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BACKGROUND: Many workers routinely transition between day and night shiftsincluding pilots, where night flights are commonly considered more stressful. The physiological toll from this transition is not fully understood, though fatigue is a factor in many aviation accidents. This research investigated the changes in physiological markers of stress and cognitive performance as F-22 pilots transitioned from day flying to night flying.METHODS: There were 17 fully-qualified F-22 pilots who took part in a 2-wk data collection using salivary swabs, wrist-worn activity monitors, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration-Task Load Index (NASA-TLX) inventory, and a go/no-go (GNG) test.RESULTS: No differences were found in comparing day and night flying on the GNG reaction time/accuracy, NASA-TLX scores, or sleep quantity. Cortisol levels were significantly higher than civilian levels in all experimental conditions and control days. Participants had higher than predicted cortisol levels postflight in the day-flying condition and lower than predicted cortisol levels postflight in the night-flying condition, relative to levels from control day patterns. We also found smaller changes in cortisol (pre- to postflight) in the day-flying condition for those with more F-22 experience. Finally, we found a negative correlation between Perceived Stress Scale scores and age of pilots (r 0.72).DISCUSSION: We hypothesized that the night-flying environment would be more stressful, but our results disputed this claim. Our results suggest day flying elicits more of a stress response; however, a larger sample size is required to verify results. Preliminary findings of potential stress adaptation may suggest stress adaptation in the F-22 community needs further investigation.Combs EK, Dahlman AS, Shattuck NL, Heissel JA, Whitaker LR. Physiological and cognitive performance in F-22 pilots during day and night flying. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2021; 92(5):303311.
<div class="section abstract"><div class="htmlview paragraph">The rapidly advancing field of Advanced Air Mobility featuring electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing capable aircraft will create an increased demand for commercial pilots. In addition, the automation schemes for these new aircraft designs will likely change the skills required and demands placed on pilots of these vehicles. Therefore, recruiters and training facilities must understand which basic performance resources predict success to identify the best candidates to learn to fly this new class of aircraft. This study assesses the basic performance resources of ab initio students and experienced pilots in electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft simulators. Researchers recruited 82 military volunteers to participate in this study by spending one day learning to fly one of the two simulators available. This study included approximately equal numbers of ab initio students and rated pilots. Researchers randomly assigned participants to either a highly augmented aircraft simulator or a minimally augmented aircraft simulator creating a two-by-two results matrix. Researchers compared 11 dimensions of pilot performance, assessed by experienced instructor pilots, and 32 basic performance resource measures evaluated through standardized tests to determine if performance measures were reliable and predictive of performance. Researchers then used standard parametric statistics to determine differences across platforms and participants. The data show several strong predictors of performance in the minimally-augmented aircraft simulation. However, in the highly-augmented aircraft simulation, there were no significant predictors of performance. This research suggests that increased aircraft automation reduced pilot candidates’ reliance on basic performance resources. In addition, flying experience didn’t significantly affect outcomes.</div></div>
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