Research Summaries

Back Circadian Realignment When Shifting to Night Operations

Fiscal Year 2021
Division Graduate School of Operational & Information Sciences
Department Operations Research
Investigator(s) Shattuck, Nita L.
Sponsor Marine Corps Headquarters (Marine Corps)
Summary The US military operates 24 hours a day, 7 days per week. With advanced instrumentation, flight operations are not limited to daylight hours. Night flight operations are recognized as being more demanding due to multiple factors to include reduced visibility from lack of natural light, heightened reliance on flight instruments, possible requirement for night vision goggles, and when aircrew are not entrained to working nights, potentially operating during their circadian troughs. The transition from day flights to night flights is particularly challenging due to the need to realign one's circadian rhythm. When crewmembers aren't adjusted and well-rested prior to night flights, risks increase significantly. Best practices for circadian alignment need to be developed, instantiated into policies, and implemented to mitigate pilot fatigue. This project will explore the use of light management such as the strategic use of HEV light at optimized times to realign one's circadian rhythm to be better in sync with operational requirements.
Keywords Aviation Fatigue circadian entrainment
Publications Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal
Data Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal