Mitigating and Monitoring Flight Crew Fatigue on a Westward Ultra-Long-Range Flight

Dec 6, 2014Aviation, space, and environmental medicine

Reducing and tracking pilot tiredness during a very long westward flight

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Abstract

54% of flight crew napped prior to the outbound flight, which did not affect in-flight sleep quality.

  • Primary crew reported an average of 4.3 hours of sleep during the outbound flight and 4.0 hours on the inbound flight.
  • Secondary crew had less average sleep at 2.9 hours on the inbound flight.
  • Subjective ratings of fatigue and sleepiness increased and performance decreased across flights.
  • Primary crew experienced less fatigue and sleepiness than Secondary crew, especially during critical phases like descent.
  • Crewmembers adapted their sleep patterns, achieving more sleep in the first 24 hours of layover compared to the last.

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