This results in:
– short sleeps of poor quality for rests taken during the early part of the night flight,
– longer duration and better quality of sleep during the latter parts of the flight.
2.2. DEVELOPING RECOMMENDATIONS
AIMS:
TO REDUCE ALERTNESS DECREMENT EPISODES IN FLIGHT, MAINLY THOSE OCCURRING SIMULTANEOUSLY FOR BOTH PILOTS THROUGH:
- GOOD SLEEP MANAGEMENT, - ORGANIZATION OF ACTIVITIES REDUCING MONOTONY IN THE COCKPIT, - OPTIMAL FLIGHT REST ORGANIZATION.
The recommendations:
Sleep and nap management before the rotation as a function of in-flight rest times, when this can be planned in advance.
Management of in-flight activities and rest:
– desynchronization of activity and rest periods for the two pilots: alternating passive and active vigilance phases every 20 to 40 minutes with formal handover between pilots; this recommendation should contribute to enhance crew cooperation,
– alternating meals,
– mainly for night flights: making use of passive vigilance phases to take a nap of 20 to 40 minutes,
– for flights with augmented crew, modulation of rest time according to its timeframe: in particular, increasing rest duration when taken during first part of flight.
Layover rest :
– adjustment to local time or not, depending on the number of the nights during the layover and the number of time zones crossed,
– sleep and nap management,
– exposure to daylight, moderate physical exercise,
– food hygiene (drinking of coffee, tea, etc.)
These recommendations have been devised to be adaptable to all long-haul flights. Their strict application pertains mainly to extreme situations, in particular for cargo flights, with very early departures (6am) and including very short layovers (less than 24 hours).
2.3. VALIDATING RECOMMENDATIONS
Validation was carried out in two stages:
– validation on 34 transatlantic long-haul flights, flight times varying between 8 and 11 hours,
– validation on 12 very long-haul flights to Asia, with augmented crew, including flights of 12 to 16 hours.
Recommendations proved their efficiency by significantly reducing rates of alertness decrements for both outbound and return flights.
This reduction was particularly noticeable for cruise phases and could be attributed to a drop in sleep pressure and monotony in the cockpit.
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本文链接地址：Getting to grips with Fatigue & Alertness Management(10)
