Managing Flying Risk – Instructor Fatigue and Medical Fitness

Without proactive management, it is possible for instructors to feel obliged to spend up to ten hours a day on an airfield. Much of that time is spent in a high pressured psychologically, physically and physiologically demanding environment requiring the instructor’s focus either on the ground or in the air.  This is not new nor exclusive to gliding.

The situation described above can be an issue for instructors of all ages. Younger instructors may be less experienced and therefore operations may be more mentally taxing and they may be more inclined to prove themselves or try and work at a higher tempo. Ageing instructors can find themselves carrying much of the instructing and supervision workload – this scenario is becoming increasingly common.

Fatigue and medical fitness to fly are safety considerations that are shared responsibilities between individuals and the clubs that they support. The following information is aimed at gliding clubs and their members.

What is fatigue?

Fatigue is often described as a lack of energy and motivation—both physical and emotional. It is different than sleepiness or drowsiness, which describes the need for sleep. Fatigue is also a normal response to physical and mental activity. Safety critical activities, such as driving or flying are not appropriate tasks to undertake under any circumstances if fatigued. Fatigue can only be reduced by decreasing overall activity and resolved by resting.

Getting enough sleep (both quantity and quality) on a regular basis is essential for restoring the brain and body and is the primary defence against fatigue. The drive for sleep increases with time awake. Reducing the amount or the quality of sleep, even for a single night, increases the risk of fatigue. It decreases the ability to function effectively and increases sleepiness on the following and subsequent days. Stress from any source, most commonly domestic or work related, is a powerful cause of both acute and chronic fatigue.  Workload can be a significant contributing factor to any individual’s  fatigue. Low workload may unmask physiological sleepiness while high workload may exceed the capacity of a fatigued individual.

Individual instructors are responsible for only instructing when fit to do so, having had adequate sleep and assessed their general wellness (the ‘I’m safe’ checklist).

Clubs have a responsibility to risk assess the operating environment to provide a safe environment for the instructor to operate in. This includes helping instructors to monitor and manage individual (consider travel time, opportunity for rest, duty time, instructor load, operational safety) and environmental (including heat, cold, dry, wet, wind) fatigue hazards.

How can clubs help to manage instructor fatigue?

There can be no comprehensive hard and fast rules as every individual and situation is different. Risk assessing club instructor’s exposure to fatigue can help to identify opportunities to reduce risk.

For example, where long summer days can result in long hours spent ‘on duty’, splitting duty days may be appropriate. Taking breaks through the day to relax and eat are important but will only be effective if the instructor is provided with the opportunity to do so and all of their responsibilities can be passed on to another person. An instructor’s commute to the airfield needs to be considered; a long stressful journey is not a great start to a flying day. Course instructors are particularly exposed to being over-stretched and becoming fatigued.

Club CFIs and the club committees should discuss fatigue with their instructors and identify what changes may be necessary to prevent instructor fatigue becoming a problem.

Medical considerations

An instructor’s medical status and compliance is a personal responsibility. Clubs also have a responsibility associated with their training and other insured liabilities. The CAA Pilot Medical Declaration (PMD) is an important and useful method of demonstrating fitness to fly. Although the PMD requires periodic individual user’s affirmation of ongoing validity, clubs are strongly encouraged to proactively remind their instructors of the need to remain compliant with their PMD declaration and to require their instructors to confirm annually by signature that they understand the CAA PMD requirements and are compliant.

Standardisation of instructors is an important role of club CFIs. In addition to any recency or revalidation requirement, CFIs are encouraged to fly with all their instructors whenever they feel it is appropriate to do so. It would be reasonable to fly with more senior instructors on a two or three-yearly basis. Our ‘looking after each other’s six o’clock’ culture extends in this case to spotting signs of a decrease in overall performance and responding appropriately. Sensible instructors will take heed and adjust. Some may need time to absorb the information and to accept the need for change. Detailed guidance on ageing pilots is provided here.

October 2024