Flight crew fatigue III: North Sea helicopter air transport operations

We studied 32 helicopter pilots before, during, and after 4-5 d trips from Aberdeen, Scotland, to service North Sea oil rigs. On duty days, subjects awoke 1.5 h earlier than pretrip or posttrip, after having slept nearly an hour less. Subjective fatigue was greater posttrip than pretrip. By the end of trip days, fatigue was greater and mood more negative than by the end of pretrip days. During trips, daily caffeine consumption increased 42%, reports of headache doubled, reports of back pain increased 12-fold, and reports of burning eyes quadrupled. In the cockpits studied, thermal discomfort and high vibration levels were common. Subjective workload during preflight, taxi, climb, and cruise was related to the crewmembers' ratings of the quality of the aircraft systems. During descent and approach, workload was affected by weather at the landing site. During landing, it was influenced by the quality of the landing site and air traffic control. Beginning duty later, and greater attention to aircraft comfort and maintenance, should reduce fatigue in these operations.