An extensive survey of regional airline pilots, mostly in the USA but also in many other countries, has revealed that more than 96% regularly fly in a fatigued state.
US company Alertness and Performance Management (APM) presented the findings at the recent Flight Safety Foundation European Aviation Safety Seminar in Lisbon, held jointly with the European Regions Airline Association and Eurocontrol.
APM summarises the general findings, gleaned from the 1,359 responses, as follows: "The lifestyle of the regional airline pilot is characterised by low pay, long duty days, early morning departures, late night arrivals, short layovers/overnights, multiple take-offs and landings per duty period...these pilots are generally younger than their major airline counterparts [see pie chart], and have young, growing families."
The company says there is a dire need for airlines to apply fatigue risk management, and most pilots say they want it, but the carriers' sole guideline is national flight time limitations regulation, and sometimes union agreements.
The survey found that more than 28% of the regional airline pilots reported they have another job, in addition to flying, to boost their earnings. Some 41% commute from home to their base for the start of duty periods, many by air.
Duty days average 8-12h for 70.4% of respondents, but 25.1% report an average for the six months of more than 12h/duty day. Some 40% of them flew 400h or more in the last six months, and 73% of all reported flights are less than 2h flying time, which suggests a high proportion of multiple-sector days.
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http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/20 ... igued.html
