Evaluating fatigue management regulations for flight crew in Australia using a new Fatigue Regulation Evaluation Framework (FREF)

Flight crew experience fatigue due to sleep loss, circadian desynchrony, early duty start times, long duty periods, high and low workloads, and unscheduled duties. As fatigue is considered a significant safety risk in the air transport industry, the primary approaches to managing fatigue are mandating prescriptive limits for work and rest periods or adopting performance-based fatigue risk management systems (FRMS). However, recent aviation incidents indicate that current regulations may not be adequate to manage the fatigue risk experienced by the flight crew. This study evaluates Australian flight crew fatigue management regulations using a new fatigue regulation evaluation framework (FREF) adapted from Jones et al. (2005). Results show that Australian regulations for flight crew include limits on flight duty period (FDP), off duty period, FDP start time, sleep requirements for flight crew before starting an FDP, high and low workloads, circadian rhythm disruptions, and fatigue awareness. However, there are regulation variations in addressing lengths of sectors and methods to report fatigue, which may need to be reviewed to manage fatigue better. Recommendations are made to consider incorporating these factors into fatigue regulations to ensure a safe air transport system.