Pilot and cabin crew health and wellbeing during historic ultra-long haul flights from New York to Sydney will be the focus of a study by the CRC for Alertness, Safety and Productivity (Alertness CRC), in collaboration with Qantas.
The study, led by researchers at the Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health at Monash University, will commence with a research flight scheduled to take off this weekend, as part of Project Sunrise which aims to assess the viability of direct commercial flights between the east coast of Australia and New York and London.
Sleep and circadian medicine researchers from the Alertness CRC will be gathering novel data about pilot and cabin crew rest, sleep and alertness throughout the flight in an effort to better understand the impact of extended flight schedules on safety and performance during long international flights.
Throughout the flight, pilots and cabin crew will have sleep and alertness recorded using activity monitors, performance tests and subjective ratings of sleepiness and fatigue. Pilots will also be observed for signs of fatigue using video monitoring, simulated flight tasks and electroencephalogram (EEG) to track brain patterns of alertness. Researchers will also monitor pilots’ light exposure, and collect urine samples to measure levels of the hormone melatonin – responsible for regulating individual sleep-wake patterns.
Dr Tracey Sletten, Project Leader with the Alertness CRC and Senior Research Fellow at Monash University, said this will be the most comprehensive assessment of sleep and alertness in flight crew and the first detailed assessment of Qantas cabin crew.
“These unique research flights present a rare opportunity for us to collect comprehensive data in the field, and Monash University is delighted to be participating in this research through the Alertness CRC,” Dr Sletten said.
“The project will allow us to examine the factors that influence sleep and alertness of flight and cabin crew during extended flight duty, and consider some of the factors that might impact the health and safety of Qantas staff while in flight.”
The outcomes of the three research flights will be used to develop recommendations for promoting crew alertness and optimising rest during extended flight duty.
Project Sunrise represents a collaboration through the Alertness CRC with Monash University, the University of Sydney, the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research and the Institute for Breathing and Sleep.
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