Fatigue Index of ATC in Number Recognition Task

Objective: The objectives of current study are to explore whether serious fatigue of Air Traffic Controller (ATC) exist in their duty, and to explore a sensitive fatigue index. Method: Number recognition task was used to explore ATC fatigue. Following results were found, firstly, significant fatigue effect was found in all 55 ATC. Besides, significant fatigue effects were only found in ATC in tower control area and terminal control area, but not in regional control area. Thirdly, only reaction time before and after ATC duty were found significant difference but not in accuracy. Conclusion: Fatigue effect really exist in ATC after their duty, and ATC in different work location suffer different work load. Finally, reaction time of number recognition task can be a very sensitive and reliable fatigue index.