The Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Flight Performance, Instrument Scanning, and Physiological Arousal in Pilots

Abstract

The effects of 34 hr of continuous wakefulness on flight performance, instrument scanning, subjective fatigue, and EEG activity were measured. Ten fixed-wing military pilots flew a series of 10 simulator profiles, and root mean squared error was calculated for various flight parameters. Ocular scan patterns were obtained by magnetic head tracking and infrared eye tracking. Flying errors peaked after about 24 to 28 hr of continuous wakefulness in line with peaks in subjective fatigue and EEG theta activity, and they were not directly attributable to degradation of instrument scanning, which was very consistent across pilots and largely unaffected by the sleep deprivation.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2009
Accession Number
ADA519631

Entities

People

  • Andrew J. Workman
  • Christina M. Daluz
  • Fred H. Previc
  • Nadia Lopez
  • Nathan A. Dillon
  • Richard H. Evans
  • William R. Ercoline

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Engineered Resilient Systems
  • Human Systems
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes
  • Sensors

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Air Force Research Laboratories
  • Arousal (Physiology)
  • Aviation Personnel
  • Biological Sciences
  • Flight Instruments
  • Flight Training
  • Horizontal Situation Indicators
  • Human-Machine Interaction
  • Measurement
  • Military Pilots
  • Neurology
  • Pilots
  • Psychology
  • Psychophysiology
  • Simulators
  • Sleep Deprivation

Fields of Study

  • Psychology

Readers

  • Aviation Safety and Air Traffic Management
  • Neuroscience
  • Spectroscopy.