What should you know about pilot fatigue?

Fatigue may feel like heavy eyelids, low energy, slowed thinking or difficulty staying focused. A fatigued pilot may miss information, take longer to respond, make unusual mistakes or have brief involuntary sleep episodes. These effects can occur even when someone feels able to continue working.

Common contributors include inadequate or poor-quality sleep, night work, time-zone changes, early starts, irregular schedules, stress, alcohol and sedating medicines. Persistent fatigue can also accompany conditions such as anaemia, burnout, COVID-19, dehydration or chronic kidney disease. Fatigue alone does not identify one particular cause.

If you are too tired to remain alert, report it through your aviation workplace process and do not undertake safety-sensitive duties until you have recovered and are fit to do so. Prioritise a consistent sleep opportunity, a quiet dark sleeping space and regular meals and fluids. Avoid alcohol and check with a clinician or pharmacist before using medicines that may cause drowsiness.

Keep a brief record of sleep, duty timing, caffeine, medicines and fatigue symptoms. Arrange a medical review if fatigue keeps returning, lasts despite adequate rest, or affects daily functioning. The clinician may ask about sleep disorders, mood, work patterns and other symptoms.

Seek urgent medical help for fatigue with chest pain, severe breathing difficulty, fainting, new confusion, one-sided weakness, severe headache or thoughts of self-harm. Arrange prompt assessment for repeated unintended sleep, loud snoring with choking or pauses in breathing, black or bloody stools, persistent fever, marked thirst with very little urine, or fatigue that is rapidly worsening.

If symptoms are milder but continue, book a routine appointment. Bring your sleep and duty record, a list of medicines and supplements, and details of any recent infection or change in schedule.

You could ask: What causes should we consider for my fatigue? Could my sleep pattern, medicines or work schedule be contributing? Do my symptoms suggest a sleep disorder or another health condition? Which warning signs should make me seek urgent help? When is it safe for me to return to safety-sensitive duties?