Monitoring and Managing Cabin Crew Sleep and Fatigue During an Ultra-Long Range Trip

BACKGROUND: The aims of this study were to monitor cabin crew fatigue, sleep, and performance on an ultra-long range (ULR) trip and to evaluate the appropriateness of applying data collection methods developed for flight crew to cabin crew operations under a fatigue risk management system (FRMS).

METHODS: Prior to, throughout, and following the ULR trip (outbound flight ULR; mean layover duration = 52.6 h; inbound flight long range), 55 cabin crew (29 women; mean age 36.5 yr; 25 men; mean age 36.6 yr; one missing data) completed a sleep/duty diary and wore an actigraph. Across each flight, crewmembers rated their fatigue (Samn-Perelli Crew Status Check) and sleepiness (Karolinska Sleepiness Scale) and completed a 5-min Psychomotor Vigilance Task (PVT) at key times.

RESULTS: Of crewmembers approached, 73% (N = 134) agreed to participate and 41% (N = 55) provided data of suitable quality for analysis. In the 24 h before departure, sleep averaged 7.0 h and 40% took a preflight nap. All crewmembers slept in flight (mean total sleep time = 3.6 h outbound, 2.9 h inbound). Sleepiness and fatigue were lower, and performance better, on the longer outbound flight than on the inbound flight. Post-trip, crewmembers slept more on day 1 (mean = 7.9 h) compared to baseline days, but there was no difference from day 2 onwards.

DISCUSSION: The present study demonstrates that cabin crew fatigue can be managed effectively on a ULR flight and that FRMS data collection is feasible for cabin crew, but operational differences between cabin crew and flight crew need to be considered.

van den Berg MJ, Signal TL, Mulrine HM, Smith AAT, Gander PH, Serfontein W. Monitoring and managing cabin crew sleep and fatigue during an ultra-long range trip. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2015; 86(8):705–713.