Despite the reduction in flight and duty hours associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S commercial airline pilots reported increased sleepiness both during flight and during their time off – a condition that may have resulted in part from additional stress, researchers say.
The report by researchers from the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Ames Research Center and San Jose State University said the pandemic had a more significant effect on aviation than any other event in the past 40 years, with U.S. domestic flights reduced by 74 percent in May 2020, compared with the pre-pandemic month of May 2019. By November 2020, flight numbers had recovered to a level 50 percent less than the same month in 2019.
“It might be expected that fewer flights result in shorter, fewer duty days and, therefore, increased rest opportunities and reduced fatigue for pilots,” said the report, published in the May issue of Aerospace Medicine and Human Perfo…
