Being a pilot is no doubt a stressful job that comes with considerable responsibility, after all the lives of hundreds of people are in your hands. However, in Europe that doesn’t seem to be stopping many pilots from literally sleeping on the job. Veuer’s Tony Spitz has the details.
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00:00Being a pilot is no doubt a stressful job that comes with considerable responsibility.
00:05After all, the lives of hundreds of people are in your hands.
00:08However, in Europe, that doesn't seem to be stopping many pilots from literally sleeping on the job.
00:13According to aviation safety consultancy Bain Simmons,
00:1675% of the nearly 7,000 commercial pilot respondents said they often take micro-sleeps while operating aircrafts.
00:24What's more, 25% said they had five or more, quote,
00:27brief uncontrolled periods of sleep in only the month leading up to the survey,
00:32highlighting what many travelers would no doubt say are highly concerning levels of fatigue amongst pilots.
00:37According to the report, the cause of this fatigue may be within,
00:41for example due to rosters, or outside, for example due to poor sleep at home, the operation.
00:46But the risk sits within the operation, and therefore must be managed.
00:50Fewer than 25% of respondents indicated they believed this epidemic of fatigue amongst commercial pilots
00:56was very or mostly well managed.
00:59Airlines do have a means of reporting fatigue.
01:02However, only 10% of respondents said reports have led to operational changes to improve safety,
01:07with around 75% of pilots reporting they either always, usually, or sometimes
01:13didn't have enough rest period between scheduled duties.