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Over half of Brazilian pilots admit nodding off in mid flight

Source: Xinhua | July 8, 2014, Tuesday | Online Edition

MORE than half of Brazil's commercial airline pilots have nodded off during a national or international flight, the Brazilian Association of Civil Aviation Pilots (Abrapac) said Monday.

Some 57 percent of pilots said they fell asleep during a national flight, and that number rose to 70 percent during longer international flights, according to a report compiled by Abrapac.

The agency interviewed 1,235 pilots for its study, which also reported that 20 percent of pilots who said they had never slept on a flight nevertheless admitted knowing a colleague who had slept during a national flight; 15 percent said they knew a pilot who had slept during an international flight.

"An unintentional siesta can be extremely dangerous ... on both routes, failing to remain alert when it is needed is dangerous, because in an emergency or unexpected situation, a rapid reaction time is essential so mistakes don't happen," the agency said.

The study appears to show that the major problem for Brazil's pilots is irregular shifts, including night shifts, which can aggravate existing fatigue.

The pilots interviewed identified the factors that caused the most fatigue -- work hours, long work days, night shifts and insufficient rest time between shifts.

"Another factor that deserves to be underscored is the number of consecutive nights of work, which on average is four nights," the study said.

Studies in the field show the risk of an accident occurring due to four consecutive night shifts is around 36 percent greater compared to having worked one night shift, the agency said.

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