European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 9, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                By Fred Bayles and Daniel q. Haney associated press a Irline pilots weary irom lying Many hours across multiple timezones alien wander out of assigned air space land on wrong runways and even All asleep Amoc controls of their planes a review of sleep research and interviews with researchers and pilots by the associated press found the significance of fatigue Long a problem in Ait travel has grown along with America s deregulated airline Industry. Government documents obtained by the a describe some 600 incidents Over the last five years an average of two a week in which air Crews blamed fatigue Lor potentially dangerous mistakes in navigation communications and piloting. While never Olli Cisly listed As a cause in any  commercial aviation Accident fatigue has been linked to several incidents a still unreleased report by the Canadian aviation Sally Board cites fatigue As a Factor in the Dee. 12,1985, crash in Candor Newfoundland of a Charier plane carrying 248 us. Servicemen and a Crow of eight Home for Christmas irom the Middle East. Many people interviewed blame airline deregulation in Tho United states for the mounting reports of fatigue. Deregulation brought a competitive explosion in air travel. Pilots contend their airlines try to lower costs by working them harder sometimes with schedules that keep them Hying All night and into inc next Day. These work hours say the pilots ally cd their concentration. When you re fatigued you get distracted easily. You la miss a radio Call or enter the wrong data or read in wrong said Dave Linsley a United airlines Captain and a Pilot s Union spokesman from new Jersey. Then you get into physical problems Hilling the wrong switch Over controlling the aircraft sometimes turning the wrong Way or busting an Altitude. It comes Down to Bolh of you sitting at the controls and shaking your Heads to slay on lop of  Linsley was among two dozen pilots interviewed by the a. Many talked of ailing asleep in the cockpit. I be flown trips that weren t Safe because we were All so exhausted said a Northwest airlines Captain who asked nol to be identified. I be flown trips thai leave at Midnight with three legs Lake Olfs and landings and you arrive at noon feeling like a piece of dog  pilots Aren t alone in their concern. Researchers such As Nasa psychologist r. Curtis Gra Ebat believe pistols often Fly beyond their endurance i am convinced that serious errors occur Hal Are facilitated by Aliguo. Sleep loss Jet lag. Whatever you want to Call it said Graeber. Lead scientist at Tho aviation systems research Branch of the Nasa Ames research Center at Moffett Field South of san Francisco. While . Airlines have a High safety record Graeber and others worry that pilots schedules Don t consider the grinding numbing a flecks Hal 15 hour Days abrupt shift changes or Mullite time zone travel can have. The pilots agree. Sometimes in you be flown several legs and had a rough Day with bad weather you realize you re not seeing things you re supposed to see said an Eastern Captain who asked not to be identified i be flown Al 2 in the morning when i realize i be fallen into a hypnotic state. I be been on air planes where i Don t remember the last Ihrcke legs from the night  fatigue contributed to at least two recent air accidents the Newfoundland crash of the Arrow air dc-8, taking off for fort Campbell by. The preliminary report As Yel unreleased and subject to modification blames icing and Crew Latigue noting the Crew flew an exhausting schedule in the previous 12 Days including Short layovers multiple time zones and excessive flight hours. The report cites a High potential for the development of chronic fatigue among the Crew and says . Flight time limitations do not reflect recent advances in the understanding of the deleterious it techs of  the feb. 19.1985 inflight upset of a China airlines 747 lying trom Taipei to los Angeles. National transportation solely Board  said that after a simple engine lame out the Crew relied too Long on autopilot to adjust Iha plane s bearing. When the Captain finally look Over the 220-ton aircraft rolled Over into a six life nose dive that approached the Speed of sound before control was regained 9,500 feet above the Pacific. The plane was extensively damaged and two people were seriously injured. The Nosb noted that five Days before tha Accident the Captain had flown through five time zones on a return irom saudi Arabia and Ihen had flown several flights Between Taiwan and Japan. While the report stopped Short of blaming fatigue. Board member John Lauber a sleep scientist believes in was a actor. You go through that whole sequence and it s strongly suggestive of a Crew that was t plugged in and who probably was t plugged to because o sleepiness he said. Fatigue May have been involved in other accidents As Well including the sept. 25,1978, collision Between a Pacific Southwest airlines 727 end a private plane Over san Diego calif., and the oct. 31,1979, crash of a Western airlines dc-10 in Mexico cily. On the night before the spa Accident which killed 146 people the Crew had barely seven hours off duty and Likely slept no More than 5vz hours. The next Day the Pilot was heard saying on the cockpit Lape i m dragging. Ii was a Short  the Western crash occurred at 6 30 . When the dc-10, having Down about three hours from los Angeles landed on Iha wrong runway and i a truck. Seventy three people died. Both accidents were blamed on Pilot error. Experts say hard evidence rarely exists to show pilots erred because they were tired the problem with fatigue is it s nol a Bent piece of Metal. It s nol a liquid thai can be Analysed in the Laboratory said or Stanley Mohler a former Faa official who Heads aerospace Medicine Al Wright slate University in Daylon Ohio. Government and airline officials acknowledge they be heard tales of pilots napping in Light and of mistakes attributed to sleepiness but they play Down such re polls. There in t evidence Hal there is a fatigue problem said Wall Coleman spokesman for Tho air transport association a Trade group representing the major airlines. T. Allan Mcartor administrator of the Federal aviation administration  More research is needed into the effects of Long flights on the circadian system or biological clock. But he denies a safely problem. There s no evidence that shows it makes flying any More hazardous Mcartor said. Some 600 accounts of missed approaches near misses and near tragedies blamed on fatigue show up in voluntary Pilot reports filed with the air safety reporting system an office run by Nasa for pilots who want to confess to mistakes and report risky conditions without fear of retribution. Enough reports were filed by Crews for commuter airlines and air taxis that the ass sent a memo to the Faa in May identifying recurring Pilot deviations directly attributable to Latigue and cockpit  the big chunk that we have perceived out of this information is that fatigue is a real Issue thai needs to be  said Bill Reynard who runs the reporting system. Even though the reports Are protected by anonymity and Are not investigated by the ass Reynard believes they Are truthful. It is absolutely positively valid that these numbers Are real he said. Our analysis have been in aviation for 20 to 30 years they Are very Good at spotting a  three Days with in Ltd the reports provide a Litany of horror stories complacency v in february 1987 the co Pilot of a Cross simple Latigue we country jumbo Al already descending into incident a Boston looks up trom his Coffee cup to see the shadowy effects of Captain asleep at the controls because pilots Are i think we need to look at the world of the fatigue becomes e Pilot and see what More hours and labor unreal Ese _ equipment is doing he writes. Wrong As Well. The next month a Large Airliner from los if Lor example ii Angeles to Baltimore sinks 4,000 feel below its warning horns had assigned Altitude coming close enough to he tired Pilot s out another plane to set Oil alarms at the air Ira tic in the Detroit eras control Center. Fatigue played a re i do not believe it would have occurred to a in paper. Faa i rested Crew writes a Crew member noting he pilots. Domestic i flew ail night to Cleveland then continued to night Lime a Day o Baltimore into the morning Sun. Duly than 12. All pilots r regulations. Do not in any Way address the of Resl Between flip debilitating Al feels of lying All night and however the re especially of continuing to work into the scheduled flight Tii morning  the ground belie last november the Copilot of another Larga turnarounds and u Jet begins a Takeoff Roll from fort Lauderdale a Crew s Day up to without Selling the flaps an error then already scheduling agr suspected in the Northwest dc-9 crash in Detroit pilots once Hept i thai had killed 154 people three months earlier. Standards but Cor cockpit warning horns sound and Takeoff is have become con aborted. In the Detroit crash the Horn s failed to Competition Brough sound John Mazor up it is quite sobering to consider that the association said i combination o fatigue and distractions could so of deregulation the easily cause a breakdown in my own cockpit flight time to a a discipline writes Tho Copilot who had blown or month. Today he  fatigue in the. Cockpit when you re fatigued you get distracted easily. You la miss a radio Call or enter the wrong data.1 Page 14 the stars and stripes sunday. Ocl