Essay, Research Paper: Flying Tired

CHAPTER I
Introduction
Pilots today are working in a 24-hour a day industry. The potential for error when working during the night is higher than working during the day. Humans have an internal clock that prefers you sleep at night; so working at night is a valid safety issue. Pilots today should be considered as shift workers, their schedules can be from early morning one day until the early morning of the next day and any combination in between. The fact that they deal with weather and operational delays can extend their workday by many hours. Many pilots also are flying through different time zones and can end up starting work as the sun rises and then finishing up just in time to get to bed when the sun is rising at the destination time zone. This creates a problem for the body, which resists sleep during the day light hours.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has put regulations on the aviation operators who schedule pilots in an attempt to allow adequate rest for them. Over the last 40 years we have learned much through scientific studies, which have shown that the actual time off required by the regulations, may not allow the proper sleep needed to prevent fatigue. Fortunately the studies have given many helpful strategies for pilots to be self-disciplined, which will reduce the fatigue and increase the quality of sleep obtained.
CHAPTER II
Night Flying; Shift work for pilots
The typical 9:00 to 5:00 workday does not apply to most pilots. Today most of the activities people are engaged in are conducted during daylight hours, whether it is business or social engagements, the reason is, that is how we are designed. The typical person will sleep during the night hours. As with many transportation modes flying is among the ones conducted at night. Though most commercial passenger flights are between 6:00 am and 11:00 PM, the work required to accomplish this is a 24-hour business. For example a pilot having a 6:00 am departure will need to wake-up as early as 3:00 am to make the flight. A pilot who wakes at 3:00 am will have one hour to shower, have a couple of cups of coffee, pack for the trip, and accomplish all the other normal activities prior to leaving for work. This would allow one hour for the drive or commute to work. The hour needed for the drive to work would obviously vary depending on your home location, but the majority of pilots work in larger city’s that will have a heavier traffic level, as in the Los Angeles area where gridlock and bumper-to-bumper traffic is generally experienced on the 405 Highway at 4:00am. You would also need to plan for at least a 10-minute time frame to park and walk to the flight area. This would put you at work 1 hour before take-off time, which is normally required of commercial pilots.
Although flying commercial passengers still requires you to awake early it is nothing compared to flying freight, which is conducted almost entirely at night. For example think about Fed Ex, they have delivery people picking packages up all day long and eventually transport it to the airport in the early evenings at which time the flight transports it to the next city where the drivers load their truck for the days deliveries. As a result most freight flying activities are done during night hours.
Though pilots can work various shifts we will break them down to the three most common. The first one will be the day shift say from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM, the second one will be the night shift commonly from 4:00 pm to midnight, and the last one we will call the graveyard shift from midnight to 8:00 am. Nychthemeral it the term used for a combination shift of both day and night. Most common night and graveyard shifts fall into this category, (Akerstedt, 1989).
Pilots not only must contend with the required shift-work times, they must also take into consideration a couple of other factors they face. One is that pilots must be able to extend their work time for weather and other delays common to aviation. Another factor is that they do work in a safety sensitive industry and must have a constant level of alertness.
Problems of Night flying (Shift Work)
So what’s so bad about flying at night? You can just sleep during the day. The air is smoother, its not as crowded, and you generally won’t have to deal with passengers. This is the common attitude with many traditional people that work the day shift. The problem is that humans were designed to sleep at night. We have internal clocks that regulate our bodies the, Circadian Clock. This clock is a natural and physical system for the body that affects the body temperature, hormones, and heart rate. This clock is linked to light and darkness so attempting to fight it is an attempt to fight Mother Nature.
When we sleep we recharge our batteries, when the body experiences a loss of or lack of sleep it will begin to show signs of physical problems. The most detrimental being fatigue, which will result in decreased performance, mood changes, alertness, and errors, which can be deadly when operating an aircraft. Figure A, shows the time of day when you have the highest level of alertness, generally in the morning and early evening hours. Though many of us have stayed up for over 24 hours, for most people your body will simply shut down when it gets to tired. A poll done by the National Sleep Foundation found that 65% of people don’t get enough sleep. As a result of this lack of sleep they estimate $18 billion dollars is lost each year in U. S. businesses (National, 1999).
CHAPTER III
Sleep Studies
NASA Ames Research Center conducted a study to determine the effects of fatigue, sleep loss and circadian disruption in flight crews. The study was in response to a request from Congress, which wanted to know if there was a safety problem in air transportation due to fatigue. The research started in 1980 and continues today with involvement and support from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), pilot unions as well as other organizations and individuals such as pilots. Two studies in particular will be of interest here, Short-Haul Commercial Operations and Long-Haul Operations. The results come from a collection of many studies and over 500 pilots. (Fatigue, 1998)
Short Haul Study
Short haul commercial operations study consisted of operations of less than eight hour flight legs, see average perimeters in Appendix A. The study showed that pilots who had night flights needed a longer time to fall asleep as well as waking up earlier. It also showed that fatigue was higher during the trip than what was experienced before the trip or after the trip. Not surprising the study also showed an increase in the consumption of caffeine compared to before and after the trip. The increase in caffeine was used to maintain alertness during flight operations. The average serving of alcohol was also higher during the trip,’ presumably to “Spin Down” after a long duty day’, (Fatigue, 1998). Due to the effects of alcohol and sleep they suggest the use of alternative approaches to help unwind after duty times, relaxation techniques could be substituted for alcohol consumption.
The study also showed that the actual duty time was double that of the flight time and that the 1/3 of the duty times lasted over 12 hours. This will help to realize the importance of duty time other than that of the actual flight time. It points out the need to take into consideration the prep time needed to conduct a flight. The study concludes that the limitations on duty time should be limited as well as the actual flight times. It also showed the effects of earlier duty times on successive trip days to be a problem due to the fact that it interrupted the normal sleep time needed. This caused an interruption of the internal clock and prevented the body from catching up on sleep. The study recommends that when scheduling successive trips to have the duty start times stay constant or be progressively later to allow complete circadian sleep. (Fatigue, 1998)
Long Haul Study
Long haul commercial operations consisted of flights over eight hours. See Appendix B for the study perimeters. The average duty times were 10.3 hours followed by 24.8 hours of layover time. The layover times produced two sleep periods with the average time being 19 hours awake then 5.7 hours of sleep followed by 7.4 hours awake and 5.8 hours of sleep. The big difference between short haul and long haul was the external environment such as light and activities that were different from the pilots normal circadian system; this was due to flying over as many as 5 different time Zones. The internal clock system was changed from the normal 24 hours to a clock system of 25.7. This made the sleep episodes unable to adapt to the changing time Zones.
The most important information gathered from the study was that it showed that there are times of good sleep and times of bad sleep. The current regulations regulate the off-duty times to allow for sleep and rest, but they do not take into consideration the internal circadian clock. What this means is if you have an off duty time that has a sufficient number of hours to accomplish the normal required sleep of 8 hours, you still may not be able to accomplish the proper level of sleep due to the difference in time clocks. (Fatigue, 1998)
CHAPTER IV
Ways to battle lack of sleep for pilots
Due to the ever-increasing demand on the aviation industry to operate and provide 24-hour service, we most likely will not see a decrease in the challenges imposed on human physiology. Knowing that the demands and strains on the circadian system will only increase, we must strive to develop ways in which to battle the natural effects of a lack of sleep and fatigue to reduce the danger they bring to aviation.
First we should point out the laws that govern Commercial aviation. According to Far 135.265 a pilot can have a reduced rest time of 8 hours if they take and extended rest time of 11 hours in the next 24 hours. What this would do is allow the pilot to be scheduled for a rest time of only 8 hours, which starts after he lands and begins at the next takeoff. Clearly this is not enough time for proper rest knowing the recommended time for sleep is 8 hours per day. They seem to think you are resting the minute you land your aircraft. See appendix C for additional regulations on duty time limitations. The complexity of the FARs on duty/rest time for pilots and the fact that the FARs allow Commercial operators to manipulate the rules in a way that makes the desired amount of sleep hard to obtain, it is no wonder pilots have a problem with fatigue. As we have seen our internal clock has a predetermined time frame that allows us to obtain good sleep. We must find ways of creating a successful environment for quality sleep especially without the help of regulations, which fall short. (Federal, 2000)


Personal Strategies
The National sleep Foundation has established a list of tips for reaching the desired amount and quality of sleep. They break down the tips into five areas of concentration; bedtime rituals, light, sound, food, and exercise. They push the fact that you should make sleep a priority in your life with both work and personal activities. They suggest tasks such as trying to hide your eyes from light when your sleep time is during daylight hours. They also say to have people who live with you use headphones when watching television. They even go as far as to suggest putting a “do not disturb,” sign on your bedroom door at home (Sleep, 1999). Their ideas have good intentions but the reality in today’s world you would be asking a lot of the people you live with if you were to enforce such restrictions on their lives. (Sleep, 1999)
Sleeping Pills
The use of sleeping pills can be helpful for a short time period but it is recommended not to use them for extended time periods. Currently there is an experimental drug called Melatonin, which is believed to posses the ability to regulate the function of the internal clocks day and night timing. The drug is a pineal hormone that can be detected in the plasma and serum. They are now testing dead people for their levels of Melatonin to determine the time of death. The drug has primarily been used in the treatment of people with jet lag. In 1995 they extended the drug in the U. S. retail market to 20 million new consumers, but still as an experimental drug. At this time the drug is not recommended for use by aviation professionals according to an aviation medicine report that said, “ The indiscriminate use of Melatonin by aviation professionals may pose unacceptable safety risks for air travel”. (Sanders, 1998) This warning comes from limited studies that found giving shift workers Melatonin at the wrong time or incorrect dose could impair their job performance. (Sanders, 1998)
Caffeine
Probably the most common way to fight feeling tired and increase your alertness is to use caffeine. Coffee being the drink of choice for most but is loosing ground to the increasing popularity of soda pop. There is nothing wrong with using caffeine to help overcome the feeling of sleepiness, if used wisely. The effects of caffeine can have a lasting effect so the timing and amount of caffeine needs to be taken into consideration when using it. If too much is taken or it is taken close to the time you will be needing sleep it can prevent you from sleeping.
Caldwell said, “If caffeine consumption begins before work, alertness will reach a plateau so that when the person needs a boost in the early morning hours, more caffeine is ineffective” (Caldwell, 1999). I would like to give a personal suggestion that you try the European type coffee called Espresso; some people refer to it as Seattle coffee. The boost is much more than common coffee and the taste is in a completely different league.
CHAPTER V
CONCLUTIONS
Today the scientific knowledge we have clearly shows a relationship between the amount and quality of sleep to the safety in the aviation industry. We looked at two studies that clearly back up the information we have on the effects of sleep. Do to the possibility of an accident involving an aircraft we must take this very seriously. The FAA has attempted to regulate this by enforcing rules to prevent operators from requiring pilots to fly without the desired amount of sleep. This has not eliminated the danger altogether do to the fact that humans have a internal clock that requires them to sleep at specific times which may or may not be the same as a pilots off-duty time. Because of this many pilot are flying the skies today without the proper alertness required to fly the sophisticated aircraft in use today.
According to the NTSB they are aware of the problem and are pushing for studies to improve it. They said, “the current duty-time limitations may not be consistent with the current state of scientific knowledge about factors contributing to fatigue among personnel working in safety sensitive transportation jobs” (Caldwell, 1999).
Fortunately there are many ways for the individual pilot to battle fatigue from lack of sleep. Learning personal strategies to help promote healthy sleep is one way that pilots can work toward to reduce their amount of fatigue. Although all the tips and techniques used to help sleep are good none will work for the person without the will power to follow through. Due to this we will continue to watch to see if the new studies promised from the NTSB will result in new rules for the duty time limitations for pilots conducting commercial operations.
REFERENCES
Caldwell L. J., (1999, March-April). Managing Sleep for Night Shifts Requires Personal Strategies. Flight Safety Foundations; Human Factors & Aviation Medicine. Vol. 46 No. 2
Dinges, D. F., Graeber, R. C., Rosekind, M. R., Samuel, A., Wegmann, H. M. (1996).
Principles and Guidelines for Duty and Rest Scheduling in Commercial Aviation. NASA
Technical Memorandum 110404.

Sanders, D. C., Chaturvedi, A. K., and Hordinsky, J.R. (1998, March ). Aeromedical Aspects of Melatonin. FAA Office of Aviation Medicine Civil Aeromedical Institute Publications.
Staff. (1998, July-August). Overcoming Effects of Stress Offers Greatest Opportunity to Sleep Well. Flight Safety Foundations; Human Factors & Aviation Medicine. Vol. 45 No. 4
Internet References
Fatigue Countermeasures Group. (1998, July 6). NASA Ames Research Center. Retrieved November 1, 2000 from the World Wide Web: http://www.olias.arc.nasa.gov/zteam
Sleep Strategies for Shift Workers. (1999, October). National Safety Foundation. Retrieved October 27, 2000 from the World Wide Web: http://www.sleepfoundation.org/publications


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