Sleep is Crucial For Pilots

It's up to each pilot—GA, airline, cargo, or otherwise—to monitor and control their habits to get enough rest.

Michael Wildes

Tuesday, March 29, 2022 at 09:07 AM ET

Verified

Sleepy pilots aren't good for anybody. [File Photo: Adobestock]

Key Takeaways:

Pilot fatigue is a prevalent and increasing safety concern across all aviation sectors—commercial, cargo, and general aviation—exacerbated by pandemic-related stress and industry staffing shortages.
Despite existing regulations for passenger pilots, cargo pilots uniquely lack similar rest protections, leading to a significantly higher accident rate where fatigue is a contributing factor.
The article stresses the need for both individual pilots to adopt better sleep hygiene and for the aviation industry to implement structural changes, improved regulations (especially for cargo), and robust fatigue risk management systems.

See a mistake? Contact us.

The Flight Safety Foundation recently published its Annual Safety Report, which measures the causes of incidents and accidents in the previous year. While it covers the obvious numbers—such as loss of control in flight, controlled flight into terrain, and runway mishaps as leading causes of incidents and accidents across aviation operations—what caught my attention was the focus on pilot wellness.

Specifically, the report spotlights the state of mind of the pilots it surveyed as related to sleep and fatigue. At this point, I’m sure no one is surprised that the pandemic added to the burden pilots had to bear to do their jobs, but it is surprising just how universally tired pilots are.