Napping pilots may be safer than you think

MSNBC brings us this story that makes a lot of sense, but somehow falls short of being entirely comforting:

The idea of pilots napping at 30,000 feet may sound horrifying, but pilots across the world are taking naps in the sky every day. And it might actually make air travel safer.

Research shows that a fatigued pilot is more likely to make errors at critical moments. In fact, fatigue has been cited as a factor in more than 320 airline accidents and nearly 750 deaths over the past 50 years, according to a News21 analysis of NTSB and Federal Aviation Administration data. Experts say those numbers would be much higher if fatigue could be measured like alcohol and drugs.

Even a 10-minute nap can improve a pilot’s performance, said Scott Shappell, a Clemson University professor who as director of the Human Factors Institute helped write the flying policies that govern military pilots.

In the military, pilots flying alone have been allowed for decades to take naps, Shappell said. “I can tell you absolutely, but good luck trying to find proof of this, in the military we have single-seat pilots take naps," he said. They’re called ORPs – officer rest periods – and last from 10 to 20 minutes.

Such naps can be safe as long as mechanisms are in place to wake pilots up before they enter a deep sleep, Shappell said. He believes that commercial aviation pilots can be trained to nap safely as well.

A plane is really just a bus at 30,000 feet, he said. “I personally don’t have a problem in the world if one of (the pilots) is taking a nap.”

Foreign airlines, such as British Airways and Qantas in England and Australia, already allow one pilot to take a short nap while the plane is in flight, usually on long-haul or transoceanic flights.

In 1994, NASA and the FAA tested cockpit napping and found that naps of up to 40 minutes are both safe and effective for pilots on trips of more than seven hours. But the FAA decided not to pursue the idea because of the public concerns it might raise, said FAA spokeswoman Alison Duquette. Besides, she pointed out, just think about the litigation that would result the first time an accident occurred while a pilot was napping.

The NTSB has never taken an official position on napping, but it has repeatedly asked the FAA to consider fatigue-management plans such as those in England and Australia, and its safety specialists have brought up the idea of napping.

“The science certainly supports the concept of napping” as a way to combat pilot fatigue, said NTSB fatigue expert Jana Price.

--> Cut to me flying to Vegas on Thursday!