Watt-Coombes, Claire;
(2023)
How tired is too tired? A study of sleepiness and fatigue incidents reported among UK airline pilots and implications for policy and practice.
Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).
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Abstract
The risk of fatigue arising from homeostatic (sleep) and circadian (body-clock) drives remains an intrinsic threat to human performance. In ultra-safe high risk (USHRI) industries such as commercial aviation, the question of ‘how tired is too tired for safe flight?’ is one of systemic practitioner importance, requiring robust empirical evidence and conceptual clarity in the way pilot fatigue risks are assessed. This PhD contributes to the field of applied fatigue and safety research in aviation by seeking to understand: 1) What fatigue risk insights can be drawn from mandatory occurrence report (MOR) data when fatigue-related safety occurrences and serious incidents occur? 2) What are the levels of predicted fatigue risk exposure and reported in-flight sleepiness associated with routine UK airline operations? 3) How do fatigue risk exposure and severity findings compare against established sleep science and aviation safety standards for the human safety component? These questions have been addressed through two studies. Study 1 analysed the quality and coverage of fatigue-related safety occurrence data captured by the main UK safety incident database. Investigation revealed that this system does not capture sufficient data to enable quantitative analysis of the relationship between fatigue risk parameters and safety outcomes. However, through qualitative analysis a convergence of sleep and roster-related themes was evident. Study 2 investigated predicted fatigue risks and reported fatigue experience using bio-mathematical modelling and pilot sleepiness ratings. These methods indicated elevated fatigue risk exposure at both the schedule and individual level. Pilots also reported involuntary sleep on the flight deck at a rate which greatly exceeded the maximum acceptable rate for medical incapacitation in commercial aviation and the rate reported to the regulator. The implications of these research methods and findings are discussed against the context of applied sleep science and aviation safety standards for the human component.
| Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Qualification: | Ph.D |
| Title: | How tired is too tired? A study of sleepiness and fatigue incidents reported among UK airline pilots and implications for policy and practice |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © The Author 2022. Original content in this thesis is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). Any third-party copyright material present remains the property of its respective owner(s) and is licensed under its existing terms. Access may initially be restricted at the author’s request. |
| Keywords: | Fatigue, Aviation, Sleepiness, Safety, FRMS, Incapacitation risk, Pilot fatigue, Shift work |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Dept of Civil, Environ and Geomatic Eng |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10165626 |
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