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This report describes the findings of an independent survey of 1,132 Australian commercial pilots on their experiences of fatigue while working under CAO 48.0 and various exemptions currently allowed by CASA. The survey was conducted on-line by Transport and Road Safety (TARS) Research at the University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney). Invitations to participate were sent by the Australian Federation of Air Pilots (AFAP) to all their members and advertisements inviting all commercial pilots to take part in the survey were placed in the fortnightly Aviation pages of The Australian newspaper over four weeks in June-July 2017. The findings show that fatigue is a significant problem for Australian commercial pilots. Around half of pilots surveyed (52.4%) reported that fatigue is a substantial or major personal problem in their work. The majority had experienced fatigue both before or during duty at some stage in their flying career. Approaching half (46.1%) had experienced fatigue during half or more of their shifts. Pilots reported significant consequences of experiencing fatigue. Almost all reported that fatigue had produced negative effects on performance. Over two-thirds had made an error due to fatigue at some stage and nearly half (45%) had experienced a microsleep while on duty and one in five had fallen asleep unplanned while on the flight deck. Regression modelling of the major contributors to experiencing fatigue as a personal problem highlighted long duty periods including high flying hours, flying three sectors or more, night duties and inconsistent roster patterns as work-related factors and short recovery time and insufficient on-board rest as rest-related factors that significantly increased the odds of experiencing a fatigue problem. Most pilots managed fatigue through use of caffeine-containing drinks and standing up and moving around, strategies that are easily accessible to all pilots. Controlled rest and napping, strategies that have longer term effectiveness for fatigue management but are more difficult to arrange, were used by a minority of pilots. Nearly 40 percent of pilots reported that they worked under a formal Fatigue Risk Management System (FRMS). Just over half (58%) had ever made a fatigue report but nearly half had reported sick instead of fatigued. Over half of pilots felt that their company always encouraged reporting of fatigue, but the most common reasons for not reporting were that they perceived no benefits in reporting or that there was likely to be an adverse response from the company if they reported. Nearly one-quarter didn’t report as they felt too tired and couldn’t be bothered.

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