One-third of pilots surveyed by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) said they had removed themselves from duty because of fatigue at least once during the 12 months before they took the 2016 survey, the ATSB said in a report released Tuesday.
“When they did this, they reportedly felt it left a negative impression with management,” ATSB Chief Commissioner Greg Hood said.
The report, Fatigue Experiences and Culture in Australian Commercial Air Transport Pilots, said that more than half of the 625 pilots responding to the online survey between June and November of 2016 said they had gotten at least seven hours of sleep in the previous 24 hours; more than 60 percent said they had slept more than 14 hours during the 48 hours at the end of their most recent duty period.
Survey responses indicated that fatigue and fatigue-related issues were …
