Pilots to get a wake-up call

Source: Agencies | January 23, 2009, Friday |

Print Edition

THE United Nations agency that sets standards for air transport safety is drawing up a new set of safety rules to take into account the silent killer ?? pilot fatigue.

Over the past 15 years nearly a dozen fatal crashes and numerous close calls have been blamed on pilot fatigue. Pilot fatigue was a key cause of one of the deadliest crashes in aviation history: in 1997 a Korean Air Boeing 747 headed for Guam plowed into a hillside and killed228 people.

Air safety organizations and pilot unions have for years been pressing for tighter regulation and enforcement of working hours and rest periods. They say scientific research has identified pilot fatigue as a factor in a fifth of all fatal crashes.

The International Civil Aviation Agency is now preparing to abandon current rules based on flight-time limitations in favor of a completely new concept known as "fatigue-risk management systems."

These will draw on the latest scientific research into sleep and other factors affecting crew performance.

Safety experts expect the new systems to focus on closely tracking flight crew duty times as well as the duration and quality of rest periods, sleep cycles, nutrition and possible illnesses.

World

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Pilots to get a wake-up call

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