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 require optimizing time spent in crew rest facilities, protecting crew sleep from disruption except during emergencies and crew coordination to manage sleep inertia after in-flight rest.
Operating Singapore–New York flight sectors with the Airbus A340-5…
