Pilot Fatigue Essay

Fatigue has been named as a major factor for accidents in a wide range of transportation settings such as Aviation, rail and maritime setting. Fatigue has several forms, these forms, including mental and physical fatigue depending on the nature of its causes. Different signs of fatigue, such slow response and lack of attention have been identified in many accidents (Mitler et al., 1988). Fatigue is considered as a risk factor in the air transportation system because it impairs memory, concentration, decision making, reaction time, and eye fixation (Jackson & Earl, 2006). aviation is one of the safest and fastest transportation systems. According to Evan (2003), the expansion of the air travel, operational demands and the higher-level aviation technology have all advanced and they maybe result in increased levels of pilot fatigue and error rates (Evans, 2003). Fatigue may build up slowly over several working days. Or, quickly after hard physical or mental works.

One of the major factors in air transportation systems accident causation is the effects of fatigue on pilots, but the contribution of fatigue to accidents is often underestimated in official reporting. Fatigue has been found as a cause in many air transportation accidents and is a continuing problem

NTSB found that fatigued pilots with up to 20 hours awakening time are more likely to make errors (Ariznavarreta et al., 2002). National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA’s) reports also showed that 21% of reported aviation incidents were fatigue related (Jackson& Earl, 2006). Confidential Human Factors Incident Reporting Programmed (CHFIR) reports showed that 30 % of the problems which have a negative impact on flight safety attributed to pilot fatigue (Ariznavarreta et al., 2002). To date, fatigue still one of the major factors which impair the physical and cognitive pilot