(January 2011) — A Beechcraft King Air returning from an emergency medical services flight descended normally toward the destination airport, but then flew past the airport and plowed into the ground about seven miles west of the airport. A student pilot returning from a business meeting with his instructor in a Cessna 182RG crashed about halfway to their destination. A Cessna T303 crashed shortly after takeoff on a flight returning four passengers from a business meeting. A private pilot completing a cross-country flight requirement for his commercial rating crashed on the third and final leg while returning to his departure point. What did all these accidents have in common? Each occurred late at night, and in each case the pilot(s) had been awake for around 20 hours at the time of the accident.
It is a well-publicized fact that while only 10 percent of general aviation flights are conducted at night, those flights result in about 50 percent of GA accidents. The many dangers of flying at night have been emphasized: inability to see terrain or weather, decreasing temperatures that can lead to fog, generally worse weather, etc. However, maybe the most important factor has been neglected: fatigue. Like the pilots in the accidents listed above, it is likely that most pilots who are flying at night are at least somewhat fatigued. The pilot of the Cessna T303 had to get up very early that morning after less than his normal amount of sleep for a 5 a.m. departure, and then flew several legs over the course of the next four hours before arriving at the destination at 9 a.m. After a boring day hanging around the FBO waiting for his passengers to return, he departed for the return flight at 7:53 p.m., 15 hours after leaving that morning. He faced another four hours of single-pilot IFR flying at the time of night when he would normally be going to bed, but the airplane crashed only 10 minutes later.
