An Optimization of Airline Scheduling Systems Based on a New Airline Pilots’ Fatigue Assessment Algorithm

Abstract

Flight safety reports from different sources indicate that the proportion of accidents caused by flight fatigue accounts for 6-11% of all types of flight accidents. Current regulations in the civil aviation industry across the world generally emphasize the length of working hours rather than the influences of circadian rhythm disorders. Based on an analysis of the flight mission data of 567 pilots in 2019, which highlighted the associations between circadian rhythm disorders and flight fatigue, we have proposed a new algorithm to reflect pilots’ fatigue status to include five main indicators: actual working hours, circadian rhythm disorders, work rhythm disorder, altitude flight hours and flight crew composition. The results assessed by the new algorithm reported that about 70% of the airline pilots studied were under the threat of a high risk of fatigue in 2019. Subsequently, this research suggests the use of two algorithms to optimize pilot scheduling systems, and findings show that the percentage of pilots with a high level of fatigue can be largely reduced.

Keywords

• airline pilots
• circadian rhythm disorder
• fatigue load
• scheduling algorithm