Crew alertness and performance no worse than on conventional extended flights, says group of industry experts
Experts monitoring crew-fatigue risk and human factors safety on the world's first ultra-long-range airline flights say they have found no major issues that affect pilots' performance.
The group held a workshop to discuss results in Los Angeles last month. The industry is basing validation of its ultra-long-range strategy largely on the carefully monitored operating experience of Singapore Airlines (SIA) on routes between Singapore and Los Angeles and New York Newark.
At the Los Angeles workshop, all the participants involved in the extensive ultra-long-range preparatory studies met to assess whether the system has been working.
Flight Safety Foundation (FSF) executive vice-president Bob Vandel said following the workshop: "The meeting was very successful. [We found that] there was nothing significant that required change."
Curt Graeber, Boeing's human factors consultant, says: "The in-flight studies confirmed that the sleep, alertness and performance capability of the subject crews was no lower than that seen on long-haul trips lasting less than 16h flight time."
This cautious response – an immediate reaction to the meeting – might be stated more confidently when the FSF reports the findings from the ultra-long-range workshop in the next few months.
Vandel, who has been overseeing the crew alertness steering committee (CASC), is less cautious, saying: "We had approximately 90 representatives of airlines, regulatory authorities, research organisations and pilot unions.
"I think the most obvious result of the meeting was that we validated the result of the CASC report of the Foundation published some two years ago. As with most documents, we were able – with more science and a full year's experience – to identify small areas [for potential improvement], but there was nothing significant that required change."
Vandel is complimentary about the industry's efforts to get it right, pointing out: "It is obvious that [the CASC document] worked well for SIA, the Singapore Air Line Pilots Association and the CAA Singapore, and they are to be commended for taking the lead, working together, and doing such a wonderful job of initiating ultra-long-range operations."
The CASC studies and the pioneer airlines' practical ultra-long-range experience will also lead to the emergence of a recommended model for what Vandel calls a fatigue risk management system, which would apply to ultra-long-range and other flights.
DAVID LEARMOUNT/LONDON
Source: Flight International
