Psychological factors, stress management, fatigue management play a very crucial role in the overall well-being of every individual. In case of aviation industry, these factors have an additional impact on high-pressure jobs of pilot and cabin crew. A few days back an NGO Safety Matters Foundation had carried out a survey of about 530 senior pilots in the industry, most of them captains with significant hours in operating medium short-haul flights. The study had found that 81 per cent of pilots are concerned that flights with minimum rest and rosters without buffers deeply impact fatigue while 70 per cent of pilots in the survey considered that more than 10 hours of flight duty period profoundly influenced the onset of fatigue.

Consecutive night flights, more than 10 hours of flight duty period and roster instability are among the factors leading to pilot fatigue were found to be some of the major factors directly impacting the overall well-being of pilots across the industry.

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The issue was brought back to limelight today by the Minister of Civil Aviation Ram Mohan Naidu. While speaking at a seminar organised by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), the minister called for integrating advanced psychological research into pilot and ATC training programs.

He further urged the airlines in India to address psychological factors and ensure safety for all. “It is essential to do so, as it impacts performance and decision-making skills of the cockpit crew,” the minister said. 

Urging the need to use advanced technologies like AI, machine learning and data analytics the minister charted a course to combine these technologies with psychological research to optimise the behavior of the pilots as well as their performance. 

Speaking about stress management, the ministry wants the industry to come out with a robust stress management program to ensure a stress-free environment. “The industry players need to come up with robust stress management programs, crew resource management programs and fatigue management solutions,” Naidu said. He further went on to say that we cannot point the finger at operators alone. The onus of this exercise lies on each of the aviation stakeholder. “It is a collective effort and much needs to be discussed on this so that there is a stress-free environment for each and every one who is working in this aviation industry,” Naidu added. 

“Safety is a collective responsibility as human factors are contributors to aircraft accidents,” the minister concluded.  By touching upon the sensitive issues of stress management, pilot fatigue and overall well-being in aviation the minister has paved the way of creating a sound work environment for all aviation professionals.