Pilot Safety/fatigue

Pilot Fatigue:

Safety in Flight

Aviation today had some of the most serious and pressing safety issues to deal with. The increasing age of the fleet, the constant downsizing of personnel, pay cuts and companies doing what they can to stay afloat; all the while taking the concern of safety to the back burner. All of these problems do not just affect the civilian aviation community; they affect the military aviation community as well. One of the growing concerns with military aviation is the effects that sleep poses on the safety aspect of flight and operations. I will address:

1. How sleep affects safe flight

2. The Air Force's current procedures

3. A safety program designed to protect resources

Sleep is a basic primal function much the same as eating or drinking but it is often over looked when the job needs to get done at a cost to safety.

Sleep and Flight

Many of us have traveled to a different time zone in the United States or some have traveled to a different country either way we have all felt flight fatigue also known as "Jet Lag". Imagine having that feeling every day and having to work through it in a safe and efficient manner. That is the ongoing problem that pilots, either civilian or military, have to face on a daily basis.

Aircrew fatigue is a dangerous threat to the safety and effectiveness of Air Force operations. In addition to fatigue's subtle effect on performance, fatigue is also estimated to cost the Air Force over $54 million in Class A accidents each year (USAF Safety Center, Feb 02). However, despite intense study and development of effective countermeasures for ground-based personnel, researchers have performed relatively little research at overcoming fatigue in the aviation environment.

The basic causes of aircrew fatigue are insufficient sleep, disruptions to the body's clock, and extended duty periods (Edwards, 1990, 171). Technological advances and a global reach strategy that make long-range, continuous operations a way of life for today's Air Force, exacerbate these problems.

The B-2 bomber paved the way for nonstop, intercontinental flights in which a 2-person crew can remain in the cockpit for up to 45 continuous hours (USAF Safety Center, Feb 02). That is an extreme case; but imagine having to do such an important job for that continuous time without a break or a chance to stretch. Not to mention, advances in night vision technology have overcome the problem of limited nighttime visibility and maximized the Air Force's capacity to own the night. The result is that the Air Force relies upon 24/7 operations to an unmatched degree.

Since 1990, there has been an overall 37.7% reduction in military personnel, while contingency deployments have increased by as much as 400%. With the constant downsizing personnel are being stretched to there limits not only physically but mentally as well (Belasco, A, 2002). Unfortunately, while Air Force equipment is well suited to such continuous and sustained operations, the performance capabilities of military personnel are not. People lose approximately 25% of their higher-level cognitive capacity with each 24 hours of sleep loss. Just 18 to 21 continuous hours without sleep leads to performance impairments like those seen with blood alcohol concentrations of 0.05 to 0.08%Ð'--beyond the legal limit of intoxication in every state in the US as well as on military installations (Edwards, 1990, 163). Military capabilities are increasingly stressed as units strive to accomplish more work with fewer resources. This increases the dangers of aircrew fatigue in the tactical environment. Although fatigue is an ever-present problem throughout today's military, recent reports from Operation IRAQI FREEDOM indicate the need for effective, scientifically validated fatigue-management strategies, especially in combat operations.

Current Procedures and Studies

In 1960 the United States Air Force approved using "uppers and downers" for personnel on flight status. Since then numerous pilots have taken the, so called "go and no-go" pills and have had, on the grand scale, only minor incidents that have been attributed to the medication. Pilots today are being prescribed a number of these pills; the most common is dextroamphetamine which is prescribed to keep the pilots alert during long missions and zolpidem to help the pilots relax and get rest after the mission.

Recently, researchers conducted a study of the sleep-enhancing medication Temazepam to determine if it could aid personnel in rapidly transitioning from daytime duty to nighttime duty. The study evaluated the performance, mood, alertness, and sleep of military pilots and showed that Temazepam increased the amount of daytime sleep and improved its quality as compared to a placebo. As a result, researchers saw enhancements in early-morning alertness, reduced fatigue, and improved performance (Balkin, 129).

A related investigation is comparing melatonin to the sleep aid Zolpidem to determine if these compounds will enhance nighttime mood and performance by improving daytime sleep. Although the project is not complete, measures of cognitive task performance, vigilance, subjective self-reports, salivary melatonin and cortisol, polysomnography, and vital signs will help determine the conditions under which melatonin or Zolpidem may be useful in the operational environment.

Several investigations looked at the effects of the hypnotic Zaleplon to aid sleep. One study investigated Zaleplon's ability to effectively promote sleep during the daytime in well-rested individuals. Drug administration occurred during the day and participants were given a 3.5-hour opportunity to nap. Upon awakening, researchers collected performance and subjective data for the next 3.5 hours. The results indicated an increase in total sleep time and sleep efficiency compared to a placebo Balkin, 130). Thus, Zaleplon may be useful for enhancing sleep in uncomfortable operational settings.

For situations where the operations tempo makes sleep temporarily impossible, research shows Dextroamphetamine is effective in countering fatigue. A recent Air Force technical report details the results of a series of four aviation studies where researchers compared Dextroamphetamine to a placebo. They examined flight performance, psychological mood evaluations, electroencephalograms, and sleep assessments from 28 pilots in a 2-day, 1-night period of continuous wakefulness. Results showed Dextroamphetamine