Various factors contribute to fatigue in short-haul, long-haul and ultra-long-haul operations as described by various pilots (Bourgeois-Bougrine, 2013). For short haul flights, the main factors include the use of caffeine and alcohol, poor nutrition as well as illnesses such as influenza (the flu). Most of the time, because short-haul operations are perceived to be less tasking, pilots do not take care of their nutrition. These pilots also find time to engage in activities such as drinking alcohol. To diminish these factors, pilots should avoid consuming all caffeinated and alcoholic beverages for six hours before going to sleep. The pilots should also maintain a healthy well-rounded diet and avoid snacks such as popcorn and crisps as meals. The pilots should always dress warmly an avoid dusty environments to prevent the flu.
For long-haul flights, one of the significant factors is having an inadequate sleep. Inadequate sleep is experienced mainly because of the disruption of a person’s biological clock constantly. There is also the fact that most long-haul flights are night flights which contribute to fatigue. Most of the time, these pilots intentionally have to change their sleep schedules to make sure that they can be awake for night flights (Caldwell, 2016). To diminish these factors, the pilots should ensure that every day, they get six to eight hours of uninterrupted sleep to deal with the fatigue more easily.
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Other factors that contribute to fatigue for ultra-long haul operations include mild hypoxia as well as short layovers. The pilots should have schedules that accommodate these ultra-long-haul operations. They should also use oxygen tanks occasionally to deal with the mild hypoxia (Stevens, 2018). The airlines should also have adequate time for layovers so that pilots can rest well.
References
Bourgeois-Bougrine, S. P. (2013). Perceived fatigue for short-and long-haul flights: a survey of 739 airline pilots. Aviation, space, and environmental medicine , 1072-1077.
Caldwell, J. A. (2016). Fatigue in aviation: A guide to staying awake at the stick. Routledge.
Lee, S. a. (2018). Factors contributing to the risk of airline pilot fatigue. Journal of Air Transport Management , 197-207.
Stevens, C. J. (2018). Long-haul northeast travel disrupts sleep and induces perceived fatigue in endurance athletes. Frontiers in physiology , 34-87.
