Committee’s Findings On Aircrew Fatigue Problem

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27987, 6 June 1956, Page 7

Committee’s Findings On Aircrew Fatigue Problem

Although an investigation into fatigue of aircrew in Tasman Empire Airways planes during tho last summer has shown that flying hours have not been unduly long, the airline has modified its schedules and has made some administrative changes which have resulted in reduced hours of duty for crews. This was announced by the Minister of Civil Aviation (Mr T. P. Shand) yesterday. The New Zealand Airline Pilots’ Association last year asked the Minister for an inquiry into their flying hours because they said they were afraid of air accidents resulting from fatigue. A committee of inquiry was set up under the chairmanship of the DeputyDirector of Civil Aviation (Sir Arthur Nevill). and its investigations, said to be an intensification of a continual review, lasted about six months. Investigators flew on T.E.A.L. routes to test the validity of claims. “Pilots and management alike feel that the company has made real progress in dealing with the problem over the last 12 months,” Mr Shand said.

Psychological Factors With some pilots psychological factors were the cause of fatigue rather than long hours. Domestic worries had been caused by pilots being called away from their homes when they expected days off. and being given days off in centres awav from their homes. Friction between the airline’s administration and pilots, undue pre-flight delays, and unnecessary interruptions by the management of pilots’ rest periods were other factors which could cause more fatigue than the job of flying a plane, the investigating committee found. The committee confirmed that flying hours for New Zealand pilots were short by international standards, but that duty hours were “fairly long.” Comment by Minister “Pilot fatigue is watched in civil aviation circles almost as carefully as metal fatigue and is almost as difficult and complex a subject,” said Mr Shand yesterday when he was asked to comment on the committee’s report. “All civil aviation administrations and responsible airlines operate on the principle that pilot flying times must be limited to those which a pilot is able to undertake without loss of alertness or deterioration in his capacity to handle his aircraft in the event of an emergency. “Medically. I am told, fatigue is a problem which is extremely difficult to assess, and the factors inducing fatigue are extremely difficult to evaluate.

“Flying itself is a very tiring operation, and its effect varies with the type of aircraft, flying conditions, and the resilience of the individual crew member. But the time spent in preparation for a flight—what we call total duty hours of the pilot—must also be taken into account, and such factors as domestic upsets, due to changed schedules, long absences from home, where rest periods although adequate in themselves are taken in some strange towns, are all factors which have to be taken into account.” Mr Shand said that in the summer of 1954-55 both the airline and pilots were worried, but, in suite t»f the considerably greater number of flights in the summer just ended, organisational

changes had resulted In a substantia! smoothing over of difficulties. “T.E.A.L. has a particularly difficult problem in organising flight times which is inherent in the routes that it flies over,” he said. . “It is much easier to arrange pilots’ hours satisfactorily where an aircraft flies stage lengths of eight or 10 hours for several days on end. allowing pilots to pile up a substantial amount of flying time in relation to the total duty time, and at the same time ensuring that they are home for considerable rest periods.”