Pilots report falli asleep at controls

Press, 13 October 1987, Page 41

Pilots report falli asleep at controls

NZPA-AP London British airline pilots on long-haul flights have reported their entire crews falling asleep at the controls because of strenuous work schedules, researchers say. One-third of nearly 800 British pilots who disclosed problems affecting their work under a fiveyear confidential reporting programme, mentioned a demanding work timetable and the resulting fatigue. Roger Green and Roy Skinner, of the Royal Air Force Institute of Aviation Medicine, quoted a range of pilots — either flying alone or with a large crew, in helicopters, freight or passenger aircraft — who said they had nodded off while the automatic pilot did the flying. Green, an aviation psychologist, and Skinner, a retired military pilot, said pilots on long-haul night flights complained most often about difficulty in staying awake. Some specified being unable to sleep between night flights in noisy hotels; enduring long stop overs at congested airports; or becoming com-

placent in cockpits that are highly automated and where key chores become "unavoidably soporific.” Writing in the October issue of the “Log,” the British Airline Pilots Association monthly Journal, the researchers quoted one pilot on a long-haul aircraft who said he and his crew were delayed unexpectedly for 12 hours at an airport “During the subsequent flight, because of the delay, all of us were extremely tired," the pilot wrote. “During the cruise we all fell asleep, only to be woken by the Mach (speed) warning bell. “At the constant power setting, the aircraft had slowly accelerated, causing the bell to ring. I estimated we were all asleep for about 20 minutes. Fortunately, we were between reporting points.” Another pilot was quoted as saying he fell asleep on an eight-hour flight that he boarded one hour after a 53-minute flight from another airport.

“Half-way through the flight I awoke to realise that I was the only one awake — a sobering

thought,” he wrote.. been asleep at minutes.” W‘.-: The researchers wne W unable to specify -IR'- B many pilots reported 1 ing asteep on duty.' . wtt Airline passengerfcv “even if the crew is asleep, are not in immediate danger,” Green said. The Civil Aviation Authority, which regulates the British aviation industry, said it had several specialists who deal with pilot fatigue. “We don’t wish to comment” on the research, said a spokesman, who declined to give his name. The authority says a pilot can work .no more than 50 hours a week and no more than 100 hours in 28 consecutive days. Green said some of the pilots and another 100 airtraffic controllers who wrote in were in favour of stricter weekly schedules to prevent pilot fatigue. British flight-time limitations are in line with those in most other Western countries and are “quite stringent,” Green said. ■

“But they are relatively weak on how many hours a pilot can work over two, three, four days,” he said.