Sleep deprivation can negatively impact overall performance , and has led to major fatal accidents . Due largely to the February 2009 crash of Colgan Air Flight 3407 , which killed 50 people and was partially attributed to pilot fatigue , the FAA reviewed its procedures to ensure that pilots are sufficiently rested . Air traffic controllers were under scrutiny when in 2010 there were 10 incidents of controllers falling asleep while on shift . The common practice of turn-around shifts caused sleep deprivation and was a contributing factor to all air traffic control incidents . The FAA reviewed its practices of shift changes and the findings saw that controllers were not well rested . A 2004 study also found medical residents with less than four hours of sleep a night made more than twice as many errors as the 11 % of surveyed residents who slept for more than seven hours a night
Colgan Air Flight 3407
Colgan Air Flight 3407
Sleep deprivation