The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has added fatigue and remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS), commonly referred to as drones, to the latest version of its annual SafetyWatch of safety priorities.
“Everyone has experienced fatigue at some point, but in the transport industry, where there’s often high pressure to deliver on-time services, fatigue can have very real, and potentially dangerous, implications,” said ATSB Chief Commission Greg Hood. Among fatigue’s potential influences on performance are slowed reaction time, decreased work efficiency, reduced motivation and increased variability in work performance, he said.
In terms of drones, Hood said that the number of RPAS in Australia has increased exponentially, “and with it, the number of near-encounters with manned aircraft has also increased. Thankfully, there have been no reported collisions in Australia to …
