Fitness for Duty - A Team Approach

In terms of crew fitness for duty, the airman is virtually on his own to determine his own fitness for each flight; there is no preflight or inflight checklist to determine an airman's ability to begin or continue the flight. In recent years, many airlines have incorporated some form of Cockpit Resource Management, or Crew Training, into their initial or recurrent training. But this training, too, is administered at best on a brief and periodic basis. This paper discusses the management responsibility for prediction and prevention of factors which negatively affect crew fitness, and suggests the application of cockpit resource management techniques for the determination of crew fitness before and during a trip.