Survey of fatigue for GA pilots - Invitation

[Ann Williamson]

*PPruNE Forums has given us permission to post information about this survey. A summary of the results will be posted on this site when available.

The University of New South Wales, School of Aviation is conducting a survey of general aviation pilots in Australia about their experience of fatigue.

If you are a general aviation pilot in Australia please click on the survey link below and tell us what you think. All responses are anonymous and the survey will close on 15th January 2012.

Click here: Fatigue in General Aviation

Thanks

Hoi Kit Chan (Honours student)
Dr Naomi Dunn
Prof Ann Williamson
School of Aviation
UNSW

[Ultralights]

what about a few questions for the Instructors?

[blackburn]

What about an open ended time limit to cope with phone calls and other interuptions etc? The survey closed when I was part way through the 2nd page with no option of re-entering the survey!

[bentleg]

This survey is directed at CPL's not PPLs.

[PA39]

Interesting survey....perhaps some good will come out of it.

[Hoi Kit Chan]

Sorry for the inconvenience and thanks for your suggestion.
l have reduced the Time limit of the survey

[knox]

I tried to complete it but feel asleep half way through

Knox.

[Old Akro]

I get fatigue when I deal with CASA

[Hoi Kit Chan]

so any suggestion about to improve this survey??????

[Howard Hughes]

Done, say hi to Ann for me!

[eocvictim]

No provision for previous employment and you've added constraints to hours in some fields which requires a number when sometimes it's zero.

[bentleg]

so any suggestion about to improve this survey??????

You say it is a survey in GA, yet many of the questions seem to assume employment as a pilot. To be paid as a pilot you need to be CPL or higher. There are a lot of PPL's in GA that are not employed as pilots (like me). I gave up on the survey when I encountered many questions about shifts, rest times etc to which there was no appropriate answer for a PPL hobby flyer.

To improve the survey it either needs to provide answer options appropriate for PPLs, or else exclude PPLs from the survey and direct it at CPLs and higher.

[VH-XXX]

If you are a hobby PPL and you tried to fill out this survey I would be somewhat concerned. If you are a fatigued then please don't fly!

UNLESS you are employed as an in-house pilot or flying yourself around then it would still be relevant if you were a PPL and if that was the case then rest / shift information should be known by you.

[Neville Nobody]

If you are a hobby PPL and you tried to fill out this survey I would be somewhat concerned

Then you wouldn't be flying for a living and fatigue wouldn't be a problem?

what about a few questions for the Instructors?

Don't you get bored telling people to do the same thing and not actually touching the controls? Why do most little instructors have mustaches? Don't you feel guilty filling in your logbook when somebody else is actually flying the aircraft? That enough questions or do you want more?

so any suggestion about to improve this survey??????

Have an area for open comment at the end

[Ultralights]

Don't you get bored telling people to do the same thing and not actually touching the controls? Why do most little instructors have mustaches? Don't you feel guilty filling in your logbook when somebody else is actually flying the aircraft? That enough questions or do you want more?

obviously you have never instructed to say things like that.. or dont it for the love of it and a desire to create a excellent pilot.

sure some, if not most of the time your not on the stick, but you are always out the window, watching the student while keeping up situational awareness, especially in a busy training area surrounded by CTA, trying to best teach the student in some not so smooth weather so as to keep their confidence up, every student is different, and learns differently, and 5 lessons per day, including brief and debrief, fuelling aircraft, can be quite draining and results in less than ideal personal performance while instructing towards the end of a long hot summers day, especially with a low hr, pre solo student, then add 35deg days, up at 5 am, then closing hangar doors at 7 pm. during summer months, then yes, fatigue becomes a serious issue.

as for the survey, Instructing doesnt have Sectors per say, but for every 1 hr in the air you are still working another 1.5 to 2 or more hrs. so, 5 students for the day, each requiring 2 hrs attention, no breaks, throw in general admin duties, and by home time, you are buggered.

but then again, poor quality instructing doesnt seam to be a safety issue in todays airline environment..


but most likely your post was tongue in cheek, and im tired after and long day, and not thinking rationally. and probably took your post seriously when i really shouldn't have, but still valid points i feel that are relevant to the aims of the survey. which would have been great in a general comments section of the survey.

[Neville Nobody]

but most likely your post was tongue in cheek

Correct

Normally instructing is not taken seriously, just an hour building exercise. Good to see it taken seriously.

As for the survey read between the lines, each lesson can be a leg. tell the truth about the company fatigue management system and how it's used (Or not) in the real world.

[Ultralights]

a flying school with a fatigue management plan!



sorry, couldnt help myself.

[Horatio Leafblower]

Scope?

Mate it's your honours research.... what is your scope? What are you trying to achieve?

From a safety/quality point of view, I would be targetting the people who are working as a pilot, even if only part-time, as their fatigue (or otherwise) affects the quality of the product and the safety of the client.

I would be especially interested in casual pilots and part-time pilots, and the interaction between their flying employment and non-flying employment demands.

If you are interested in training outcomes, student pilot fatigue is relevant... but you would be asking very different questions, which would be less relevant to working pilots.

By "General Avation Pilots" I presumed you meant pilots working in non-airline non-military fields... which is what GA encompasses.

[Hoi Kit Chan]

Quote:
By "General Avation Pilots" I presumed you meant pilots working in non-airline non-military fields... which is what GA encompasses.



Great, thanks for your advise

[j3pipercub]

Hoi,

Perhaps expanding the hours section to make it more than just Dual and Solo.

bentleg, was that a serious question?

j3