Prescriptive limits alone are not enough to prevent extreme fatigue during night flights, according to a new study by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).1
A report on the study, published in late February, recommended the implementation of several enhanced fatigue mitigation measures to combat fatigue, including development of a strategy to “promote more decisively the use of resting opportunities in the context of night duties.” Other recommendations included a call for EASA to conduct new research into the effectiveness of flight time limitations.
The study — described as the largest fatigue study of crews throughout Europe — was part of a review that began in 2017 of the effects on crew alertness of a variety of starting times and lengths of duty times, including duty periods of more than 13 hours beginning at “the most favourable time of the day,” duty periods that include more than six sectors, on-call duty followed by flight duties, and …
