Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Flight Performance, Instrument Scanning, and Physiological Arousal in Pilots

摘要

The effects of 34 hr of continuous wakefulness on flight performance, instrument scanning, subjective fatigue, and EEG activity were measured. Ten fixed-wing military pilots flew a series of 10 simulator profiles, and root mean squared error was calculated for various flight parameters. Ocular scan patterns were obtained by magnetic head tracking and infrared eye tracking. Flying errors peaked after about 24 to 28 hr of continuous wakefulness in line with peaks in subjective fatigue and EEG theta activity, and they were not directly attributable to degradation of instrument scanning, which was very consistent across pilots and largely unaffected by the sleep deprivation.