coryk

I just leave my watch set to home time. When it’s 10-11pm, I go to bed, usually sleep 8-9hrs straight. In Asia, that’s about noon to 9pm. It’s weird, but my body is way better off for it.

Also, I don’t place drinking beers and BSing about life with others above quality sleep and exercise.

wrxpilot

Same here. I fly exclusively Asia trips, and stay on US time. It’s a little weird going to bed at noon, but I get at least an extra 2-3 full sleep cycles that way and am very well rested for my trips. I also have basically zero jet lag when I get back to the US. It’s well worth it.

AZFlyer

Agreed with the above posters. I'm a new hire on the 11 in MEM and just did my first trip through Asia. I live on the east coast. Decided to keep my body on 'home' time and see what happens. I felt surprisingly good the entire trip and was so well rested for most legs that when it was my turn on break it was tough to sleep. Had no problem being awake and alert while up front. The only time it was a little tiring was when departing around 11pm out of ANC to go westbound. I did my best to rest prior to the ANC launches and then slept on my break and it was not a big deal ultimately. The worst part was the redeye deadhead out of ANC back to the east coast. In the end I had basically zero issues being back on home time at the end of the trip; just whipped from the redeye flight home.

North48

Thanks for the insights. I've spoken to a couple guys that do this and seems to work well for them. If I'm reading in between the lines, everyone has a slightly different approach that works for them based on where they're based and what lines they bid/fly.

avalanche

This is like being a vegetarian--it's less fun but it's probably better for you.

Adlerdriver

This all sounds great in theory, but it's not always practical in my experience. Seems like it might be an option in some cases, but it can't consistently work based on the way many trips are constructed. Definitely less fun (although at the moment with Covid BS it's probably no big deal). I've always done the sleep when you're tired and it works great, but I adapt almost immediately to Asia time (Europe not so much).
Also, I don't understand how being a slave to your home time zone works when you're dealing with back to back 24-hour layovers. Maybe if you're passing through Asia in one layover. But if you're doing short hop duty periods over multiple days like OAK/HKG, MD-11, heck even some 777 trips - you're either working during home zone awake time or exactly opposite. I've worked all "night" (Asia night, US day) into NRT, 24 off and then back out the next morning to work the Asia day, US night - exactly when you're saying you would be going to sleep. You sleep your home zone night upon arrival, wake up and have another 12 hours or so before your next duty period starts. Just in time for bed time in your home zone. So how would you plan your rest and stay on home time during that layover?

wrxpilot

I’ve been HKG based for over three years and have been doing the US time thing for a few months. It works great, and there are numerous trips in the bid pack that work extremely well for it. I’m hardly the first person to do this, it’s quite common actually particularly in the HKG base.

TacoTuesday

Yah i have been doing that same and works for me.... if you stay on Asia time I feel you are spending more duty periods on the back side of the clock than staying on US time (def west cost time works well). Can't avoid having to nurse the coffee jug on every flight, but if i can reduce my intake of Guangzhou swill all the better.... but at least it keeps me regular.

Rocksteady

How do you guys eat if your staying on home time, wouldn’t everything be closed?

wrxpilot

If you sleep from 1200-2000, most stuff is still open for “breakfast”. If you want to eat a few hours after that, room service is usually available. I’ve never had an issue getting food.