Sleep in pilots flying short-haul commercial schedules

To observe the effects of commercial short-haul flight operations on sleep, 74 pilot volunteers were monitored before, during and after three- or four-day duty schedules. Subjects kept daily logs of times of going to bed, falling asleep, waking up and getting out of bed, and of the number of nocturn...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ergonomics 1987-09, Vol.30 (9), p.1365-1377
Main Authors: GANDER, PHILIPPA H., GRAEBER, R. CURTIS
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Commercial short-haul flight schedules
Pilots
Sleep
Sleep restriction
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Summary:To observe the effects of commercial short-haul flight operations on sleep, 74 pilot volunteers were monitored before, during and after three- or four-day duty schedules. Subjects kept daily logs of times of going to bed, falling asleep, waking up and getting out of bed, and of the number of nocturnal awakenings and the duration of sleep (not including time in bed but awake). They also rated the quality of each night's sleep. Heart rate and the activity of the non-dominant wrist were recorded every 2 min throughout the study, using portable physiological monitors. Average heart rate and wrist activity during sleep were used as physiological indicators of sleep quality. Pilots fell asleep later and woke up earlier on trip nights. The timing and duration of sleep were strongly correlated with the timing and duration of the time available for sleep, i.e. the time between duty days. In particular, early duty report times necessitated early arousals. On the other hand, sleep quality was most consistently related to the number of segments flown in the preceding duty day rather than the duration of the duty day. Sleep was generally better after days with more flight segments, unless long duty days encroached on the time available for sleep. There was evidence of recuperation after a trip, when the duration of sleep was longest, the time taken to fall asleep was shortest, sleep ratings were highest and napping was most common. These studies indicate that pilots flying scheduled short-haul commercial duties do experience sleep restriction. Evidence from other laboratory and field studies suggests that sleep restriction may have detrimental effects on subsequent daytime sleepiness, performance and mood.
ISSN:0014-0139
1366-5847
DOI:10.1080/00140138708966030