...and rising?
Number of pilots for Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific reporting flying with fatigue up 38pc | South China Morning Post
Figures obtained by the Sunday Morning Post show a sharp rise last year in the number of Cathay Pacific pilots reporting to the airline they were suffering from fatigue while flying.
Almost 1,100 reports of fatigue were received by the company last year - up 38 per cent compared to 2013. Nearly 3,500 cases have been submitted since monitoring started four years ago, according to the airline's sustainable development report.
Cathay Pacific attributed the increase to pilots being more aware of fatigue symptoms, while the company has made it easier for aircrew to submit reports about exhaustion.
The airline insisted safety was its top priority after the Post revealed pilots' concerns over aviation safety three weeks ago, increasing pressure on the airline to reform its cockpit culture.
A letter signed by 100 check and training captains warned company bosses that flight safety was under threat as exhausted aircrews coped with escalating workloads. The airline's management later conceded there had been an "increased workload" and "decrease in rostering stability" among its pilots, leading to exhaustion among aircrew.
Fatigue accounted for less than a tenth of all safety reports, said Cathay. But it said fatigue was being highlighted to "proactively address any issues identified and prevent recurrence".
"A good airline will have a healthy reporting culture that permits this proactive approach to safety management," a spokeswoman said. "Many airlines do not attract safety reports and are not in a position to address the issues highlighted.
"The rise in the number of ASR-Fs [air safety report-fatigue] is partly due to healthy reporting that is actively encouraged."
A meeting was held last Tuesday between the Civil Aviation Department and the Airline Pilots Association which focused on air accident investigations. The Post understands "concern" was expressed by the regulator about the captains' letter on fatigue, according to people present at the meeting. The letter cited "increased sickness rates" from greater workloads. The airline declined to talk about pilot sickness rates.
A Cathay pilot, who did not want to be named, said: "I have previously had time off for fatigue and feel [when I return to work] that often I am almost down at the same level of functioning even with my best efforts to continually address the issue."
Symptoms, he said, included "no energy to do anything, even eat, not sleeping day or night, mood changes, loss of memory and disorientation to the point of waking up on a bus in uniform and not knowing if I am going to or coming home from work".
Cathay Pacific and sister airline Dragonair are among just a few major airlines that incorporate fatigue into aviation safety risk management with a fatigue risk management committee.
A working group set up by the committee with management and pilots to look at the issue is set to report back in November.
Darryl Soligo, the president of the Airline Pilots Association, said a rise in reporting of fatigue may be down to better awareness and confidence in the reporting system among flight crew.
"It is only by the collection of such data that the [fatigue risk management committee] may actually function in order to identify and mitigate perceived fatigue risks," he said.
The Civil Aviation Department said it actively supported airlines promoting a safe "reporting culture … to enable safety information to be fed into a system for structured analysis and continuous improvement".
Chris Beebe, general secretary of the Aircrew Officers Association, which represents around 2,100 Cathay pilots, said: "Certainly pilots' rosters have become more demanding … and it's an indicator that pilots are dealing with a greater amount of fatigue. We think Cathay has to take a very hard look at all of the elements that go into the fatigue aspect of the flight operation."