FLIGHT AND DUTY TIME LIMITATIONS IN CIVIL AVIATION AND THEIR IMPACT ON CREW FATIGUE: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF 26 NATIONAL REGULATIONS

It is desirable to improve flight and duty time limitation regulations in such a way as to prevent fatigue to air crews to the extent possible during actual flight operations. With this in mind, a comparative analysis of existing regulations presently enforced in several European and non-European countries has been completed. The analysis was intended to compare these regulations regarding the factors that are considered for flight time limitations and rest determinations, and to evaluate whether fatigue can be prevented or not with these regulations. Results reveal a large variability of analyzed regulations. They are discussed regarding their potential impact on crew fatigue.