The pilots that thousands of Americans rely on to transport them safely across the country, struggle every day with fatigue and sleep deprivation. Approximately one of every 5 pilots admits that he has been fatigued enough in the workplace to make an error.

The survey was conducted by the National Sleep Foundation, and for the first time, targets transportation workers. In addition to airline pilots, the survey also included responses from truck drivers, bus drivers, taxi drivers and train operators. Overall, the survey found that transportation workers were most likely to suffer from fatigue in the workplace, compared to non-transportation workers.

But, the study found some of the highest incidences of sleep deprivation-related errors occurred among pilots, train operators and truckers. Pilots seem to suffer severely from fatigue. California aviation attorneys noted that approximately 43% of them admitted that they made an error from fatigue at least once every week. Similar results were also seen among truck drivers and train operators.

Additionally, pilots also seem to be dissatisfied with the amount of sleep they get in a day. About 50% of all pilots in the survey said that they did not get enough during a typical workday. Only train operators get less sleep than pilots, with more than 57% saying that they do not get enough sleep during normal workdays.

That's the question that California plane crash attorneys are asking after a disastrous couple of weeks in which the engine of a Qantas jet with more than 400 passengers on board, blew out in midair, and investigators revealed that packages on cargo planes that had been headed to Chicago, were very close to exploding.

There's no doubt that 2010 has not been a great year for aviation safety.  There is a sense in the industry that safety in the airline sector has stagnated this past year.  The general perception is that there isn't much more that can be done to make airplanes safer.  It isn't exactly a bad year for airline safety, but it's a far cry from the heady days of just a few years ago, when airplane crashes and near miss incidents were a rarity in the news.  In 2010, barely a week has gone by without reports of a deadly crash or a near miss incident. 

Those concerns were raised at an aviation safety seminar in Milan last week.  According to the Flight Safety Foundation, the 2010 safety rate is just average right now.  However, if there are any more crashes before January, the safety rate for 2010 will actually dip below the average. 

According to Flight Safety Foundation, the five-year average for serious plane crashes hit an all-time low in 2006.  However, since then, the average has actually been rising.  In 2010, there have been at least 17 serious crashes across the globe.  Fourteen of these occurred during the landing and approach phase.  There have been at least five major runway incidents.

It isn't the first time that the National Transportation Safety Board has raised the issue of having separate airline seats for babies below two years of age.  Earlier this year, the agency broached the topic of not allowing babies to fly on their parents’ laps, because of the high risk of injury to these babies in the event of an airline accident.  Recently, the National Transportation Safety Board reiterated its belief that babies below two years of age should be safely secured in their own seats.

The National Transportation Safety Board has recommended to the Federal Aviation Administration that parents be required to purchase an additional ticket for a baby.  The NTSB says that there's a high likelihood that parents and caregivers with a baby on their lap may not be able to hold on to the child during a survivable plane crash or episodes of air turbulence.  There's another reason why the NTSB wants parents to buy an additional seat for the little baby.  During a plane crash, when there are survivors, it's hard to link babies to their parents.  When there's no additional airline seat for the baby, there's no documentation linking the baby to the parent.

The Federal Aviation Administration has, in the past, failed to take the recommendation seriously.  The agency's argument is that if parents are required to buy an additional ticket for the baby, they would choose to travel by road instead.  That would simply increase highway fatalities.

Parents however, are not likely to support any measure that forces them to buy an additional ticket.  The other challenge is in implementing such measures.  Little infants may not be developmentally ready to be sitting in their own seat.  Babies are also not likely to be comfortable in a strange environment in a separate seat, adding to parental stress. 

Many California plane crash lawyers support the NTSB recommendation, but would stress that there are challenges to implementing it, and that these must be addressed too.

One year after the airline crash in Buffalo, NY, the FAA is taking a long, hard look at airline industry practices that many say are putting people’s lives at risk. Stories of pilots operating on too little sleep continue to come to light, and calls for wide reform are being made to prevent further incidents.

In the case of the Buffalo crash, a number of disturbing factors have been made public. Copilot Rebecca Shaw spent the night before the flight travelling from Seattle to Newark, NJ, before reporting for duty without getting any sleep. Captain Marvin Renslow commuted to New Jersey from Florida three nights before the flight, and spent two of those nights in the crew lounge with no bed. Both claimed to have experienced poor-quality and frequently interrupted sleep in the days leading up to the flight.

Some analysts suggest pilot performance problems may be partially tied to salary. Copilot Shaw had recently been given a raise from $16,000 to $24,000 dollars. When you consider that she commuted to New Jersey from Washington State, and further consider the usual price of hotels in the Newark area, it doesn't seem likely she could frequently afford reasonable, comfortable resting accommodations on such pay.

Sleep deprivation isn't something that people can safely tough out in any circumstances. Doctors and psychologists agree that a lack of healthy, regular sleep can lead to symptoms on par with alcohol consumption. In addition, a long term lack of sleep can be detrimental to the mind and body alike, further impairing overall performance. Airlines ground pilots who show up to work too drunk to fly, should they do the same with pilots who have had too little rest?

In the case of the Hudson River landing last year, the pilot's steady hand and quick reflexes were credited with the near miraculous survival of every passenger on the downed flight. In the effort of preventing future accidents, the industry needs to ask itself if that would have been the case if he'd been half asleep after two days of commuting.