FATIGUE IN AVIATION INSPECTION: LABORATORY AND VALIDATION STUDIES

摘要

A number of highly-visible accidents resulting in failures of the inspection system have led to investigation of issues of fatigue in a complex inspection task. Two experiments were performed investigating Shift (0300 vs. 0900 start time), Period (1 vs. 2 hour task) and Time on Task (each 20 min interval) with potential countermeasures of Breaks (None vs. 3 minute break after each 20 min inspection) and Lights (20 vs. 400 Lux). Experiment 1 used participants from the local community and tested under simulated conditions, while Experiment 2 used aviation inspectors in hangars with a similar design. Performance and sleep/fatigue were measured. The two experiments showed a number of similar findings such as the differential effects of breaks for different shifts and periods, but there were differences. The main difference was that a vigilance decrement was found with aviation inspectors but not with community participants.