FRM News Flash – October 2020

Have You Seen the Light?

 

It seemed almost impossible, but now it’s done. Early 2019 we set out on a journey to improve upon the acclimatisation logic in bio-mathematical models. Our aim was to let the model rely more heavily on light exposure, and less on the geo-political time zones. This in order to facilitate for gradual adjustment of body clock to early and late roster patterns, but also to better capture jet lag aspects in large time zone transitions so that predictions of sleeping patterns could be further improved. It turned out to be a lot harder than we expected. Research often is. Once here, we not only succeeded with the light-guided acclimatisation, but as a by-product we have now also improved and re-tuned many other mechanisms in the model. The outcome is a sweet improvement in prediction accuracy of both alertness levels and sleep, measured on vast amounts of collected aviation fatigue data. We can proudly say it is the best version of BAM so far.
BAM3 has now been scheduled for ‘general availability’ on November 18, meaning it can be used from that date in CrewAlert and Concert, with optimisers in all Jeppesen crew management solutions, as well as within third party applications. More information about this release will follow in the next News Flash. Meanwhile, if your organisation is considering upgrading to BAM, we recommend using this comparison matrix for a structured side-by-side evaluation of fatigue model capabilities. You are welcome to contact us here for more information on how to integrate BAM into your planning processes – making a real difference.

 

Track Sleep with Apple Watch. Rest Assured with CrewAlert.

WatchOS 7 contains powerful new functionality assisting you to accomplish and track your sleep durations, straight into Apple Health next to all of your other health and exercise metrics.

CrewAlert Pro, the go-to app for personal fatigue risk management for aviation crew, is compatible with this new sleep tracking functionality just introduced by Apple.

By activating ‘Use Health‘ in the settings section, CrewAlert Pro will automatically import your logged sleep and the Boeing Alertness Model will adjust predictions accordingly. All fully automatically, rest assured.

CrewAlert Pro is made for iPhone, iPad and also available on the Apple Watch as ‘complications’ to include in watch faces. You can find CrewAlert Pro here: Appstore

Interventions to Minimize Jet Lag

 

Jet lag refers to a collection of symptoms that occur in the days after flight across three or more time zones. The symptoms include headache, irritability, daytime sleepiness, difficulty sleeping at night, poor mental and physical performance, and poor gastrointestinal function. Sumptoms are primarily caused by the mismatch between the circadian system, or internal body clock, which is synchronized to time cues in the departure time zone and the desired timing of sleep and wake, which are typically synchronized to time cues in the destination time zone.

Please find here a recent manuscript by Roach/Sargent that presents recommendations on how to minimize jet lag using judiciously timed light exposure/avoidance and ingestion of exogenous melatonin, to facilitate adaptation of the circadian system to a new time zone. The recommendations are based on the latest information regarding the effects of light and melatonin on the human circadian system.

Welcome also to read our Jeppesen-authored information sheet on how to best deal with eastward transitions, found via this link.

Transparency in Strict Seniority Rostering

 

Preferential Bidding System (PBS) environment is a process that is heavily driven by crew member’s bids and preferences. As crew planners build rosters and consider crew member bids, the most common factors that affect bid award success include:

  • Roster legality aspects
  • Roster completeness (correct workload on the roster
  • Full (or sufficient) coverage of flight trips and reserve levels

In such a complex environment, where so much influence and opportunity is given to each crew member, it is important to clearly communicate and set reasonable award expectations with your crew members. Please read more here


One More Reason to Get a Good Night’s Sleep

The brain uses a quarter of the body’s entire energy supply, yet only accounts for about two percent of the body’s mass. So how does this unique organ receive and, perhaps more importantly, rid itself of vital nutrients? Research suggests it has to do with sleep. Please find an interesting TEDMED presentation of these findings, by Jeff Iliff, through this link.


Meet up with the Jeppesen experts

OCT 27 – 29: Jeppesen Crew Connect 2020 (Users Conference), Online

OCT 29-31: Annual DGSM Meeting, Online

NOV 18: BAM3, General Availability

Many events continue to be cancelled or re-scheduled due to COVID-19. Please drop us an email here  instead if you would like to schedule a call or a webex demo.


jeppesen.com/frm +46 31 720 81 00 Send us an Email

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