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How does fatigue most directly affect a pilot?

Choices

✓ It degrades attention, judgment, and reaction timecorrect
Fatigue impairs the mental functions a pilot depends on.
It improves decision-making under stress
Fatigue impairs, not improves, decision-making.
It only affects physical strength, not the mind
Fatigue strongly affects cognition and judgment.
It has no effect if the pilot drinks coffee
Coffee is a diuretic and does not remove fatigue.

Why

Fatigue, whether acute or chronic, dulls attention, judgment, and reaction time, and dehydration compounds the effect. Rest, water, and food are the basic defenses.

FAA source: PHAK Ch. 17 / fatigue and dehydrationbrowse the reference library →

This is taught in Personal Fitness to Fly: Alcohol, Drugs, Fatigue and IMSAFE — study the lessons free, then practice with grading and mastery tracking.

Original study question written for this course — representative of FAA knowledge-test topics, not an actual current FAA exam question.