Circadian Rhythm

3:00 AM: My wristwatch alarm goes "beep-beep, beep-beep". I reach over and turn it off.

3:03 AM: My cell phone alarm goes "do-do-do-Do-Do" or whatever song it is. I reach over and turn that off.

3:06 AM: The hotel alarm clock goes "BWANH BWANH BWANH BWANH". I reach over and turn that off

3:06:05 AM: I reach for the remote control and turn on The Weather Channel. The ensuing glow ensures that I will not go back to sleep, jeopardizing my seat on the 4:00 am crew van to the airport and earning me a trip to have coffee with the chief pilot...although the meeting is in his office and he is the only one enjoying coffee.

Such is my routine when I have an early morning "show time", which I've had a lot lately. The upside to the early show is that on the last day, you're usually done by lunchtime, or shortly after. The downside is, well, you have to get up really early in the morning. No matter how hard you try, it is hard to automatically switch from being a night person to being a morning person, and somehow managing to get to bed early at night. Many pilots write about "Circadian Rhythm", and what they do to accomodate different schedules. One that I enjoy reading writes a column in Flying Magazine, and he starts a day or two early when he has a string of early shows or an overseas flight. Unfortunately, I cannot seem to do this, no matter how hard I try. When I have the 4:15 show time, it means I need to leave the house at 2:30 to get to the airport, so I have to be up at 1:45. Wow, that sounds even more ridiculous when I write it.

On this particular morning with the 4:15 - which I've only had one of on the first day of a trip - I tried and tried to get in bed at 7 PM, but just couldn't do it. As you can imagine, one gets pretty tired the next day, and we can't have tired pilots. Our scheduling department does a good job of making sure we're finished early on such days, and I can usually be in bed in the hotel by 1:30 or so. Of course, an afternoon nap makes it difficult to fall asleep at night, which you need to do when you have another 4 AM show time the next day...

And of course, by the time your body is adjusted, the trip is over, you're at home, and your wife is demanding why you are exhausted at 5 o'clock at night, falling asleep while she is telling you about her day, or falling asleep at much more "inopportune" times....

For me, the search for the answer to Circadian Rhythm will continue, and, in the meantime, I am thankful for $1.00 large coffee at the Laguardia Dunkin Donuts for flight crew.

Living the Dream....