Fatigue

Controlling Pilot Error: FATIGUE by James C. Miller

After reading the chapter on sleep biology and napping in this book, you may reconsider whether to take that afternoon or red-eye flight. In this slim volume, you will find information on how performance effectiveness drops from 98 percent in the morning to 80 percent or less when compromised by staying awake too long or by accumulating a sleep deficit. And it turns out there is a downside to automation in the cockpit--increasing the workload of monitoring responsibilities and decreased vigilance. This is an excellent primer on sleep even for the non-pilot. It includes a helpful discussion of the effects of drug sleep aids. Also included are examples of National Transportation Safety Board summaries of actual aircraft accidents and their possible causes.

This is one in a series of 10 books on the challenges pilots face. The other books in the series deal with such topics as weather, communications, automation, controlled flight into terrain, and training and instruction. Additional topics covered are checklists and compliance, maintenance and mechanics, and situational awareness.

Miller's book on fatigue covers sleep biology, jet lag, cmulative fatigue, good sleep hygiene, and other areas. The author is director of the Chronobiology and Sleep Lab at Brooks Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas.Miller, James C. is the author of 'Fatigue' with ISBN 9780071374125 and ISBN 0071374124.