Fatigue problems facing pilot crewmembers in today's aviation world - Essay Example

Fatigue has significant physiological and performance consequences because it is essential that all flight crewmembers remain aware and play their role in flight safety by their observations and actions. As fatigue is a safety concern, this discussion will describe the symptoms of fatigue along with its physical and psychological effects specific to airline pilots. Fatigue is a normal response to many conditions customary to flight procedures because of the sleep loss due to erratic shift work and long duty rotations.

Many factors can contribute to fatigue in the commercial aviation environment but the term, ‘fatigue,’ has yet to be defined in a tangible manner. In reference to human functioning capabilities, fatigue refers to deterioration in human performance, arising as a consequence of several potential factors, including sleepiness resulting in a decreased ability to maintain function or workload due to mental or physical stress. Sleepiness has a less ambiguous definition. “Sleepiness, according to an emerging consensus among sleep researchers and clinicians, is a basic physiological state (like) hunger or thirst.

Deprivation or restriction of sleep increases sleepiness and as hunger or thirst is reversible by eating or drinking, respectively, sleep reverses sleepiness” (Roth et al, 1994). The term has been described as a range of experiences such as sleepy tired or exhausted. Sleep loss and circadian rhythm interruption, (a disturbance of the normal sleeping pattern), are the two major physiological phenomena that have been demonstrated to create fatigue. The only effective treatment for fatigue is adequate sleep (Caldwell, 1997).

Many conditions contribute to fatigue including the length of time awake, the amount of continuous time doing a task, the lack of sleep and circadian rhythm disruption. As fatigue progresses it is responsible for increased errors judgment, followed by