UAS Shift Work Schedule

            After September 11, 2001, military remotely piloted aircraft or RPA, pilots has seen a surge in operations.  The voracious demand for persistent intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, or ISR, coupled with the low supply of RPA crews has led to a variety of scheduling and fatigue issues. Currently, crews at the 638th Flying Squadron conduct operations via a continuous shift work schedule of 6 days on followed by 2 days off. After one rotation the crews change shifts moving to clockwise (i.e. Days to Swings to Nights to Days, etc.).  The problem with this construct is that the bodies of the crews never settle on a particular circadian rhythm allowing for adequate rest.

            To date, there have been many studies have been conducted on long duration flights. In fact, the circadian disruption and sleep loss in personnel who work the night shift has been compared to pilots who make multiple crossings of time zones (Mallis, Banks, & Dinges, 2010). In 2014, the FAA instituted new fatigue rules which overhauls the minimum amount of uninterrupted rest and sets a limit on the consecutive number hours a pilot can fly. The new regulation mandates that pilots receive at a minimum 10 hours of rest between shifts and at least 30 consecutive hours of rest each week (Trejos, 2014). This new number takes into account pilot commute, hygiene, eating, and downtime. Furthermore, pilots will be limited to 8-9 hours of flying (Trejos).  In order to meet the new regulation, many airline companies are increasing the total number of pilots they have.  The intent is to spread the total number of flights across more pilots. Unfortunately, this new regulation is only mandated for commercial pilots. However, like most updates and changes to industry, the military attempts to match it as best as possible.  

            In the effort to remedy the scheduling issue of the 638th Flying squadron, two new scheduling plans have been devised. The first plan, Schedule # 1, maintains the construct of 4 crews. The change is to place the entire crew force on 12-hour shifts. The shifts would include a 30-minute mission brief/debrief time built in. Additionally, crews will have almost a large amount of time to stabilize their circadian rhythm to the shift hours. The large benefits of this schedule are:

·         2 – 3 weekends off a month

·         Crews remain on shift almost 30 days before rotating

·         Extra 24 hours to prepare for new shift hours

·         Crews work approximately only ½ the month

            The other option for crew scheduling, and the preferred method is to add two more crews to the schedule. As mentioned before the demand for unmanned ISR capabilities has grown tremendously over the last few years. However, the total number of crews has not grown with the demand (this is currently something the U.S. Air Force is actually trying to fix). By adding two additional crews, the crew force can spread the workload, remain on 8 hour shifts, and increase the rest time by 24 hours. Similar to the schedule above, Schedule # 2, extends the time a crew is on shift prior to switching, while reducing the number of days the crew is working per month.

            Despite the best scheduling efforts, fatigue cannot be totally eradicated. The human body was never designed to operate effectively during hours where it should be asleep. However, by creating and fostering an environment that promotes personal fitness and wellness of health, RPA crews should generally have fewer fatigue issues.

 

References

Mallis, M. M., Banks, S., & Dinges, D. F. (2010). Aircrew Fatigue, Sleep Need and Circadian Rhythmicity. In D. Eduardo Salas, & D. Eduardo Salas (Ed.), Human Factors in Aviation (2 ed., pp. 401-436). Burlington, Massachusetts: Academic Press.

Trejos, N. (2014, January 3). New pilot fatigue rules go into effect this weekend. USA Today.