up, do what needs to be done and then go back to bed at around 15:00 to 17:00 depending how tired I am. I then sleep until around 20:00. That gives me an hour to get ready for work starting at 22:00. When I come out of shift into my down days, the first night, I am fully awake at around 02:00. It is cup of tea time and creeping around the house so as not to wake my wife (picture bear that has been woken from a slumber by poking it with a sharp stick.......) and the children. I generally get back into bed when my wife gets up for work. I then sleep for a couple of hours.

To anyone embarking on a life of paying taxes for the next 45 years, make it a priority in life to avoid shift work if you can.

And this is not to mention all the weekends I have to work too.

Matt