To: Ms. Helen Soter, Instructor. From: Brandon Johnson,

Considering the doctors or those that examine pilots to allow them to fly, they should be knowledgeable in not only the physical factors but mental ones as well. This would include being familiar with the signs of depression and alcoholism. The evaluation should also consist of more than yes or no questions to rule out any possibility of the pilot having any mental health issues.

With regard to sleepiness, several studies indicated that the average of sleep duration in 1910 to 2002 have decreased from 9 to 6 hours on workdays (National sleep foundation, 2002; Groger et al., 2004). Recently, a survey study of Roger et al. (2004) shows that an American Nurses have an average of 84 minutes more sleep on non workdays. Thus, shift work suggested as a cause of sleeping disorder among nurses where they feel of sleep during the shift. Considering the contributing factors of sleepiness, the literature identified that long working hours and rotating shifts are causing sleeping disorder. In the night and rotating shifts, the nurses are rarely obtained adequate amount of sleep. In fact, the nurses experiencing less sleeping hours (1 to 4 hour) than normal sleeping (Zeisler et al.,1980). Nevertheless, insufficient sleep is a significant reason of damaging planning, decision-making, and integration of information (Krueger, 1994; Harrison and Horne, 2000). More recent studies have revealed that long hour shifts and overtime are strongly linked to the difficulties of being a wake through the shift which leads to increase the risk of making an error (Scott et al., 2006; Roger et al., 2004).

Many people travel on a plane each year, but have never wondered what the people flying the plane have done to get to this level. Becoming a pilot requires difficult work, and takes time, mostly in the early stages of flight school. A pilot must go to school for many years, on top of the two years of college (”Education”), and must go through many different airlines. A pilot also must stay away from their family whenever they are flying, as they may only fly 3 days a week, and not consecutively. Piloting is an honored and respected profession that is used to take people around the world, it requires patience, and good math skills (Hopke).

This article explains the importance of getting the perfect amount of sleep at night. The idea that sleeping for less than five hours or more than nine hours proves to have a negative effect on the human body. Sleep deprivation has a closely related link to memory retention and can cause a person to have trouble with daily task. The author continues to explain that not only is the brain effected by too little or too much sleep, but the rest of the body is also effected. Conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and even depression have links to not getting the perfect amount of sleep. The article concludes with listing tips to get the ideal amount of sleep at night, such as, going to sleep and waking up at the same time every day and limiting the amount of caffeine that is consumed throughout the day.

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

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

The effects of long work hours, resulting in insufficient sleep have been well documented (Rogers, 2008). Insufficient sleep alone has been noted to cause cognitive problems, mood alterations, reduced job performance, reduced motivation, increased safety risks, and physiological changes (Rogers, 2008). Failure to obtain a sufficient amount of sleep is even an important contributor to medical errors (Rogers, 2008). Now think of the effects of sleep, and add in stressful work environments, short-staffing, pressure from administration, and unexpected events, we can begin to realize how patient outcomes may be greatly compromised.

The purpose of this study is to examine the performance of pilots flying multiple types of aircraft in an experimental setting. Pilot performance will be assessed by written tests and simulator sessions. This study will build on a previous field study, Pilots Flying Multiple Aircraft Types or Multiple Flightdeck Layouts, which was conducted for AVS 4504 Aviation Safety Analysis. The results of that study showed a need for a simulator study to further identify if pilots have issues maintaining currency in multiple types of aircraft.

Moreover, accident surveys and aviation studies all indicate that fatigue is an emerging hazard and a major concern in airline industries around the world. Long flying pilots often attribute the cause of their fatigue to circadian disturbances and sleep deprivation, which is as a result of time zone transitions. While short flying pilots attribute their fatigue on workload and sleep

Like the general population, pilots are susceptible to the same psychological problems other people may encounter. Historically, pilots have had a deep distrust of psychologists and psychiatrists and are dismissive of psychological theories. This deeply rooted negative disposition most likely has been formed from bad experiences during training, licensing, selection, or during the routine tasks of managing daily personal problems. Pilots typically have a lower chance of experiencing psychological disorders; however, they are biologically human and prone to the vast spectrum of mental defects. Health care providers need to recognize that pilots are human and at risk of mental instability.

Working the night shift is a common practice in industrialized societies. Nevertheless, its adverse effects should not be excused as this plays a vital part in control of cancer and heart disease. Prevailing in healthcare, transport and production industries, its irreversible effects on bodily functions play a vital role in reducing accidents, sleep regulation, performance, and quality of rest.

In this section I will discuss about the causes of stress in a pilots life and this are as follows: unusual tasks and challenges faced by pilots, passing the medical examinations, problems with family, illness, time schedules, temperature and humidity etc. Stress, a state of highly unpleasant emotional arousal associated variously with overload, fear, anxiety anger and hostility – can threaten both individual performance and teamwork. It can undermine the

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

The most evaluated aspects are the hiring standard and ongoing evaluation of pilots. Currently, no psychological testing is required for airline pilots. Although most airliners choose to incorporate psychological testing in their hiring process, but these tests were primarily designed as personality test. The test was used to examine whether a pilot will fit well in the company and do little to uncover the mental state and fitness of the pilot.

Stress has potential to influence the performance of an individual. The degree of stress correlates with the degree of arousal in a high pressure situation, which can eustress or impair an individual’s performance (Pignata, 2016). The flight deck of an aircraft is a complex operating environment with demand for high performance between automated and human interfaces. Exposure to these high levels of external and internal occupational (Blouin, 2014) stressors has underlying effect on the operational performance of professional pilots both in the immediate and prolonged circumstances. Stress and trauma education for especially training pilots is important to highlight the potential effects of physical, physiological and psychological stressors to manage pressure and optimise pilot performance of aviation safety.