Pilot Fatigue: More Flights, Long Duty Hours and Research: Rediff Moneynews

New Delhi, July 28 (PTI) According to a study, factors leading to pilot fatigue include consecutive night flights, more than 10 hours of on-board duty and unstable schedule.

The study, based on a survey conducted mainly among senior pilots by the non-governmental organisation Safety Matters Foundation, aimed to investigate the mutual influence of workload-related fatigue factors on the analysis of the causes of pilot fatigue.

As many as 84% ​​of pilots are reported to be concerned about the speed and direction of gear changes, while 83% of respondents are concerned about fatigue caused by repeated night flights.

In addition, the survey found that 81 percent of pilots are concerned that flights with minimal rest and no buffer schedules significantly impact their sense of fatigue.

“70 percent of pilots surveyed believed that more than 10 hours of flight duty significantly contributed to fatigue. NASA and EASA research recommends a maximum of 10 hours of flight duty,” it noted.

In addition, almost 76 percent of pilots believed that increasing flight duty time and the number of landings per week had a significant impact on increased fatigue.

The online survey, which involved 530 respondents, mostly captains with significant hours spent operating short-haul flights, was conducted between 16 and 22 July.

Due to concerns over pilot fatigue, aviation regulator DGCA earlier this year proposed changes to flight duty time limitation (FDTL) norms, but the revised rules are yet to be implemented.

The survey found that 63 percent of pilots said fatigue was caused by frequently changing tail positions while performing flying duties.

Generally speaking, a tail swap is when the aircraft that was supposed to be flying is swapped with another aircraft.

“Frequent changes would mean that due to changing aircraft one or more times during the flight duty period, the crew cannot directly transfer from one aircraft to another. Before boarding the assigned aircraft, the crew must go to the terminal and go through security checks.

“Frequent tail posture changes, combined with other factors such as maximum flight duties, minimum rest time and multiple landings, can increase fatigue,” the release reads.

The Safety Matters Foundation noted that research has shown a link between wakefulness and blood alcohol concentration, and that 17 hours of wakefulness can be equated to a blood alcohol concentration of 0.05%.

The aviation regulator DGCA allows a blood alcohol concentration of 0.000% during pre-flight and post-flight tests.

The survey found that many pilots believe current rest periods and work schedule management practices are insufficient to effectively combat fatigue.

“The instability of scheduling and the prevalence of minimum rest periods do not provide adequate time for recovery, leading to chronic fatigue,” the release said, adding that more stable and predictable scheduling practices and ensuring rest periods aligned with science-based recommendations could improve pilot well-being.

The survey also found that 40 percent of pilots are concerned about reporting fatigue, and 30 percent consider fear of reporting fatigue to be a significant factor.

“The number of Indian pilots declared as Temporarily Unfit (TMU) or Permanently Unfit (PMU) has increased. Although there has been no study to correlate fatigue with the increase in TMU/PMU of pilots, fatigue is a major contributor to heart disease,” it added.