By Wayne Rosenkrans
AeroSafety World, September 2007
(Expanded version of article)
Despite the difficulty researchers have in scientifically isolating the effects of crew rest facilities on quantity and quality of in-flight sleep from other aspects of alertness management, there is no debate about the importance of the sleeping environment. Crew rest facilities designed around guidelines from the 1990s for long-range operations, flights of 12 to 16 hours, have been accepted by the airline industry as a significant factor in counteracting fatigue. Since 2005, some airlines also have found that part of the guidance published for ultra-long-range (ULR) operations has the potential to improve pilots’ and flight attendants’ ability to obtain sleep on long-range flights as well. All ULR operations requi…
