submission - Independent Pilots Association

\\ìic lhe currenr siudy supForts thc idea rhat susrained wakefi,¡lness æa.v carr¡. a risk
cocparable with moderate alcobol intoxicaùc:i. i: is difficult lo Lrou' ro u'ìra: degrec these
rccrlts ca¡¡ be generaliæd to 'lc¿l-life" scttings Indeed, labcruori. measurËs a¡rd e¡r.ironm:nrs
rrsully bear little ¡esemblance to acluai tasks and scttings. Fr¡rthrrmore. niule our study uscd a
bt¡lery of ¡csts to evair¡atc Ùrc cffects of sr¡st¿i¡ed wakefi¡lness on performance, thei¡ is no
F¡araalce that all the functions involved in .lcal-tife t¿sks", such as .Cnvrng, r¡ere utrlised and
ase¡sed. An alternative approach '*'ould bc to si¡nutate rhe acrual rask, as accgrately as
pocsit'le Givcn that, for practical and ctÞ.¡cal reasons, i¡ is difl¡cui¡ to experimenall¡. study the
rclarionship b:rwccn susta¡ned',+'akcfi¡lness a¡ü actr¡al drrvrng, s;nularcrs of var,ring realiscr
iure b:en used. Thus, protocols rsing simularors could be uscd ro model "rcal-Uli'. selings and
es¡abllsh a more acculìBte cfirnåte of the BAC equivalence for Èrc perr'urr:rancc ,Jecremenr
rss.r:iaæd *ith sleep loss and fatigue
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