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Monitoring the Effectiveness of Fatigue Risk Management: A Survey of Pilots' Concerns.

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INTRODUCTION Airlines are required to monitor the effectiveness of their pilot fatigue risk management. The present survey sought the views of all pilots at Delta Air Lines on fatigue-related issues… Click to show full abstract

INTRODUCTION Airlines are required to monitor the effectiveness of their pilot fatigue risk management. The present survey sought the views of all pilots at Delta Air Lines on fatigue-related issues raised by their colleagues participating in regular airline safety audits. METHODS All 13,217 pilots from 9 aircraft fleets were invited to participate in an anonymous online survey. Questions related to aspects of scheduling, fatigue mitigations, and fatigue safety culture. RESULTS There were 1108 pilots who completed the survey (response rate = 8.4%). On 7/9 fleets, most pilots thought 5- to 7-d rotations were too long (exceptions: B747, median = 14 d; A330 median = 8.5 d). In the previous year, on average across all fleets, 60.6% of pilots had worked up to or beyond their personal rotation limit (minimum, B747 = 6.3%; maximum, MD88/90 = 75.9%). Rotations where duty periods start progressively earlier were considered highly fatiguing by 73.8% of pilots, compared to 14.7% for rotations where duty periods started progressively later and 1.6% for rotations with successive duty periods starting at the same time. The median optimum break length between rotations was 3-4 d. On 7/9 fleets, fewer than 20% of pilots tried to build their monthly schedules with back-to-back rotations (exceptions: B747, 43.8%; A330, 34.3%). Awareness of fatigue and perceptions of company fatigue risk management activities varied widely among fleets. DISCUSSION The findings identify possible improvements in fatigue risk management and highlight that care is needed when extrapolating from one operational context to another. As a safety assurance exercise, we recommend repeating the survey biannually, or sooner if warranted by specific circumstances.Gander P, Mangie J, Phillips A, Santos-Fernandez E, Wu LJ. Monitoring the effectiveness of fatigue risk management: a survey of pilots' concerns. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2018; 89(10):889-895.

Keywords: fatigue; risk management; survey; fatigue risk

Journal Title: Aerospace medicine and human performance
Year Published: 2018

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