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Have you ever flown on a vacation to Hong Kong or on business to Europe and wondered why youÕre ready for bed at noon or hungry at 3 AM? If so, you've experienced what many people call "Jet Lag."

Jet lag is caused by travelling at great speeds over many time zones. This unbalances the "circadian rhythms," or biological lock, which is set by the pineal gland (a tiny organ in the brain). Eye cells send light and darkness messages to this gland, which releases melatonin (a sleep-inducing hormone) in response to darkness. Thus, abrupt changes in time zones can upset melatonin production, which ultimately unbalances the body's sleep-wake cycle. These biological functions, combined with travel-related physical and emotional stress, cause jet lag.

Common symptoms of jet lag include headaches, irritability, upset stomach, sleeplessness, gastric discomfort, chills and inability to concentrate. Symptoms may be worse if you are travelling west to east (away from the sun), because light helps to preserve the body's equilibrium. Travel from east to west (to an earlier time zone) results in fewer jet lag symptoms, and travelling northward or southward does not affect the body's circadian rhythms at all.

Fatigue and flight operations

Fatigue is a threat to aviation safety because of the impairments in alertness and performance it creates. "Fatigue" is defined as "a non-pathologic state resulting in a decreased ability to maintain function or workload due to mental or physical stress." The term used to describe a range of experiences from sleepy, or tired, to exhausted. There are two major physiological phenomena that have been demonstrated to create fatigue: sleep loss and circadian rhythm disruption. Fatigue is a normal response to many conditions common to flight operations because of sleep loss, shift work, and long duty cycles. It has significant physiological and performance consequences because it is essential that all flight crew members remain alert and contribute to flight safety by their actions, observations and communications. The only effective treatment for fatigue is adequate sleep (1).

In a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) safety study of US major carrier accidents involving flight crew from 1978 to 1990, one finding directly addressed the concern about fatigue. It stated: "Half the captains for whom data were available had been awake for more than 12 hours prior to their accidents. Half the first officers had been awake for more than 11 hours. Crews comprising captains and first officers whose time since awake was above the median for their crew position made more errors overall, and significantly more procedural and tactical decision errors (2)."

Alternative Sources of Energy for Aircraft

Due to increasing fuel costs, a lot of organizations in the aircraft industry are researching and investigating ways to come up with a solution.
There are many major airlines around the world that reportedly incurred net losses already in the first quarter of the year 2008 compared to their previous revenues last year.
The use of alternative sources of energy may be the answer. Different companies are trying to develop alternative fuels to address its rapid rate of increase, which is a major problem globally.
The following might just be the answers:
a.. Hydrogen Fuel
b.. Biofuel
c.. Liquid Fuel Oil (GTL)
d.. Electric Power
e.. Fuel Cell

Aircraft

An aircraft is a vehicle which is able to fly by being supported by the air, or in general, the atmosphere of a planet. An aircraft counters the force of gravity by using either static lift (as with balloons, blimps and dirigibles) or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil (as with vehicles that plane the air with wings in a straight manner, such as airplanes and gliders, or vehicles that generate lift with wings in a rotary manner, such as helicopters or gyrocopters)

Although rockets and missiles also travel through the atmosphere, most are not considered aircraft because they use rocket thrust instead of aerodynamics as the primary means of lift (A cruise missile may be considered to be an aircraft because it relies on a lifting wing).

The human activity which surrounds aircraft is called aviation. Manned aircraft are flown by an onboard pilot. Unmanned aerial vehicles may be remotely controlled or self-controlled by onboard computers. Target drones are an example of UAVs.

CIVIL JET FUELS

Aviation turbine fuels are used for powering jet and turbo-prop engined aircraft and are not to be confused with Avgas. Outside former communist areas, there are currently two main grades of turbine fuel in use in civil commercial aviation : Jet A-1 and Jet A, both are kerosene type fuels. There is another grade of jet fuel, Jet B which is a wide cut kerosene (a blend of gasoline and kerosene) but it is rarely used except in very cold climates.

JET A-1

Jet A-1 is a kerosene grade of fuel suitable for most turbine engined aircraft. It is produced to a stringent internationally agreed standard, has a flash point above 38°C (100°F) and a freeze point maximum of -47°C. It is widely available outside the U.S.A. Jet A-1 meets the requirements of British specification DEF STAN 91-91 (Jet A-1), (formerly DERD 2494 (AVTUR)), ASTM specification D1655 (Jet A-1) and IATA Guidance Material (Kerosine Type), NATO Code F-35.

EASA PART-66 (JAR-66) Aircraft Maintenance License AERO PLANES AND HELICOPTERS

•  Category A
•  Category B1
•  Category B2
•  Category C

Click more to Read whole Blog. Its very Important for Every AME Students.

Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) False Target due to improper suppression circuitry interface. 

An operator reported a high rate of “false target” displayed on TCAS system. The “false target”, either a resolution advisory (RA) symbol or a traffic advisory (TA) symbol, would be displayed on the “nose” of the airplane symbol on the electronic horizontal situation indicator (EHSI). 

STRESS is already a part of daily living. You may never know it but you are already affected by this issue. You shout at your kids or nag your partner about something. You seem to raise an issue out of a particular event even if it is not true. You also tend to be suspicious at some points. All these are due to stress.

Scientifically, stress is a state of high tension or pressure, resulting from an accident or injury or a psychological reaction of heightened emotional response. Certain occupations are particularly stressful, such as acting, advertising, controlling air traffic, politics, investing and gambling. As an effect of stressful emotions such as panic attacks, fear and anger, the blood pressure rises, the pulse beats faster, breathing is accelerated, digestion stops, and the adrenal glands become overactive.

Norms: One of the “Dirty Dozen”  of Aviation related Human Factor related traps

(1) A side effect of working in teams is the use of norms to guide a person’s behavior. For example, a maintenance team may meet regularly before and after a shift is over or even socially, during days off. If this meeting is not required by the organization, but expected by the team members, then it is a norm.

(2) Norms are omnipresent in society. Norms are expected, yet implicit rules for behavior. That is, norms dictate fundamental rules of dress, speech, and basic interaction. Because they are rules for behavior that define others’ expectations, norms facilitate social interaction by reducing the number of surprises one may encounter in a given social context.

(3) Violation of a norm can prove distressing. For example, a group of maintenance technicians may vigorously enforce the wearing of proper personal protective equipment (PPE) when at work. Not wearing PPE may be not only a source of concern for the norm breaker, but may also elicit negative reactions from those who conform. In this case, others in the surrounding group may sanction the norm breaker.