The business aviation industry believes 17 years is too long between updates about practical issues such as crew duty days, rest periods and other fatigue-related topics. The National Business Aviation Association, in cooperation with the John D. Odegaard School of Aerospace at the University of North Dakota, has commissioned a new survey to better understand how the business aviation’s perspective on these operational issues has changed since 2000.
For instance, 17 years ago there were about 100 ultra-long-range aircraft flying around the world. Today that number has climbed above the 1,000 mark. Then there’s the dramatic increase in the number of high-performance turbine-powered aircraft being flown with just one pilot. New to this voluntary survey, too, is a call to hear from cabin attendants and aviation maintenance technicians.
Once the study is complete, the results will be cross-referenced with data and findings from the 2000 survey, “Crew Factors in Flight Operations XIII: A Study of Fatigue Factors in Corporate/ Executive Aviation Operations.”
An NBAA spokesman said survey participants can expect to spend between 15-30 minutes on the questions depending upon their current job responsibilities and experience. The survey is available online here. The NBAA’s safety committee will publish the results at a later date.
Questions about the survey can be directed to the UND’s Tim Wollmuth (timothy.wollmuth@und.edu) or the NBAA’s Mark Larsen (mlarsen@nbaa.org).
