We have discussed the issues of traffic control workers and fatigue and sleeping on the job. Those concerns are continuing for the FAA, but not in the area of traffic controllers but in technicians. The FAA has been mostly concerned with pilots and most recently with flight control, but maintenance workers are also a big concern, The Federal Aviation Regulations state in pertinent part at part 121.377:
Maintenance and preventive maintenance personnel duty time limitations–states: “Within the United States each certificate holder (or person performing maintenance or preventive maintenance functions for it) shall relieve each person performing maintenance or preventive maintenance from duty for a period of at least 24 consecutive hours during any seven consecutive days or the equivalent thereof within any one calendar month.”
The FAA is offering a course called “Fatigue Countermeasure Training,” which addresses fatigue issues for mechanics and other maintenance technicians. This course can be taken online. We will see more of this as the issues are investigated to keep our aviation system safe. We continue to see examples where the industry will be tightening up to eliminate safety concerns.