The Effect of Korean Flight Crews’ Expertise on Long-Haul Flight Fatigue

Abstract

Factors that cause fatigue, such as circadian rhythm abnormalities, have adverse effects on long-haul flights. Among many elements, the present study focused on the flight crew's expertise as a crucial factor that could influence their fatigue. The purpose of the study was to demonstrate whether long-haul flights cause fatigue and to examine whether this symptom differed between low- and high-experienced flight crews. A total of 62 Korean flight crews were informed to perform a five-minute psychomotor vigilance task twice each before and after the flight to measure objective fatigue level. Also, they were asked to indicate current flight experience to identify their expertise. Results revealed that fatigue was significantly increased after the flight compared to before the flight but this increase was significant for flight crews with low expertise not for flight crews with high expertise. Implications of our findings and limitations of the present study were discussed.