At hearings last month members of the Senate Aviation Operations subcommittee pressured FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt to speed the agency’s rewrite of regulations addressing pilot fatigue. The proposed NPRM dealing with that rewrite was expected in September last year, but has now been pushed back to early this year. The NTSB has cited fatigue as a contributing factor in several recent helicopter EMS crashes, and fatigue reform is an old chestnut on the Board’s “most wanted” list of safety improvements.
The helicopter EMS industry has long been sensitive to the issue of pilot fatigue, mainly because most helo EMS pilots fly 12-hour shifts and alternate between day and night schedules. Eighteen months ago, the National EMS Pilots Association (Nemspa) began working with NTSB nominee Dr. Mark Rosekind, former director of NASA’s fatigue countermeasures program, on developing an alertness-management program geared to the helo EMS industry. That program could be rolled out as early as this year’s second quarter, according to Nemspa president Kent Johnson. Studies are currently under way at several helo EMS operators to measure the impact an alertness management program (AMP) has on enhancing overall pilot sleep quality and performance.
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