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Pilots Are Dying of Tiredness. Tech Can’t Save Them
The recent deaths of two Indian pilots has raised alarms about the exhaustion and stress caused by working longer hours without rest, made worse by pilot shortages and disputes over sick leave. One airline thinks fatigue monitoring devices could help. Others are not so sure.
IndiGo’s device sounds similar to Actiwatch, a now-discontinued line of research-grade actigraphs from Philips, used to monitor sleep patterns, study circadian rhythms, and track physical activity as part of an airline’s fatigue risk-management system. Nearly a week before, the regional labor commissioner of Delhi had allegedly written to the Tata group chairman pointing to “blatant violations of labour laws” and insisting the legitimate concerns of the cabin crew be looked into. Tail swaps—rushing between different types of aircraft to take off immediately after disembarking from another—have become more prevalent under the 13-hour rules, and can further contribute to exhaustion, as do hasty acclimatization and, most significantly, landing three, four, or more flights consecutively, which Captain Randhawa described as a “severe energy management challenge.”
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