The FAA has put together a panel of fatigue experts to identify new ways to address air traffic controller fatigue.
The three-member panel will examine how the latest science on sleep needs and fatigue considerations could be applied to controller work requirements and scheduling. The panel will identify potential ways the FAA could better address controller fatigue.
As part of its work, it will review previous controller-fatigue research.
The panel will begin its work in early January 2024 and provide a final report to the FAA about six weeks later, according to agency officials.
Mark Rosekind, a safety and sleep/fatigue professional and former National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) member, will chair the panel.
Other members are Charles Czeisler, chief and senior physician, Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders, Departments of Medicine and Neurology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Dr. Erin Flynn-Evans, head of the NASA Ames Research Center Fatigue Countermeasures Laboratory.
This is WAY over due. Controllers are working at 50% of staffing levels, 6 days a week and some with barbaric 2 mids, 2 days, 3 nights…. I guess it will take a major airline accident to really bring the attention to this and stop the insanity. My son, who works in the Nashville, Tennessee ATC complex has been doing this for a year and a half solid. The only way they can get any extra time is to coordinate with the other controllers and call in sick.