tonight on "nightline," asleep at the stick. it's a scandal that may have already taken lives. exhausted, overworked pilots flying packed aircraft after nights crammed into places like this. or sleeping right in the airport. brian ross has the alarming investigation. deep fat freeze. in america's battle of the bulge, a radical new technology that kills fat cells by freezing them. demand is skyrocketing, but does it really work? we take a look. and, famous fingertips. katy perry jumps into the nail polish market to go head to head with celebs like justin bieber and serena williams. how celebrity nail wars became a "sign of the times." >> announcer: from the global

resources of abc news, with terry moran, cynthia mcfadden and bill weir in new york city, this is "nightline," february 9th, 2011. >> good evening, all, i'm bill weir. between the long lines and the pat-downs, the tiny seats and the tarmac delays, it would take the empathy of a saint to stop and worry about the comfort of the pilot. but tonight's investigation shows you exactly why you should. yes, there was a time when the hat and the wings signified a glamorous profession, but in these days of low wages and brutal schedules, the folks up in the cockpit often have to fly through deep, relentless fatigue. and brian ross is here with the alarming proof. brian? >> reporter: bill, for many pilots, the hardest part of the job is staying awake. fatigue is the dirty little secret of the airline industry. a night flight over washington, d.c., scene from the cockpit of a jet airline.

it's no time for a pilot to be struggling to stay awake. but all too often, that is the case. >> there's a code for it. one pilot will reach over to the other, say, listen, i'm going to examine the overhead panel for a little while. >> reporter: it's the result of a system in which poorly paid pilots report to duty hundreds or thousands of miles from home, have to scrounge at night for a place to sleep. ending up in secretive so-called crash pads, scene in this abc news undercover video. or even worse, spending the night in airline crew lounges as seen in these pictures taken by a pilot, raising the veil on the secret life of airline pilots, a symptom of a very serious problem. >> it is a big concern. it matters. our passengers deserve better. >> reporter: two years ago this week, a continental regional net from newark, operated by colgan air, crashed on approach to buffalo, killing 50 people. neither the pilot nor the first

officer slept in a bed the night before the flight. they had commuted from newark from florida and washington state. yawns could be heard on the cockpit voice recorder. >> we had a captain who had actually been overnighting in the crew lounge at newark airport for two of the previous three nights. >> reporter: the chair of the national transportation safety board says while pilot fatigue was not formally listed in the buffalo crash, it was certainly an important issue. >> we did recognize that they were likely impaired by fatigue. >> reporter: and yet two years after the crash, major carriers and the regional airlines still have not implemented the safety board's recommendations about dealing with the tired skies and the fatigue of long distance commuting pilots. so you show up and you were already worn out. >> yeah. >> reporter: until he quilt three years ago, josh was one of

those commuting pilots. at first, traveling from los angeles to fly regional jets out of newark. so regularly fatigued, he admitted, he would have to take naps in the middle of the flight. >> brian, absolutely. yeah. >> reporter: he says on his starting pilot salary of $17,000 a year, he could not afford to live in newark or even get a hotel room. with $17,000 a year to spend? >> yeah. >> reporter: how did you live there? >> i lived in a crash pad. >> reporter: you lived in a crash pad? it's a strange name for a place for pilots to sleep. but they can be found within blocks of most major airports. part of an underground world that is secret only to the flying public. we saw pilots coming and going all hours of the day and night at crash pads just a few blocks from laguardia airport in new york. inside, stacks of bunk beds, 24 in all, crammed into rooms in violation of all housing and fire colds.

about $25 a night. hot bunks. bring your own pillow case. >> it was never really good sleep. >> reporter: former continental express pilot josh says he, too, was forced to sleep in crash pads when he commuted from florida for flights based out of newark. >> people coming in and out. i happened to have a bunk mate that snored louder than anyone i've ever heard in my life. >> reporter: he says while the airlines provide hotel rooms during the middle of an actual trip, it's the light before the start of the trip when commuter pilots are scrambling for a place to sleep. >> they're aware of what's going on. and i think they just sort of say, you know, figure it out. >> reporter: and many pilots can't even afford the $25 a night for a crash pad. so, they end up behind the locked doors of the airport, where the public can't see them. spending the night in the airline's crew lounges. the airlines say it is against the rules that a pilot does

this. a pilot provided these images at the kru lounges at philadelphia and laguardia. >> you're not going to get a consolidated sleep doing that, no. >> reporter: dr. martin moore is a sleep expert that consults with the government on pilot fatigue. >> good sleeping is in a dark room, a quiet room and a room that's cool in temperature and a room that, where there's not intrusive noise. >> reporter: that's not a crew lounge. >> that does not describe a crew lounge. >> reporter: the pilot who took these pictures in the us airways express crew lounges asked that we not show his face and alter his voice. he said he put his job on the line so the public, and in particular, members of congress, could see what he seeps every day. >> that's who your pilot is going to be. do you want a well rested pilot when they take that 6:00 a.m. flight out of washington, d.c.? or do you want a guy who just slept in the crew room? >> reporter: all of this is deeply disturbing to the

families of the 50 people who died in the continental express flight 3407 crash two years ago. >> i picked it up, and, this is it, she's gone. >> reporter: since then, scott, who lost his daughter and others, have helped push legislation through congress. but he says neither the airlines nor the pilot'sdownon is still willing to address the issue of commuter pilots and fatigue. >> these two areas, pilots and industry, need to work closer together. >> reporter: right now, that's not happening. >> right now, that's not happening. >> how are you doing? thank you. >> reporter: one of the few who has actually stepped up and addressed the issue is america's most famous pilot, sully. captain chesley sullenberger, who, with his first officer, jeffrey skiles, was able to land his stricken jet in the hudson

river off new york city. >> i'm convinced had we not gotten sufficient rest the night before we could not have performed at the same level. the fact that we got so much so right so quickly under that sudden stress is a testament not only to our training but the fact that we had a chance to get sufficient rest. >> reporter: the kind of rest far too many pilots fail to get every single night. the administrator of the faa told he was he surprised to learn of our findings. that the airlines denied to him that their crew lounges are used by pilots as bedrooms. bill? >> brian ross investigates for us tonight. thank you. when we come back, we will check out a new weight loss trend built on cutting edge technology that kills off fat cells by freezing them. ooh, a brainteaser. how can expedia now save me even more on my hotel? well, hotels know they can't fill every room every day. like this one. and this one.

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>> announcer: "nightline" continues from new york city with bill weir. >> and now a story about butter and weight loss. but not in the way you might think. tonight, we meet a scientist who observed the way that delicious dairy product firms when chilled. then he made a leap that could have huge implications for dieters everywhere, because it involves removing your love handles by freezing them. here's claire shipman. >> reporter: we battle it, we obsess about it. we try to diet it off or work it off. we rename it. muffin tops, love handles. we glorify the absence of it. but as a nation, we have too much of it. fat. it's our national preoccupation. and who hasn't fan that sized about a quick, painless way to zap those frustrated extra handfuls of us? barbara is a 64-year-old school

teach whole is not much into fancy cosmetic procedures. but barbara got fed up with the trouble spot that just wouldn't melt away, even with diet and exercise. so, since she couldn't burn it off, she froze it off. that's right, a deep fat freeze. meet zeltiq, a revolutional technology that's wiping out those unslightly rolls by freezing the fat until the cells give up and die. >> when i explain it, they say, does this really work? but the patients we've done, they been ecstatic. >> reporter: the machine literally sucks up a handful of fat. it's a vacuum-like sensation. and slowly lowers the temperature for about an hour. in this office, it costs $750 to $1,500 a session, depending on the size of the area. the results can be impressive. a lack of pain and recovery time have made this one of the hottest treatments, so to speak, that the doctor offers.

but the results aren't immediate, cautions the doctor. they can take five to eight weeks. >> i actually had the technology tried on me. i kept thinking, hmm, not working. and i wondered, is it really going to work, and then, it did. >> i know your fat is being frozen. does it feel like you have an ice pack -- >> you don't feel any cold whatsoever. >> reporter: so easy, but the procedure's not for everyone. >> we speak to our patients. we are very clear to tell them that if they're eating 4,000 calories or 10,000 calories they can't continue that. so, this is not a license to eat as much as you want, eat all the junk food you want. >> reporter: and when you first read about how the technology works and did research about it, did you think, this is crazy? >> i said, well, it was developed at mass general, it's harvard, very prestigious. the scientist who worked on it was, is very well regarded in determine toll. . >> this yellow stuff is the fat.

>> reporter: so, we went to meet that scientist to figure out how all this works. he may not look like a sleek beauty expert, but from inside his lab, his curiosity has led him to create more ways to make you look better than just about anyone else on the planet. he invented, among other things, laser hair removal and tattoo removal. >> if you pay attention to mother nature, she's done all the good experiments. you just have to kind of listen to her. >> reporter: and that's what his scientific brain did this time, too. he was intrigued by two seemingly simple things. popsicles and butter. he read about popsicle panniculitis. when children lose some of the fat inside their cheeks. and, then, the properties of butter. >> if you leave butter out for awhile it's nice and soft and you can spread it on the bred. put it in the fridge, it gets hard. >> reporter: in other words, fat freezes before water or skin, which means you can kill the fat

cells below without doing any damage to your skin. >> that's really what we kind of latched onto that simple concept. and then made a machine that actually does that for us. >> reporter: in keeping with his butter analogy, they shhe showe picture of someone right after the procedure. once the fat melts, it slides back into place in minutes. >> i like magic bullets. i love -- and, actually, all of medicine, whether it be surgery or pills, in some way or other is a magic bullet. >> reporter: fat freezing might not transform lives but there are a lot of people who will view it as a magic bullet. look at barbara's profile after five months. radically different. no extra situps, no starving, no surgery. she certainly believes it to be a pretty cool solution to one of life's most stubborn problems. for "nightline," i'm claire shipman in boston. >> how about that?

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so it's 3,000 years b.c. and you're a member of the upper class, but the village rival doesn't approaeciate your statu. colored bees wax on your finger names. 5,000 years later, little nail polish is every woman's way to up her game. which is why more and more celebrity elites want to sell it to you. and for andrea canning, that is a "sign of the times." >> reporter: celebrities claim

to have all the answers when it comes to luscious locks. >> pan teen's got moisture for you. >> reporter: a fresh face. >> cover girl. >> reporter: even how to smell sensual. >> kim kardashian. the new cent. >> reporter: but leaving no body part untapped, the stars want to dap your digits. nail polish. katy perry is in on it. what does this guy know about manicures? doesn't matter. the country has bieber nall polish fever. the one less lonely girl collection sold out of every walmart in the country in less than two months. opi is one of the world's leading manufacturers. we paid a visit to their lab in hollywood. >> i always say it's the greatest accessory, most affordable. you can change it as often as you like.

and get a whole new look. >> reporter: looks that include crazy colors with names like overexposed in south beach, trophy wife, houston we have a purple or for you ladies waiting for your prince, no more waity katie. while sales of lipstick dropped by over 5% in 2009, polish grew by nearly 15%. from designer brands to makeup giants, everyone wants a piece of that $173 million lacquer pie. >> we really took nail polish to being something aspirational. >> reporter: they've created 1,500 shades over the past 20 years. what is the all-time number one selling shade. >> i'm not really a waitress from our hollywood collection. and in hollywood everybody says, i'm not really a waitress. it's about ten years ago that we launched this color and still number one. >> reporter: serena williams, who is actually studying to be a

manicurist created a grand slam collection to coincide with each tournament. >> she breaks a nail, she gets upset. >> reporter: serena plans to open her own spa with an already impressive client list. >> i can't believe serena williams is actually timing my big toe. >> why don't we do a makeover on your names? >> i got a sneak peek at a brand new invention called black shatter. >> at it tries, it starts shattering. watch what happens. >> that's amazing. >> katie p katy perry, eat your out. i'm andrea canning for "nightline." >> thanks for that. finally, the topic of tonight's online closing argument. should a beauty queen lose her crown over accusations over weight gain? that's the story. we hope you join the discussion at the "nightline" foo