The Effects of Commuting
on Pilot Fatigue
Committee on the Effects of Commuting on Pilot Fatigue
Board on Human-Systems Integration
Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education
Transportation Research Board
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NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.
This study was supported by Grant No. DTFAWA-10-C-00115 between the National Academy of Sciences and the Federal Aviation Administration. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organizations or agencies that provided support for the project.
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Suggested citation: National Research Council. (2011). The Effects of Commuting on Pilot Fatigue. Committee on the Effects of Commuting on Pilot Fatigue, Board on Human-Systems Integration. Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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COMMITTEE ON THE EFFECTS OF COMMUTING ON PILOT FATIGUE
Clinton V. Oster, Jr. (Chair), School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University
Benjamin A. Berman, Senior Research Associate, Ames Research Center, U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration
J. Lynn Caldwell, Senior Research Psychologist, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, OH
David F. Dinges, Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania
R. Curtis Graeber, The Graeber Group, Kirkland, WA
John K. Lauber,1 Independent Consultant, Vaughn, WA
David E. Meyer, Department of Psychology, University of Michigan
Matthew Rizzo, Department of Neurology, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, and the Public Policy Center, University of Iowa
David J. Schroeder, Independent Consultant
J. Frank Yates, Department of Psychology, University of Michigan
Toby Warden, Study Director
Julie Schuck, Senior Program Associate
Eric Chen, Senior Project Assistant
Stephen Godwin, Liaison, Studies and Special Programs, Transportation Research Board
___________________
1Resigned from the committee in February 2011.
BOARD ON HUMAN-SYSTEMS INTEGRATION
2010-2011
William S. Marras (Chair), Integrated Systems Engineering Department, Ohio State University
Pascale Carayon, Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Center for Quality and Productivity Improvement, University of Wisconsin–Madison
Don Chaffin, Industrial and Operations Engineering and Biomedical Engineering, University of Michigan (Emeritus)
Nancy J. Cooke, Cognitive Science and Engineering, Arizona State University
Mary (Missy) Cummings, Aeronautics and Astronautics and Engineering Systems Division, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Sara J. Czaja, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Center on Aging, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
Andrew S. Imada, A.S. Imada and Associates, Carmichael, CA
Waldemar Karwowski, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Systems, University of Central Florida
David Rempel, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco
Matthew Rizzo, Department of Neurology, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, and the Public Policy Center, University of Iowa
Thomas B. Sheridan, Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics-Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Emeritus)
David H. Wegman, Department of Work Environment, University of Massachusetts, Lowell (Emeritus)
Howard M. Weiss, Department of Psychological Sciences, Purdue University
Barbara A. Wanchisen, Director
Mary Ellen O’Connell, Deputy Director
Christie R. Jones, Program Associate
Acknowledgments
This report is the work of the Committee on the Effects of Commuting on Pilot Fatigue, a project of the National Research Council’s (NRC’s) Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education, overseen by the Board on Human-Systems Integration. The expertise and hard work of the committee were advanced by the support of our sponsor, the contributions of able consultants and staff, and the input of stakeholders. This study was congressionally mandated and sponsored by the Federal Aviation Administration, and the support of their staff Jodi Baker, John Duncan, Dale E. Roberts, Kevin West, and Larry Youngblut were much appreciated.
The committee also benefited from presentations by Lori Brown, faculty specialist, Western Michigan University College of Aviation; Bob Coffman, Coalition of Airline Pilots Association; Captain William McDonald, FedEx; Captain Bill Mims, retired; Jeff Moller, assistant vice president, Operations Systems and Practices, Association of American Railroads; Thomas Nesthus, Civil Aerospace Medical Institute, Federal Aviation Administration; Jessica Nowinski, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Ames Research Center; pilot Charlotte O’Connell; George Paul, director, Technical Services, National Air Carriers Association; Mark Rosekind, member, National Transportation Safety Board; Steven Sargent, Compass Airlines; Jeff Skiles, U.S. Airline Pilots Association; Captain Bill Soer; and Irving Statler, NASA Ames Research Center. Comments at committee meetings provided by other stakeholders and guests in attendance were also valuable.
Additionally, the committee wishes to thank the 33 airlines who provided information in response to the committee’s request for input (see Appendix B) and the following aviation-related associations who also provided
input: Cargo Airline Association, Coalition of Airline Pilots Associations, National Air Carriers Association, and U.S. Airline Pilots Association. This input was critical in allowing the committee to better understand pilot commuting.
To the NRC staff, special thanks are due to Barbara Wanchisen and Mary Ellen O’Connell of the Board on Human-Systems Integration and Stephen Godwin of the Transportation Research Board who provided oversight and support of the study. Thanks also to senior project assistant Eric Chen who provided administrative and logistical support over the course of the study as well as preliminary analysis for the zip code data. We also thank Daniel Cork, senior program officer with the Committee on National Statistics, for his additional statistical analyses; Julie Schuck, senior program associate, for her support with editing and writing; and Cherie Chauvin, program officer, for her help with editing and graphics.
We also thank Jessica Scheer for her assistance with the committee’s analysis of the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking comments and Susan Van Hemel for her assistance with fact checking and editing. And finally we thank the executive office reports staff of the Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education, especially Eugenia Grohman, who provided valuable help with the editing and production of the report, and Kirsten Sampson Snyder, who managed the report review process. We would also like to thank Tony Klausing of Indiana University for his assistance with the analysis of the aircraft departure data.
John Lauber, who resigned from the committee in February 2011, provided additional unpaid consultation on the report; we were fortunate to continue to benefit from his expertise after his resignation.
This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved by the NRC’s Report Review Committee. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the institution in making its published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process.
We wish to thank the following individuals for their review of this report: Evan Byrne, Human Performance and Survival Factors Division, National Transportation Safety Board; Paul Fischbeck, Department of Engineering and Public Policy and Department of Social and Decision Sciences, Center for the Study and Improvement of Regulation, Carnegie Mellon University; R. John Hansman, T. Wilson Professor of Aeronautics & Astronautics, MIT International Center for Air Transportation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; John Marshall, aviation consultant,
Atlanta, GA; James C. Miller, human factors consultant, San Antonio, TX; John O’Brien, aviation consultant, VA; Joseph P. Ornato, Department of Emergency Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA; Barbara Phillips, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Kentucky; Nicholas Sabatini, aviation consultant, Alexandria, VA; and Nita Lewis Shattuck, Human Systems Integration Program, Operations Research Department, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA.
Although the reviewers listed above have provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations nor did they see the final draft of the report before its release. The review of this report was overseen by Richard W. Pew, principal scientist, Raytheon BBN Technologies, Cambridge, MA, as coordinator and and Floyd E. Bloom, Molecular and Integrative Neuroscience Department, The Scripps Research Institute, as review monitor. Appointed by the NRC, they were responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content of this report rests entirely with the authoring committee and the institution.
Clinton V. Oster, Jr., Chair
Toby Warden, Study Director
Committee on the Effects of Commuting on Pilot Fatigue
4 SLEEP, WAKEFULNESS, CIRCADIAN RHYTHMS, AND FATIGUE
Fatigue Management Technologies
5 PILOT COMMUTING AND FATIGUE RISK
Inadequate Sleep Prior to Flight Duty
Examples of “Favorable” and “Unfavorable” Commutes
6 REDUCING THE RISK OF FATIGUE FROM COMMUTING
Proposed FAA Rule Relevant to Fatigue
Fatigue Risk Management Plans and Systems
Conclusions and Recommendations
A Airlines, Associations, and Groups That Provided Written Input
C Summary of Stakeholder Response to Committee Request for Input
D Qualitative Analysis of Selected Public Comments to Proposed FAA Rules
E Mainline Airlines Departures by City
Figures, Tables, and Boxes
FIGURES
1-1 Commuting in relation to duty
2-1 Passengers carried by U.S. airlines
2-2 Southwest total departures
2-3 Southwest departures by city
2-4 American Eagle departures by city
2-5 Atlantic Southeast departures by city
2-6 Air Wisconsin departures by city
2-9 U.S. carrier domestic load factors
3-1 Safety of travel in the United States: 1989-2007
3-2 U.S. and Canadian operators accident rates by year
3-3 U.S. air carrier safety record: 1990-2010
3-4 Distribution of home-to-domicile distances for mainline and regional pilots
3-5 Share of pilots with home-to-domicile time zone differences
5-1 Example 1a: Unfavorable commuting pattern
5-2 Example 1b: Favorable commuting pattern
5-5 Example 3a: Unfavorable commuting pattern
5-6 Example 3b: Favorable commuting pattern
5-8 Example 4a: Unfavorable commuting pattern—overview of 3 consecutive days
TABLES
3-1 Total Accidents and Fatigue Accidents by Injury Category, 1982-2010
3-2 Fatigue-Related Accidents, 1993-2009
3-3 Distribution of Home-to-Domicile Distances by Industry Segment (in percentage)
3-4 Distribution of Home-to-Domicile Distances for Mainline Pilots by Airline (in percentage)
3-5 Distribution of Home-to-Domicile Distances for Regional Pilots by Airline (in percentage)
3-6 Distribution of Home-to-Domicile Distances for Cargo Pilots by Airline (in percentage)
3-7 Distribution of Home-to-Domicile Distances for Charter Pilots by Airline (in percentage)
BOXES
1-1 Committee Statement of Task
1-2 Organizations Contacted for Input
1-3 Topics Posed in Call for Public Input