Study: UAV crews tired, strained by shortage

[unhappycamper]

Study: UAV crews tired, strained by shortage
By Erik Holmes - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Apr 18, 2008 15:06:38 EDT

Unmanned aerial vehicle operators are more likely than other aircrews to suffer from chronic fatigue, emotional exhaustion, burnout and impaired domestic relationships, according to a new study by the Naval Postgraduate School.

The survey of 66 MQ-1 Predator crew members at Nellis Air Force, Nev., in December 2006 found that nearly half suffered levels of sleepiness during work hours that can be expected to hurt their job performance.

And about 40 percent of the operators surveyed reported a moderate-to-high likelihood of falling asleep at their stations while operating a weapon-carrying, remotely piloted aircraft, according to the study.

The study, released in March, was conducted for the Air Force’s 311th Human Systems Wing Performance Enhancement Directorate at Brooks City-Base, Texas.

The report comes at a time when Air Force officials are growing increasingly worried about the shortage of UAV operators.

Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/04/airforce_uav_fatigue_041808w/

[midnight]

1. Sounds like is it being allowed to happen....

Why else would this be allowed to happen?

[unhappycamper]

2. Nope - methinks they have a valid problem.

The Army stop-lossed crews from going onto other assignments --> http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=259&topic_id=13041