Pulsar Informatics - SM4 Safety Articles & Resources
More Than a Box Tick: Achieving Operational Flexibility With an FRMS
Moms know best. This adage holds true in many domains of family life—allergies, grades, crushes. When thinking about aviation safety, though, perhaps the best illustration drawn from mom’s expertise is…
Seeing Is Believing: How Cognitive Bias Impacts Safety Decision-Making
Take a look at the image below. A long-lost Picasso? A ceremonial mask from an aboriginal jungle tribe? Nope. This is a close-up photo of part of Jupiter taken by the NASA Juno spacecraft on 7 September 2023.
Sleep Duration Is a Key Factor in Predicting On-Duty Alertness
After a poor night of sleep, it is common to feel tired, sluggish and even irritable. More important for air operators, poor sleep is also associated with increased fatigue—which can directly impact employee performance and put lives at risk.
Understanding the Effect of Increased Aviation Demand and Fatigue on Pilots
The COVID-19 pandemic has taken its toll on the aviation industry, with travel restrictions and flight cancellations severely impacting air travel over the past three years. Business aviation was one of the most impacted air travel sectors, as organizations opted for virtual meetings or found other ways to engage remotely with their clients and colleagues.
What If I Can’t Sleep 8 Hours?
Sleep is precious. Ample scientific evidence exists that getting enough sleep sharpens the brain, improves mood, helps with weight management and boosts athletic performance. In fact, the American Heart Association recently added sleep to its cardiovascular health checklist. But what if you’re an aviation professional who struggles to get eight consecutive hours? Your total daily sleep may be enough.
The Two Effects of Jet Lag
Everyone who has travelled in an airplane is familiar with jet lag. True, the effect only applies when travelling east or west. But jet lag is so pervasive and annoying—not to mention a safety risk for pilots—that it merits serious discussion.
Understanding Human Factors in Safety Assurance: The Bowtie Method
Human factors may be the final frontier in aviation risk management. While those factors can’t be handled in the same way as, for example, issues with mechanical systems, there is new thinking in risk management that can help. It includes viewing a high-risk situation as an event and then using a so-called “bowtie diagram” as a tool for defining and addressing it.
Managing Fatigue with Quantitative Data
It may be November, but the clouds are clearing for air operators. People are flying again. Business meetings are being scheduled live. And the busy holiday season is coming up soon. Is your flight department ready?
Caffeine Will Enable Me To Power Through My Day. Right?
Worrying about the current public health crisis and how it affects our jobs, our lives and our health is something that all of us have experienced to some degree over the past year. Unsurprisingly, an increasing number of people have been reporting sleep disturbances since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
