Fatigue Management
Captain Jim Mangie
Delta Air Lines
IATA FMTG Chairman
FRM/FRMS Workshop - Tokyo 2021

Overview•

Scientific Principles•

Secret of Success Implementing FRM/FRMS•

Importance of Data Driven Approach to FRM/FRMS•

Covid-19 Driven Fatigue Risks and Possible Mitigations

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Scientific Principles

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Scientific Principles•

Getting enough sleep (both quantity and quality) on a regular basis is essential for
restoring the brain and body.

•Reducing the amount or the quality of sleep, even for a single night, decreases the abilityto function and increases sleepiness the next day.

•The circadian body clock affects the timing and quality of sleep and produces daily highs
and lows in performance on various tasks.

•Workload can contribute to an individual’s level of fatigue. Low workload may unmask
physiological sleepiness while high workload may exceed the capacity of a fatigued
individual4

SleepSleep is a critical and basic human biological requirement for survival

Even partial sleep deprivation can lead to serious consequences•

Most people need between 6 and 10 hours of sleep•

The average adult requires 8 hours•Regularly sleeping less than 6 hours can reduce performance5

Continuous Wakefulness• Hours of Continuous Wakefulness isanother factor related to fatigue• The longer you go without sleep, theworse your alertness and performance
become• Sleep is the only way to restore alertness

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Circadian Factors
Humans are hard-wired to experience two periods of physiological sleepiness each day:• 2-6 a.m. (Window of Circadian Low, or WOCL)• 2-6 p.m. (Afternoon Nap Window)

7Workload• The nature and amount of work to be done (including time on task, task difficulty andcomplexity, and work intensity).
• Time constraints (including whether timing is driven by task demands, external factors, orby the individual).
• Factors relating to the performance capacity of an individual (for example experience, skill
level, effort, sleep history, and circadian phase).

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Simple human physiology applied topractical situations•

Fatigue risk is higher while flying during normal sleep times•

Early report times can limit sleep opportunity which adds to fatigue risk•

Longer periods of continuous wakefulness increase fatigue risk due to impairedperformance•High workload can create a situation that exceeds the performance capability of afatigued crew member

9Secrets of Success Implementing FRM/FRMS

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Collaboration, Cooperation, Consensus
Effectively, change is almost impossible without industry-wide collaboration, cooperation, andconsensus

11Fatigue SME - Responsible to Everyone•

Commercial•

Flight Operations•

Operational Control•

Crew Resources

•

Labor

•

Flight/Corporate Safety•

Regulator (NAA/EASA)

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Why is fatigue management such anemotional issue?
All aspects of a carrier’s operation are affected:•Headcount•Crew Utilization•Equipment Utilization•Network Planning•

SchedulingFatigue Management = Additional Constraints
Increased Operating Costs

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Managing Fatigue***MITIGATIONS ARE REQUIRED FOR BOTH***Challenge:• Achieve a realistic balance between safety, productivity and costs• Target limited resources to where they are needed

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Roles & Responsibilities
Shared responsibilities but different roles

Operator

Flight and Cabin CrewRegulator
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Roles & Responsibilities
Shared responsibilities but different roles•

Establish the FM regulations•Ensure compliance•

Provide effective oversight of SMS processes

Operator

Flight andCabin CrewRegulator
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Challenges for the Regulator•

Providing a regulatory environment that supports effective safety reporting•

Performance-based regulations require different regulatory skill sets•

Assessing the balance – flexibility with tolerable risk•

Provision of consistent and comprehensive guidance to operators•

Consistency in regulatory decisions

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Roles & Responsibilities
Shared responsibilities but different roles• Adequate resourcing• Scheduling to the limits not a standard
scheduling practice

Flight andCabin Crew

Operator• Scheduling practices consider scientificprinciples within the limits• Effective reporting mechanisms andappropriate responses to fatigue-related
reports• FM training

18Regulator

Operator Needs• Operate competitively within the global aviation environment• A level playing field amongst global carriers• Operational flexibility to react quickly to unforeseen circumstances• Data-driven and/or results-oriented resource allocation• Free-flow of information from pilots

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Roles & Responsibilities
Shared responsibilities but different roles•

Use non-work periods to get adequatesleep and arrive fit for duty•

Use personal as well as operational
mitigation strategies while on duty•

Report fatigue hazards

Flight andCabin CrewOperatorRegulator

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Pilots’ Needs•

Information, schedules and resources for allowance to responsibly prepare for, andexecute duties•

Effective safety reporting culture•

High standards of professional behavior

21Challenges for Pilots•

Focusing on safety needs vs. industrial desires•

Focusing on safety needs vs. personal preference•Group acceptance of scientific principles and their application•

Confidence in the Operator’s reporting system

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Safety / Commercial / Operations
Understanding Each Other’s Language•Understanding each other’slanguage to help one anotherimprove safety and theoperation
IMAGE PLACEHOLDER•

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Using the F (Fatigue) andS(Safety) words aren’t always
the driver of change we desire– we need to use data to makedecisions as well

Lessons Learned•

Operational experience counts•

Education and availability of information are important•

Data collection is necessary•

Develop relevant KPIs/SPIs•

Science/scientists are needed, but don’t over-rely on them24

Lessons Learned•

Cultural issues from previous employers or fleet types vary greatly•

Change is difficult and needs to be managed with care•It’s better to keep the regulator involved•

Pilots contribute more when they see that their data/input affects operational decisions

25Lessons Learned•

Time of day for departures is a factor•

Social factors should be considered•

Longer layover time isn’t necessarily better•

Clear guidance needs to be given to operational managers for irregular operations

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Essential Elements - Roadmap to Success•Understanding basic scientific principles•Operational experience•Regulatory guidance and rulemaking that addresses safety and business needs•

Industry best practices and collaboration with other airlines and regulators•Integrating with existing corporate SMS processes•

Gathering input from stakeholders

27Essential Elements - Roadmap to Success:
•••
•
•
•

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Use the available guidance
Learn from previous regulatory
efforts (i.e. Europe (EASA), US (FAA),
Canada (TC), Singapore (CAAS)
Share experiences with otherstakeholders (Labor, Industry,Regulators)
Develop a strong relationship withyour regulator
Collaborative approach is essential tosuccess
The objective should be common, soshould the approachImportance of Data Driven Approach withFRM/FRMS

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Why is Fatigue a Safety Concern?
Associated with declining performance:• Less vigilant• Increasingly variable but overall slower
reaction times• Forgetfulness• Inattention• Apathy• Irritability• Poor decision-making• Diminished communication• Slow processing, tunnel vision• Less creative problem solving

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Fatigue is a major human factors hazard
because it affects most aspects of acrewmember’s ability to do their job

The World We Operate In• Risk/Performance based world• Data driven to fix larger problem vs punitive to fix smaller, more localized problems• Get to the core problem, not a symptom• This applies to fatigue risks as well
• Moving from a reactive manner into proactive and predictive methods in dealing withfatigue risks

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Safety Management System
Provides a systematic way to:
1. Identify hazards and control risk
2. Provide assurance that risk controls are effective

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ICAO DOC 9859

ICAO Doc9859

Fatigue Hazard and Risks•Fatigue, if not properly managed, can lead to serious problems, so it is a hazard•

Basic fatigue management starts with acknowledging the fatigue hazard and assessing
the resulting risks for the operation•

Next, we need to look for ways of mitigating the risks•This is standard SMS running

The key to a sustainable fatigue management program is to design theprogram to operate in parallel with your organization’s existing SMS
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ICAO Hazard Identification

FMG for Airline
Operators 2nd Ed34

Fatigue Risk
Reactive - e.g., ’fix’ a pairing after publishing
Proactive - e.g., ‘fix’ a pairing during day-of operations
Predictive - e.g., set a process where potential risk mitigations are built into pre-monthsolution

Fatigue Risk examples:• Long hotel drive time to short layover• Limited sleep opportunity before and after a disruptive or international flight• Multi-segment FDP scheduled before and after a redeye flight, including more than one
redeye flight in a pairing
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Challenges of Identifying and Measuring
Fatigue in Aviation Operations•

No gold standard for measuring fatigue•

Fatigue related performance affects many skills and has many causes•

Fatigue is associated with increased performance variability•

Individual differences exist•

Each operation is unique

Need a variety of measures and data sources

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Fatigue versus safety risk
Fatigue causes impairment
Safety risk depends on:• What a fatigued person is doing

Solo helicopter pilot trying to avoid power lines around
midnight, 15th load since a 1-hour nap 14 hours ago• Other hazards present• Safety defences present

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4-pilot crew, in-flight sleep in crew
bunk mid-cruise versus landing

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Operational SPIs•

Create your own Safety Performance Indicators•

Derived from data that you already routinely collect•

Reflective of the specific causes of fatigue risk in different operations•

Supported by scientific knowledge and fundamentals

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Science Behind SPIs
Pairing Risk Name
Special Airports

Scientific Intent
Additional workload associated with these airports may increase fatigue.
Pilots need to be fully rested for best performance through additional challenges

Multiple Time Zone Crossings

Sleep may be disrupted if the circadian master clock is not fully synchronized to local time. Pilots often
split sleep - some during local night and some during biological night.

Late Release Time

Duty overlaps biological night and therefore restricts sleep opportunity. Later landings can occur during
the WOCL.

Early Start Time

Duty overlaps biological night and therefore restricts sleep opportunity. Earlier take-offs may occur
during the WOCL.

Domestic Rotation Limits

This limits the risk of greater sleep debt accruing over longer rotations.

Multiple Ocean CrossingsLong sequences of back-to-back trans meridian flights can cause circadian drift (circadian master clockcannot synchronise to any time zone and adopts a period longer than 24 h). This contributes to sleep
disruption and cumulative sleep debt.

Scheduling to Maximum Limits

Scheduling to within 1 h of the FDP limits gives limited room for unforeseen delays that can lead toschedule changes and/or reduced rest breaks.

Scheduling to Limits on Consecutive
This creates the likelihood of sequential schedule disruptions and break reductions.
Days

Degrees Crossing Direction

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Eastward flights across at least 4 time zones can result in major circadian desynchrony as some rhythms
adapt by shifting eastward and others by doing the inverse adaptation westward (e.g., 4 h west versus 16h east). In general, adaptation is slower after eastward than westward flights crossing the same numberof time zones.

Creation of Mitigations•

Adjust optimizer rules or create new rules•

Pairing construction that avoids fatigue risk•

Hotel location/facility adjustments•

Creation of new policies and procedures•

Improvement of crew rest facilities on aircraft or in crew base•Augmentation when not required under regulation•

Review and adjust regulatory and labor requirements

41COVID-19 Driven Fatigue Risks and Possible
Mitigations

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Potential Fatigue Risks
New areas of potential fatigue risks may include:• Reduction in staffing levels having the potential for remaining staff to be working longer,
more intense or condensed hours• COVID-19 health and safety measures may cause a more fatiguing working day• COVID-19 influencing many aspects of personal life, affecting crews general physical andmental fitness• Extended duty-times and use of heavy crew to avoid lay-overs due to testing / quarantinerequirements• Use of First class and Business class seats as rest facilities• Unfamiliar operations, such as new airports for repatriation flights, or new gate locations forcargo vs. passenger facilities

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Safety Behaviors
Changing safety behaviors to be aware of may include:• Reduced safety and fatigue reporting by crews• Increased likelihood of crews not identifying when impaired by fatigue• A higher acceptance of reduced safety margins within operations• Rushing or reduced time allocated for safety checks and procedures

Limited science and experience is available
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Resources45

Thank you for your attention

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