Opening Our Eyes to Fatigue and Its Role in the Crash of American Airlines Flight 1420

American Airlines flight 1420 crashed in Little Rock, Arkansas. The crash killed 11 people, after running off the runway and impacting an approach lighting structure. The causes of the crash are still being investigated but the likely causes include the plane touching down 2000 feet passed the runway threshold, the rapidly deteriorating weather, and a fatigued flight crew.

Multiple factors were contributing to American Airlines fatal accident in 1999. To identify the factors and different issues with American Airlines Flight 1420 the SHELL model will be used. One of the major cause of this accident was a breakdown in Liveware-Software. Liveware-Software investigates procedures, manuals, checklists and standard operational procedures (ICAO SHELL Model, 2016).

According to Pennsylvania Patient Safety Reporting System (PA-PSRS), nurses stated fatigue as a contributing factor to errors related to procedures, treatments, tests, and medication administrations (Gardner, Dubeck, 2016). Many "near" errors, or “close-calls” were also attributed to mental fatigue and lack of recovery time between shifts (Maust Martin, 2015). It is reported that errors and "near" errors are related to factors, such as, lapses in attention, reduced motivation, compromised problem solving, and diminished reaction time. The Joint Commission believes that fatigue is a factor that greatly contributes to the increased number of sentinel events among patients (Gardner, Dubeck, 2016).

In modern aviation, pilot fatigue has become a vital problem that needs urgent intervention. The full effect of fatigue is frequently unforeseen however, many of its harmful effects have been known for a long time. When comparing with individuals who usually have enough rest, individuals who suffer from fatigue act slowly, have difficulties in memory, and are involved in many mistakes. In addition, the negative impact can or may lead to aviation accidents and errors (Caldwell, Mallis, Caldwell, Paul, Miller, & Neri, 2009).

Fatigue can be a symptom of many disease condition such as thyroid problems, a brain tumor, vitamin deficiency, anemia, hypothyroidism, pregnancy and depression. It is important to ask questions that should rule out all these differential diagnoses. As the interview progresses some of the diagnosis can be ruled out. The initial questions that the patient was asked include

Fatigue is a growing concern for law enforcement agencies, especially when it comes to officers that work second jobs (Doerner, 2012). Another concern would be officers using their sick time to work a second job, thus causing staffing issues for the agency (Doerner, 2012). Depending on the type of secondary employment, there could also be a conflict of interest further concerning the law enforcement agency (Doerner, 2012).

Fatigue is a growing concern and issue in the aviation industry. Although it has been for some time, recently mounting workloads and stress have factored into creating an escalating problem with real casualties and repercussions. “Pilot fatigue, heavy workloads… may have contributed to an air ambulance crashing into the sea at night during a medical mission…” (Crash Blamed 2006 p.31). Fatigue is an “insidious” condition that affects a pilot in a way that might make him feel justified in his decisions. (Wald 2008 C3). Without realizing the effects of sleepiness and stress, pilots often times make the wrong decision, believing it to be the right one, and suffering severe consequences, such as: passenger injures, crew injuries or even

Healthcare professionals working in critical care, and more specifically the emergency setting, are tasked with deescalating and treating trauma so that a patient may return to pre-trauma levels of functioning. ER staff encounter many challenges that are unique to their specialty and a cause of great stress, such as an unpredictable environment, high acuity patients, and continual change in patient flow (Walsh, 2013). Ross-Adjie et al (as cited in Healy, 2011) found that violence against staff and heavy workloads were two main stressors reported by emergency staff. Jonsson and Halabi mentioned conflict with physicians as a major stressor, while Adeb-Saeedi reported stress related to the presence of relatives and the providing care to patients experiencing suffering and pain (as cited in Healy, 2011).

Flight 1420 was a disaster that taught the aviation community several important lessons. All the Seven Major Elements of Aviation safety can be seen as contributing factors but the greatest factor was human error and the impact of pilot fatigue. With proper preventative measures, the pilots probably would have had the time to arm the MD-82’s spoiler system and the flight would have touched down safely.

This model will then be applied to a case study and a related intervention plan, where it will be evaluated through the Quality of Flight model and the model will be evaluated through the intervention plan. These applications truly show that it is beyond the plane, or an individual’s biological capacities, that determines the quality of a flight, or the quality of an individual’s

In 2009 an F/A-18 crash landed in a San Diego neighborhood and killed four family members. The investigation found that the main cause of the crash was due to poor maintenance and the pilots lack of experience in that aircraft. I know this is not exactly an airline I am talking about but, to me it seems pretty relevant, given the fact even airlines need maintenance done on their planes. I feel that the safety checks that the maintenance officer needed to do that day on that aircraft were overlooked. Apparently according to the article, the fuel flow to the left engine had been overlooked and bypassed for some time before the crash happened. The reason that they cut corners could have been a number of things, they could have been tired that

Great information. I like the concept of training leaders to look for symptoms of fatigue as well as QC-ing each others work when we are having those off days. Again, this is one of the cases where developing good strategies to address the problem of fatigue in the workplace, as well as training the employees on methods to defeat fatigue through quality rest is the best approach.

Something that characterizes fatigue, namely in aviation, are the increasing number of errors that may endanger the flight safety (Cabon et al., 2012; Federal Aviation Administration, 2012). To better understand the impact of fatigue on flight operations, it is important to gain insight into how each factor contributes to fatigue, and more importantly, how the effects of fatigue may negatively affect the pilots’ capabilities to cope with those situations. There are two primary categories of fatigue measures, objective measures which include physiological as well as performance, and subjective measures, which include self-assessment. Objective measures of physiological responses related to fatigue include eye movement

The current pilots are the ones making up for the gap by elongating their working hours, which can cause stress to them and to their families. Along with any profession, working 12 hours shifts, 6 days a week can certainly cause fatigue to the body, not only physically, but mentally as well. Another component that relates to this fatigue is constantly crossing over different time zones which everyone knows causes jet lag. With this career field, pilots do not get the leeway to allow fatigue to take control of them when on the job. This in which leads to another stress factor, the responsibility that comes with the occupation. When in flight many things can happen, equipment malfunction or turbulence are often the trouble. With this it can be stressful to know that it is up to you, the pilot, to resist any qualms that may be felt, and to resolve any errors for the safety of their lives and/or the several hundreds of people that may be onboard.

Stress is an everyday reality in the aviation industry, especially to pilots. Pilots face different kinds of stress on the job. Overload and underload on pilots is common and has always been overlooked. As a result, poses a threat to aviation safety. The society should pay a considerable attention to this issue. This essay will discuss the effect of stress on pilot performance and ways to relief stress. It begins with definitions of stress, then it will mention the causes of stress. The essay then explores on the relevance to aviation industry. Finally, the essay will give suggestions on how to cope with stress. As a future commercial airline pilot, this topic has great relevance as stress could not be avoided in the aviation industry. It