Commuting practices among airline pilots could potentially contribute to fatigue, and because fatigue can reduce performance, pilots, airlines and the FAA should take steps to reduce the likelihood that commuting will pose a safety risk, according to a new report produced by the National Research Council (NRC). However, too little data exists to determine the extent to which commuting poses a safety risk or whether the FAA should regulate the practice, said the NRC. It concluded that the FAA should support a new study to gather data on how commuting practices can relate to risk factors for fatigue, however.
The report offers guidance for how pilots should manage their sleep and wake time to avoid fatigue levels that could affect performance. Specifically, pilots should plan their commutes and other pre-duty activities to allow for no more than about 16 hours of time awake by the end of a duty day, and they should endeavor to sleep for at least six hours before reporting for duty, said the report.
