Premium
Early starts and late finishes both reduce alertness and performance among short‐haul airline pilots
Author(s) -
Arsintescu Lucia,
Pradhan Sean,
Chachad Ravi G.,
Gregory Kevin B.,
Mulligan Jeffrey B.,
FlynnEvans Erin E.
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
journal of sleep research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.297
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1365-2869
pISSN - 0962-1105
DOI - 10.1111/jsr.13521
Subject(s) - alertness , psychomotor vigilance task , vigilance (psychology) , medicine , aviation medicine , psychomotor learning , psychology , mental fatigue , physical therapy , sleep deprivation , audiology , circadian rhythm , cognition , psychiatry , clinical psychology , pathology , neuroscience
Summary Flight crews are frequently required to work irregular schedules and, as a result, can experience sleep deficiency and fatigue. This study was conducted to determine whether perceived fatigue levels and objective performance varied by time of day, time awake, and prior night's sleep duration. Ninety‐five pilots (86 male, 9 female) aged 33 years (±8) volunteered for the study. Participants completed a daily sleep diary, Samn‐Perelli fatigue scale, and psychomotor vigilance task that were completed before and after each flight duty period and at the top‐of‐descent for each flight. Pilots experienced higher self‐reported fatigue ( EMM = 3.92, SE = 0.09, p < 0.001) and worse performance (Response speed: EMM = 4.27, SE = 0.08, p = 0.004) for late‐finishing duties compared with early‐starting duties (Samn‐Perelli: EMM = 3.74, SE = 0.08; Response speed: EMM = 4.37, SE = 0.08), but had shorter sleep before early‐starting duties (early: EMM = 6.94, SE = 0.10; late: EMM = 8.47, SE = 0.14, p < 0.001). However, pre‐duty Samn‐Perelli and response speed were worse ( z = 4.18, p < 0.001; z = 3.05, p = 0.03; respectively) for early starts compared with late finishes ( EMM = 2.74, SE = 0.19), while post‐duty Samn‐Perelli was worse for late finishes ( EMM = 4.74, SE = 0.19) compared with early starts ( EMM = 4.05, SE = 0.12). The results confirm that duty time has a strong influence on self‐reported fatigue and performance. Thus, all flights that encroach on a biological night are targets for fatigue risk management oversight.