'54% of pilots suffer from daytime sleepiness'

MUMBAI: In a recent survey, 358 of the 542 Indian pilots who participated in it, or 66% of the respondents, said they had fallen asleep without “planning” —that is, without the consent of the other cockpit crew member — or had experienced microsleep episodes on duty.

The survey covered pilots from the civil aviation industry engaged in regional, domestic and international operations and measured their fatigue levels on the Epworth Sleepiness Scale.

“Based on their responses, it was found that about 54% of the pilots suffer from severe excessive daytime sleepiness while 41% pilots suffer from moderate daytime sleepiness,” said the survey carried out by NGO Safety Matters Foundation .
It explains why 66% of the pilots experienced microsleep or had unintentionally fallen asleep, said the survey.

The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) defines fatigue as a physiological state of reduced mental or physical performance capability resulting from sleep loss or extended wakefulness, circadian phase or workload that can impair a crew member’s alertness and ability to safely operate an aircraft or perform safety-related duties. Fatigue is a known causal factor in aviation accidents and incidents. It was one of the contributory factors in the 2010 Mangalore crash that killed 158.

In the survey, 74% of the pilots attributed a series of morning departures as the leading cause of fatigue.
“The survey asked the pilot a question on the time they would get up if they had to report for a 6am flight departure,” said Capt Amit Singh, founder, Safety Matters Foundation. “Majority of the crew responded that they would wake up between 3am and 3. 30am. This indicates that their body clock is interrupted at the most critical period of rest. Circadian misalignment can make you feel drained and can have serious health consequences. Repeated flight duty in this period will not only affect sleep quality but over 10-12 hours duty will lead to poor cognition, thereby affecting flight safety. ”

The survey covered individual comments, which ranged from issues such as weekly rest roster not published in advance to a constantly changing schedule and consecutive midnight flights.