Paul Seidenman/SAN FRANCISCO
A scientific consulting firm that specialises in developing strategies to combat crew fatigue has come up with training programmes specifically for corporate aircraft flightcrews who routinely fly long international trips.
The AvAlert Package was successfully demonstrated in prototype form in Savannah, Georgia, last October by its creator, Alertness Solutions, in conjunction with Gulfstream Aerospace. Following the workshop, the manufacturer announced that the AvAlert Package would be offered to all buyers of new Gulfstream IV-SP and V jets.
"We have known for years that fatigue is a serious problem in aviation. If we do not pay attention to this, there will be a cost involved in safety, performance and productivity," says Dr Mark Rosekind, president and chief scientist of Alertness Solutions. "To address this, we have created an educational module in fatigue, which takes into account scientific findings concerning the impact of fatigue on job performance."
As well as developing practical strategies to address crew fatigue, Alertness Solutions focuses on improving safety and productivity in aviation and other 24h operational environments.
Rosekind founded Alertness Solutions in December 1997. He is an internationally recognised authority on the impact of fatigue on job performance in aviation and other industries. For seven years before founding his own firm, he led the Fatigue Countermeasures Programme at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California.
Each workshop begins "with a review of the physiological factors involved with fatigue," Rosekind says. "This includes what is known about sleep loss and its impact on alertness and job performance, as well as how fatigue affects safety - specifically within aviation operations. For example, the participants review accidents in which fatigue has been implicated as a probable cause. We then work to identify strategies that can be used as fatigue countermeasures."
Among those strategies are developing what Rosekind refers to as "good sleep habits" - at home, in a hotel room, or in the aircraft. "For instance, during our fatigue studies at NASA, we were able to demonstrate the effectiveness of short naps taken by flightcrew members for purposes of improving performance and alertness. One study conducted in 1994, using Boeing 747-200 flightcrews in revenue service, showed that a 40min nap taken on a pre-planned basis resulted in a performance improvement of something like 34%. Along with this, alertness improved by 100%."
He stresses that for the naps to be effective, "pre-planned" is the key word. "We give the pilots guidelines. This includes hand-off procedures which specify when each pilot will rest, and who will assume his or her responsibilities during that time. We also discuss where the naps should or should not take place, and make suggestions as to establishing a crew rest station aboard their aircraft. Fortunately, we are finding that more corporate operators of very long-range corporate aircraft are installing onboard crew rest facilities."
Along with scheduled sleep, the effects of light exposure on alertness are explored, as well as those of exercise and diet on the ability to sleep. "We stress the importance of planning for all of the factors that can affect crew alertness, not only before, but during and after the flight," Rosekind notes.
An important feature of the workshop is an exercise in which each participant plans a trip schedule, taking rest periods into account. Because a significant number of corporate flight departments have no policy on structuring flight duty time that includes crew rest, this will be a "first experience" for many of the attendees.
"There is no question that the pilots are familiar with fatigue as a safety factor. What we have to do is show them how to communicate an appreciation of the fatigue issue to the owners of the aircraft they fly. The workshop helps the pilots to do this, and to devise the most useful plan possible for scheduling individual trips. It enables flight departments to create their own alertness management programmes."
The workshop fee includes a limited amount of post-workshop consulting. "If a person who attended the workshop finds that anything needs further clarification, he can call Alertness Solutions. We will provide up to 4h of this service at no additional cost." Also provided to the participants is a set of guidelines to help them evaluate any kinds of fatigue countermeasures they may learn about in the future.
"This we call our 'show-me the data' check list," Rosekind says. "It's a checklist of standards that can be used to evaluate any claims for effective fatigue countermeasures to make our workshop participants more informed consumers."
Ted Mendenhall, Gulfstream's director of flight operations, says the manufacturer made the programme available to its customers because it was created to address crew fatigue, which could become an issue for operators of the company's new long-range aircraft.
"This problem was recognised as we developed and tested the Gulfstream V, which has a 6,500nm [12,000km] range," he says. "With that kind of range, we are looking at flights that could stretch the ability of flightcrews to stay alert. For that reason, we concluded that we needed a formal programme that would help operators of aircraft like the Gulfstream V and the Gulfstream IV-SP establish guidelines for scheduling adequate crew rest before, during and after the flight."
Mendenhall strongly advocates the programme, especially after having served on the Fatigue Countermeasures Task Force for Corporate and Business Operations. The task force was established by the Washington DC-based Flight Safety Foundation to address crew rest and fatigue issues affecting pilots on long-distance flights.
"The committee examined this for nearly two years, and issued a final report in February 1997," he says. "The report carefully defined the amount of rest appropriate for crews, depending on the length of their duty day, and the implementation of scheduling to assure adequate crew rest."
Noting Rosekind's involvement with the committee, Mendenhall adds: "After he left NASA at the end of 1997, he approached Gulfstream with a proposed package that could be presented to our customers to help them understand and mitigate crew fatigue."
He adds that, along with the AvAlert Package, Alertness Solutions is consulting with Gulfstream on the design of on-board crew rest areas for those operators flying very long trips.
"Most of the customers are looking at installing some kind of convertible crew rest space," Mendenhall says. "This would mean that a portion of the cabin could be devoted to a crew rest area only when the need arises. When they are not doing a long trip, the crew rest area could be removed and additional seats installed."
A participant contacted by Flight International to comment on the prototype workshop flies for a corporate operator that will shortly take delivery of a new GV.
"With the Gulfstream V and other aircraft like it, corporate aviation will have the capability to do non-stop trips of as much as 14h," he says. "The use of global range aircraft is comparatively new to corporate aviation and, because of this, flightcrews will be facing more fatigue problems, something that most of us in business aviation have not had to deal with."
The pilot praised Gulfstream for making the training package available to pilots who will be flying the GV, as well as the GIV-SP. "By offering this course, Gulfstream has stepped up to the plate," he says.
"They have essentially said that we now have the opportunity to fly a very long range aircraft that could be dangerous if we don't use it properly. Pilots of these aircraft will be crossing numerous time zones - as many as five to six - between take-off and landing. As a result, many will experience [profound] changes in their circadian rhythms for the first time.
"I always knew that dangers existed with fatigue and, even before coming to the workshop, our flight department had implemented a programme based on Dr Rosekind's NASA research - which had been available on the Internet. But I came away from the workshop with an even greater knowledge of effective fatigue countermeasures that I could implement immediately - and incorporate into our flight department's policy and operations manuals. I think that this workshop will also make the owners of these aircraft more aware of the fatigue factor so they will make adequate [provisions] for crew rest."
Gulfstream is bearing the seminar fee for up to two pilots per customer electing to participate in the two-day programme. But the programme is open to all. Of the 19 participants in the Savannah workshop, about half were from non-Gulfstream operators.
Under current scheduling, the first AvAlert Package seminar is to take place shortly. Additional workshops will be held on 14-15 September and 17-18 November.
Rosekind, along with Mert Pelligrin, a full-time corporate pilot for New Orleans-based Entergy, will conduct the workshops which average 14h over two days. They include lectures and exercises designed to give hands-on experience in implementing lessons. Between four and six topics a day are covered.
Source: Flight International
