Fatigue Management & Human Factors Flashcards
7 cards from real CTO practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Fatigue Management & Human Factors flashcards as text
A controller experiences a microsleep during a low-traffic overnight period. This event is BEST classified as:
Answer: A safety event requiring mandatory reporting and immediate relief
Microsleeps represent a complete—if brief—loss of consciousness while on position and must trigger relief, documentation, and reporting.
Under the crew resource management (CRM) concept adapted for ATC, 'assertiveness' refers to:
Answer: Speaking up to prevent errors even when it challenges authority
Assertiveness in CRM means confidently communicating safety concerns or correcting errors regardless of rank or social pressure.
Which caffeine strategy is MOST effective for sustaining ATC alertness during a night shift?
Answer: Consuming moderate amounts in the first half of the shift and avoiding it 4–6 hours before sleep
Strategic caffeine use early in the shift boosts alertness while preventing sleep disruption afterward due to caffeine's 4–6 hour half-life.
The 'normalization of deviance' concept, as applied to ATC fatigue, describes:
Answer: Gradual acceptance of unsafe fatigue levels as routine over time
Normalization of deviance occurs when controllers and facilities repeatedly tolerate sub-standard rest practices until they are perceived as acceptable.
Which metric is the FAA's primary measure used to evaluate fatigue risk in controller scheduling under FRMS principles?
Answer: Predicted sleep duration based on schedule analysis
Fatigue Risk Management Systems (FRMS) use biomathematical models that predict sleep opportunity and alertness levels from schedule data.
A tower controller on a 'midnight' shift notices the post-lunch dip beginning around 1400 during a day-shift overlap. This dip is caused by:
Answer: A secondary circadian trough that occurs in the early afternoon
The post-lunch dip is a genetically programmed circadian trough occurring ~12 hours after the nocturnal nadir, independent of meal timing.
When a controller suspects another controller has returned from a break still suffering from sleep inertia, the correct action is to:
Answer: Allow additional recovery time and notify the supervisor before they take position
Sleep inertia typically dissipates within 15–30 minutes; allowing recovery time and informing a supervisor prevents unsafe staffing of the position.
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