Research project Effectiveness of Flight Time Limitation (FTL)
The work is carried out on the behalf of the European Aviation Safety Authority (EASA). The main purpose is to add to, and subsequently wrap up, the work performed during the previous project on the review of the effectiveness of flight and duty time limitations and rest requirements.
This includes an assessment of the impact on aircrew alertness of: the following aircrew duty periods:
a. Duties of more than 13 hours at the most favourable time of the day (“daytime”)
b. Duties of more than 11 hours for crew members in an unknown state of acclimatisation (“jet lag”)
c. Duties including a high number of (more than 6) of sectors (“flights” the same day)
d. On-call duties such as standby or reserve followed by flight duties.
In addition, Controlled rest (“napping during flight”) will be studied: this includes an analysis of the conditions and circumstances under which aircrew members take controlled rest.
Data will be collected using phone-based apps and include ratings of sleepiness, fatigue, and performance tests.
The project is funded by the EU.
The project is led by Netherlands Aerospace Centre (NLR), in collaboration with Torbjörn Åkerstedt, Stockholms unversitet, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (FIOH), and German Aerospace Centre (DLR). Several large European air carriers participate and several hundred aircrew (pilots and aircrew).
Project members
Members
Torbjörn Åkerstedt
Professor Emeritus
