Date of Award

January 2017

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Aviation

First Advisor

Warren Jensen

Abstract

Despite improved understanding of fatigue, reduced cognitive ability continues to contribute to aviation accidents (Drury, Ferguson, & Thomas, 2012; Noy et al., 2011). A comprehensive fatigue study on business aviation (BA) operations in the US has not been published since "Crew Factors in Flight Operations XIII: A Survey of Fatigue Factors in Corporate/Executive Aviation Operations" (Rosekind, Co, Gregory, & Miller, 2000). This study, modeled after the Rosekind survey and conducted in collaboration with the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA), updated the baseline for fatigue in BA, qualitatively examined fatigue perceptions in BA, and examined the efficacy of the “Flight Safety Foundation (FSF) and NBAA Duty/Rest Guidelines for Business Aviation” (BA Guidelines) (2014) by operation type, i.e. governing US Federal Aviation Regulation (FAR) Parts 91, 91(k) and 135. Mann-Whitney U statistical tests were conducted to compare nine recommended duty and rest criteria from the BA Guidelines between compliant operators' (COs) and non-compliant operators' (NCOs) total fatigue survey scores. Mann-Whitney U values were found to be statistically significant in five of the nine BA Guidelines criteria between COs and NCOs, with small to medium effect in all cases. Additionally, Mann-Whitney U statistical tests were conducted to compare six operation types to total fatigue survey scores. Mann-Whitney U values were found to be statistically significant in four of the six comparisons, with medium effect size in three pairs and large effect in one pair. These results were unsupportive of the BA Guidelines for all Basic operations recommendations, but support the BA Guidelines in required rest for Window of Circadian Low and Extended operations. Also, the mean fatigue scores for Parts 135 and 91(k) operations were significantly higher than in Part 91operations.

Download

Share

COinS