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Pilot Fatigue Essay

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Fatigue has been identified as a major reason for accidents and loses in a range of settings, with the implications that fatigued person is most likely to produce unsafe performance and actions. These settings include aviation, rail and maritime, and other transport operations such as road. Many accidents occur as a result of fatigue effects such as response slowing, and failures in attention (Mitler et al., 1988). Fatigue may take different forms, including sleepiness, mental and physical fatigue depending on the nature of its causes. To date, Aviation still the safest and fastest transportation means. The expected expansion of the air travel, operational demands and the higher level of technology have all evolved, result in increased levels of fatigue and human error rates (Evans, 2003). Pilot fatigue is considered to be the most concerned …show more content…
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) reports showed increasing concerns over prolonged flight. The NTSB stated that there was an evident that those fatigued pilots with up to 20 hours awaking time are more likely to make errors during flight time (Ariznavarreta et al., 2002). National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA’s) Aviation Safety Reporting System had also showed that 21% of the reported aviation incidents were fatigue related (Jackson Earl, 2006). In the UK Confidential Human Factors Incident Reporting system reported that one-third of chronic problems which have a negative impact on flight safety attributed to pilot fatigue (Ariznavarreta et al., 2002). It clear that fatigue still one of the primary concerning factors which negatively affected the pilot’s ability to concentrate and make appropriate decisions and impaired his capacity to analyze complex processes (Avers and Johnson,

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