Research and guidelines for implementing Fatigue Risk Management Systems for the French regional airlines.

This paper describes research that aims to provide the overall scientific basis for implementation of a Fatigue Risk Management System (FRMS) for French regional airlines. The current research has evaluated the use of different tools and indicators that would be relevant candidates for integration into the FRMS. For the Fatigue Risk Management component, results show that biomathematical models of fatigue are useful tools to help an airline to prevent fatigue related to roster design and for the management of aircrew planning. The Fatigue Safety assurance includes two monitoring processes that have been evaluated during this research: systematic monitoring and focused monitoring. Systematic monitoring consists of the analysis of existing safety indicators such as Air Safety Reports (ASR) and Flight Data Monitoring (FDM). Results show a significant relationship between the hours of work and the frequency of ASR. Results for the FDM analysis show that some events are significantly related to the fatigue risk associated with the hours of works. Focused monitoring includes a website survey and specific in-flight observations and data collection. Sleep and fatigue measurements have been collected from 115 aircrews over 12-day periods (including rest periods). Before morning duties, results show a significant sleep reduction of up to 40% of the aircrews' usual sleep needs leading to a clear increase of fatigue during flights. From these results, specific guidelines are developed to help the airlines to implement the FRMS and for the airworthiness to oversight the implementation of the FRMS process.

The effect of arm posture on the scan-derived measurements.

Among various three-dimensional (3D) scanning anthropometric surveys, the inconsistent arm postures for scanning may lead to incompatible measurement results. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the effect of arm posture on the scan-derived measurements. The two arm postures in concern are the one with palms facing inward and the one with palms facing backward. The experimental results reveal that the two postures do not differ from each other in obtaining the scan-derived measurements for most body dimensions except for those related to the upper torso. Besides, the scan-derived measurements can be more precise between the two postures than the manual measurements. Further, it was found that being scanned with palms facing backward can contribute to the smaller difference between the scan-derived measurements and the manual measurements and the better image quality. Overall, the arm posture with palms facing backward is considered as the preferred posture for 3D whole body scanning.

Perceived fatigue for short- and long-haul flights: a survey of 739 airline pilots.

BACKGROUND: Fatigue-related incidents in aviation may be self-reported by pilots in confidential systems. The aim of this study was to clarify what fatigue means to pilots on short- and long-haul flights (SHF and LHF, respectively). METHODS: Questionnaires were distributed to pilots through four airlines. Questions concerned the perceived causes of fatigue, its signs and symptoms in the reporting pilot and observed in others, as well as the strategies used to minimize its impact. RESULTS: Of 3,436 questionnaires distributed, 739 (21.5%) were returned. For LHF, fatigue was seen as mainly due to night flights (59%) and jet lag (45%). For SHF, fatigue was caused by prolonged duty periods (multi-segment flights over a sequence of 4 to 5 d) (53%) and successive early wake-ups (41%). Self-reported manifestations of fatigue in 60% of LHF pilots and 49% of SHF pilots included reduction in alertness and attention, and a lack of concentration. Signs observed in other crewmembers included an increase in response times and small mistakes (calculation, interpretation). When pilots were tired, all the flying tasks seemed to be more difficult than usual. In both LHF and SHF, rest and sleep management were the primary strategies used to cope with fatigue. Analysis showed that duty time is a major predictor of fatigue, but that it cannot be considered independently from the other contributory factors. CONCLUSION: For both LHF and SHF, pilots reported acute fatigue related to sleep deprivation, due mainly to work schedules: night flights, jet-lag, and successive early wake-ups. These causal factors could easily be assessed in investigation of accidents and incidents.

Electronic pilot-activity monitor: a countermeasure against fatigue on long-haul flights.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have shown frequent reductions in aircrew alertness during long-haul flights, even during the critical descent phase. Recommended countermeasures include alternation of crew activity with rest, such as cockpit napping. However, a method of monitoring the alertness level of the active and napping pilots should be considered. METHODS: The Electronic Pilot-Activity Monitor (EPAM) continuously monitors the activity of the crew (activity mode) and limits nap duration (timer mode) to prevent sleep inertia effects. The EPAM is currently being validated during actual long-haul flights. To date, we have studied 14 round trips Brussels-New York-Brussels (i.e., 28 flights). Physiological parameters, including electroencephalogram, electrooculogram, and heart rate, were recorded continuously to evaluate the ability of EPAM to detect low alertness phases. RESULTS: We present preliminary results showing that the EPAM can detect some microsleep periods during the flight. However, some microsleeps occurred while the pilot was active. In the timer mode, the EPAM was able to limit sleep duration but some deep sleep was observed. DISCUSSION: These results suggest that additional measures (e.g., eye closure duration) should be included to improve the detection of drowsy periods. In addition, the timer mode should be improved to prevent deep sleep in order to prevent subsequent sleep inertia.