The Development of a Fatigue Model And Its Regulatory Application

摘要

The U.K. Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) introduced guidance to operators regarding the avoidance of fatigue as Civil Aviation Publication (CAP) 371 in 1975. Although it was possible to include a certain amount of research data in the original CAP 371, further research was sponsored by the CAA in an ongoing program, which has been reflected in subsequent amendments to CAP 371. The latest proposed amendment has recently completed the consultation phase and the comments made are being reviewed. It is anticipated that the new edition of CAP 371, incorporating these amendments will be published in early 2002. The primary contractor for the fatigue research work is the Centre of Human Sciences (CHS), QinetiQ (formerly DERA), Farnborough. CHS indicated in 1995 that enough data were available to consider the development of a mathematical model, which would reflect fatigue and alertness levels of crew throughout any given roster. This was immediately recognized as a possible means of applying objective assessment to rosters rather than the largely subjective means used by the regulatory authorities to date. A research program was initiated and a proof of concept prototype was developed. Even at this early stage, the Right Ops Department of the CAA's Safety Regulation Group found it a useful tool for quickly assessing whether a roster was within regulatory limits and for indicating areas that required further consideration regarding their implications for fatigue. In June 2001, a further beta version was widely distributed to the industry for comment, and it is hoped that a final version will be available by mid 2002. Although the fatigue model prototype incorporates results from the research program carried out by the CHS over a number of years, it was recognized that other research centers in Europe had been working in this area, some developing similar models of their own, and that further validation would be of value. To this end there has been invaluable cooperation with research centers in France, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden to present a program for the development of a unified model validated against all the available data. This would provide, over a short timescale, a combined European approach to the assessment of fatigue in flight crew operations. Unfortunately, the hoped-for EU funding has not yet been forthcoming. The advantages of a fatigue model are that it is an objective reflection of the research data, it can be agreed by all parties who can easily inspect and review the data, it can be continuously refined in light of additional data, and it is easily portable. In the longer term, it is envisaged that the regulator will use the improved version of the program to assist the assessment of variations to the standard flight times limitation scheme.