14POS27 – Fatigue Measuring

14POS27 11 February 2014 Fatigue measuring equipment and Pilot Activity Monitoring Definitions

Fatigue/Alertness Measuring Equipment

Any kind of equipment used in flight to record objective or subjective fatigue is considered as Fatigue/Alertness Measuring Equipment. Such equipment may include, but is not limited to, Actiwatch™ and similar devices, different performance task devices, such as psychomotor vigilance task, eye movement scans or subjective fatigue ratings.

Pilot Activity Monitoring (PAM) Pilot Activity Monitoring refers to warning devices when pilot activity is reduced. The alert may be triggered when the crew fail to interact with aircraft systems such as mode control panel, communications, FMC, EFIS etc. after specific periods of time. Eye movement scans may be considered to be PAM equipment depending on their purpose of use.

Position

Flight crew should not agree to the use of fatigue measuring equipment unless used as part of a scientific study or FRMS data collection that has been agreed to by the Member Association. The purpose of Pilot Activity Monitoring is to provide an additional margin of safety in unusual fatiguing circumstances. PAM should be designed to be transparent in normal operations. In no case should such monitoring interfere with normal communications inside or outside the flight deck. Such monitoring functions should be designed in such a way that absolutely no false or nuisance warnings are issued. PAM should be active only in cruise flight and is considered to be a safety enhancement feature. No records of warning events should be kept by manual or electronic means, nor should the data link transmission of such warning events be permitted. PAM should serve to alert a crew to a potential developing fatigue situation. Pilot Activity Monitoring should never be considered a mitigating measure to extend planned duty periods.

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