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Tired of Fatigue? (Part II)

  • Published
  • By Col Mark Hale
  • HQ AMC Safety
In the spring 2012 issue of The Mobility Forum, MAF personnel were introduced to ongoing efforts by AMC to better manage aviator fatigue. The article, "Are You Tired of Fatigue?" did an excellent job summarizing the FAA efforts on this front since the 2009 Colgan Air Crash and MAF Aviation Fatigue Management Program, which is a comprehensive policy and training review. It's time for an update.

In the spring of 2013, AMC transitioned from a manually scored Aviation Operational Risk Management (AvORM) Web application to an auto-populated system leveraging GDSS data. The worksheet now auto-populates the mission number, itinerary, MDS, and about half of the risk factors. Result: objective validation and less crew mental gymnastics. As of July 2013, AMC enabled the Mission Effectiveness (ME) fatigue graph within the AvORM program. Graph construction is based on planned itinerary and timing, but it will update throughout execution with changes to timing and/or itinerary. It's important to note that this graph is an aggregate view of what might happen to the aircrew based primarily on C2 data and is not a stand-alone Go/No-Go decision-making input.

However, an important feature within the program is the aircrew fatigue and health/stress scorecard. This assessment not only captures information on the aircrew for a more detailed assessment of the crew's physiological state, but this same information could also influence the ME graph.

As a scoring reminder to all aircrew, there are two steps to complete the fatigue and health/stress risk factors. First, as the crew scores the fatigue and health/stress card, it automatically populates the fatigue and heath/stress risk score on the AvORM worksheet with a low, moderate, high, or severe rating (Figure 1), but there's one more step. To complete the assessment, the crewmember must also select/score the appropriate sortie/FDP and save the worksheet (Figure 2). After completing these steps, the fatigue information from "Sleep Quality" and "Sleep in Last 12 hrs" could influence the graph if the sleep period is within 12 hours of crew show. Also, the scorer can input comments to explain why sleep was poor quality or the personal risk factors are high for a particular FDP--more context is helpful as we work to improve mission effectiveness for our MAF crews.

The examples in Figures 3 and 4 depict how this may happen. Figure 3 shows an auto-calculated sleep period within 12 hours of show time with more than six hours of "excellent" sleep scored or no fatigue input at all.

However, Figure 4 shows an input of less than four hours of sleep with "poor" sleep quality with a potential drop in performance.

If aircrew properly score the fatigue/health/stress portions of the AvORM worksheet, a better assessment of crew physiological state is possible. For additional training on the entire AvORM Web application, go to the AF portal under AMC/SEF and look for the tab AMC Aviation ORM.

AMC continues to work toward smarter fatigue management. They have received several fatigue-related ASAP reports. After a thorough review of the ASAPs by crews who willingly provided mission information, the ME graph showed a fatigue event based on C2 timing alone. These reports are being combined with other fatigue-related event information to educate mission planners and the execution cell of mission management options to help mitigate fatigue. So in short, keep the ASAPs coming. As a reminder, AvORM is not just about fatigue; it's about looking at all the risk to a crew and mission for combined effects. Without aircrew providing more details, AMC won't know where, when, and why the aggregate risk is elevated.

Finally, our current crew rest/duty period limits, when applied smartly, are safe and effective; however, fatigue management becomes more important when other external factors start impacting the best planned mission. Your local flight surgeon or aerospace physiologist is available to field your questions about fighting the battle against fatigue. Please continue to complete the AvORM worksheet (it is mandatory), and submit an ASAP when things get ugly--both will help your fellow Airmen. Fly safe!