Understanding the Dangers of Pilot Fatigue

One of the most controversial and important air crash linked to human error of the modern world happened on the night of February 12, 2009. Colgan air flight 3407, operated by Continental Connection, was on final approach to runway 23 at Buffalo-Niagara International Airport as it disappeared from radar. The aircraft was a Bombardier Dash 8, a popular twin engine medium range turboprop Airliner used by many regional carriers. The aircraft entered an uncontrollable stall crashing into to a neighborhood 5 miles northeast of the airport killing all everyone on souls on board. The Captain, Marvin Resnlow and first officer Rebecca Lynne were behind the controls the night of the accident. The NTSB report determined error by both pilots cause the aircraft to crash. Thus, pilot fatigues, improper recovery form a stall were contributing factors. The victim’s family members pushed for congress to overhaul airline regulations. The NTBS investigation delivery multiple findings that eventually led to a modernization of airline operations and pilot training.

This change in body temperature has a great influence of human alertness and mental performance at work, with lowest performance experienced between 0300hrs – 0600hrs in the morning. It is therefore vital that work schedule and planning should consider these changes in performance and adjust accordingly.

Driver fatigue is a common occurrence for those who are driving long distances or driving at times of the day or night when they should naturally be sleeping. Becoming overtired when behind the wheel is dangerous and unfortunately highly common in a time where daily activities continue to move along, despite our need to rest.

One of the most deadly plane crashes was when two planes ran into each other on the ground, killing 583 people. One of the deadliest plane crashes in the air was Trans World Airlines (TWA) flight 800. In the report they say that mechanical failure is at fault. Other people say that it was a missile strike at fault. The mystery behind the crash of TWA flight 800 can be summed up in two groups, missile hit or mechanical failure.

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 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).

American Airlines Flight 1420 is the aircraft that I will be writing about in this essay. It is classified as a runway overrun accident. The department that investigated the accident was the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). Human factors will be the focus in this project by using the Human Factor Analysis and Classification System (HFAC) Model. I will be focusing on two different human factor areas and relate those to the chain of event that caused the aircraft to overrun the runway.

Everyday millions of people fly on airplanes. It is an easy and fast way of traveling for work, vacations or to see family members. Statically air travel is safer than traveling by car, airplanes have higher fatality accidents. The reasons airplanes crash vary and can happen during takeoff, landing or during flight. “August 1985 witnessed more passenger and crew deaths on commercial airlines than any other month.” [http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33931693.]

A 2006 survey of short haul pilots revealed that 75% believed they had fatigue bad enough to be considered severe while operating an aircraft. When comparing to the previous two years, 81% reported that their fatigue while on duty had worsened. In addition, the pilots stated that their general overall health, including physical and psychological, had been negatively impacted (Jackson & Earl, 2006).

Any stressful condition can cause temporary fatigue but frequent occurrences of this condition or after minor physical effort need attention and treatment and herbal remedy for physical and mental fatigue, tiredness or lack of energy are safe and effective ways to treat it. Physical fatigue is different than mental fatigue, physical fatigue is also called as muscular fatigue because a person is unable to exert enough force necessary to perform a task due to lack of energy in the muscles involved, whereas mental fatigue does not involves any muscle but manifests itself as somnolence or decrease in attention.

The purpose of this research paper is to show how fatigue effects all working industries but it will discuss primarily the aviation industry jobs including fatigue among pilots, cabin crew, maintenance personal, and Air Traffic Controllers. The goal is to show that when fatigue is present in the aviation world safety is jeopardized. This has been done by examining the effects fatigue has on the human body and how it dramatically impacts productivity, performance, and safety. Upon examining these effects, it becomes clear that with aviation being an around the clock operation fatigue will never be completely eliminated, but with organizations acknowledging the physiological challenges fatigue causes they could produce procedures and policies

Fatigue comes as a result of overworking your brain. One of the best ways of reducing fatigue and increasing your concentration is by taking water. It is important to understand that the largest part of your brain is water. It is also important to note that

There are also three types of fatigue: transient, cumulative and circadian. In the aviation field, fatigue can cause a pilot to fall asleep during cruise flight, taking off and landing. Fatigue can cause fatal accidents like the Colgan Air Flight 3407. Matthew L. Wald of the New York Times reports that Colgan Air Flight 3407 pilots were set up for fatigue. The commercial passenger jet crashed outside of Buffalo on February 2009. According to the evidence, the first officer, Rebecca L. Shaw, pulled an all-nighter the night before the flight to get a free transcontinental flight to work. Shaw was forced to work long nights just to get paid. Shaw’s rate of pay was $23,900 a year for a minimum of 75 hours. Also, the captain, Marvin

Group B streptococcus (GBS) is one of the leading causes of pneumonia, sepsis, meningitis and death in the neonatal patient (1). Pregnant women who are carriers of GBS have the potential to spread the bacterium to their newborn infant via vertical transmission before delivery, during prolonged labour and premature rupture of membranes, or via post-partum exposure (1,2,3). The US Center for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that between 10-30% of women are GBS colonized. Approximately 50% of infants, whose mothers at 37 weeks test GBS positive and are untreated, become colonized (2). As the spectrum of maternal and fetal GBS infection may range from asymptomatic colonization to sepsis, careful management is necessary to help protect life and health (2). Through methods such as prenatal screening and prophylactic antibiotic treatment, the incidence of neonatal GBS has

Generally, human fatigue is a cause of other deficiencies, such as poor judgment and decision-making, slowed reaction time, increased lapses in memory, difficulty focusing, loss of situation awareness and poor performance. Fatigue is a serious issue can impair every aspect of pilot capability and affecting the safety of air transportation (Lerman et al., 2012). In this experiment, fatigue experienced by pilots was compared between a flight mission with multiple take-offs and landings versus a flight mission of equal duration with a single take-off and landing. Eight active rated pilots (4 Expert and 4 Novices; age range 24– 33) participated in the study. Each pilot flew a medium-fidelity, full-flight (motion) Boeing-52 flight simulator during