Pilot Fatigue Flying While Tired

Pilot Fatigue Flying While Tired

                           

                                                      

I remember reading this interesting article last year about Pilot Fatigue; I want to share with the aviation community and analyze the possible consequences when crews flying while tired .

LOOKING up into the heavens at night, it's not hard to distinguish planets and stars from passing aeroplane lights. But a terrifying nosedive by an Air Canada flight in January 2011 shows that this is not always the case. The plunge was caused by a fatigued pilot who mistook the planet Venus for a United States Air Force plane, according to a report released this week by Canada's Transportation Safety Board.

The plane was halfway across the Atlantic ocean during a flight from Toronto to Zurich when the incident occurred. The first officer had just finished a 75-minute rest, though Air Canada flight crew are only meant to take controlled naps of up to 40 minutes to improve on–the–job performance. He initially thought Venus was a Boeing C-17 that was in the vicinity, but was corrected by the captain. The officer then took evasive action when he again thought the C-17 was heading towards his plane.

Fourteen of the 95 passengers and two flight attendants were injured during the 46-second event, which saw the Boeing 767 drop 400 feet and its pitch alter from two degrees up to six degrees down before the captain was able to react. Seven passengers were sent to hospital upon landing in Zurich, but nobody in business class was injured or even displaced, proving once again that it pays to be rich.

Coincidentally, the safety board released its preliminary annual summary  earlier this month and found that flying in Canada was safer in 2011 than in previous years. There were 932 reported occurrences—defined as an incident or accident—an 18% decrease from the 2006–2010 average of 1,135.

Source : The Economist