Updated

Updated · Fox News · Oct 28

European Survey Finds 77% of Pilots Report Microsleep, With 24% Flying Despite Fatigue

Updated

Updated · Fox News · Oct 28

European Survey Finds 77% of Pilots Report Microsleep, With 24% Flying Despite Fatigue

Q: How many flights are still operating with crews who felt too tired to fly but stayed quiet anyway?

No one can say from this survey how many individual flights were operating with overtired crews who stayed quiet, because the report measured pilots’ self-reported behavior, not a flight-by-flight count. What it does show is that the problem is not marginal. In the survey of about 7,200 European pilots, 24.2% said they usually do not report fatigue and fly anyway. Separately, 52% said they had flown at least once in the previous three months when, in hindsight, they should have declared themselves unfit to fly. Those figures strongly suggest that a meaningful number of flights are still being operated by crews who believed they were too fatigued but did not speak up. What cannot be derived is a precise number of flights, because one pilot may have done this multiple times, some respondents may share the same flight, and the survey does not link answers to actual rosters or sectors flown. It also does not show that passengers were in immediate danger on any specific flight. The clearest takeaway is that airlines and regulators likely do not see the full scale of fatigue in operations. Only 37.2% of pilots said they usually report fatigue, and just 11.9% said they trust their airline’s fatigue reporting system. Experts say that means low reporting numbers may reflect fear and weak safety culture, not low fatigue exposure.

3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Oct 28

7,200 pilots across 32 European countries told Baines Simmons they had at least one microsleep while operating an aircraft in recent weeks, according to findings published by the European Cockpit Association.
39% of respondents said they usually or always do not get enough rest to stop fatigue building up, pointing to chronic sleep loss rather than isolated lapses.
Only 37.2% said they typically report being too fatigued to fly, while 24.2% said they do not report it and fly anyway, raising concern that airlines may be missing the scale of the problem.
ECA board director Coen George said fear of career consequences keeps fatigue unreported; overnight schedules and repeated time-zone crossings were cited by former pilots as key drivers.
U.S. FAA rules introduced in 2012 require at least 10 consecutive hours of rest before duty and removal from duty for fatigued pilots, underscoring how central fatigue management is to flight safety.