Short-haul fatigue: A focus group study

Abstract

Verbatim from NASA NTRS. Not paraphrased, not summarized.

Researchers from NASA Ames Research Center, together with research scientists from CAMI, are preparing to conduct a study to evaluate fatigue during short-haul operations. In order to develop the scope of our study, we conducted a series of focus groups across multiple US airlines. Participants were recruited through emails distributed by airline safety teams and union representatives. We conducted 14 focus groups in early 2022 for a total of 90 participants across four airlines. Participants were asked to identify short-haul pairings and operations that they felt: a) elevated fatigue, b) were not fatiguing, and c) were important to study. Data were collected anonymously and coded using content analysis techniques to identify main themes. This analysis is ongoing.

Authors

• Cassie J. Hilditch San Jose State University
• Erin E. Flynn-Evans Ames Research Center
• Thomas Nesthus San Jose State University
• Hannah M. Baumgartner San Jose State University
• Lucica Arsintescu San Jose State University
• Kevin B. Gregory Ames Research Center
• Nick G. Bathurst Ames Research Center

Keywords

• short-haul
• fatigue
• focus group
• pilots