A320 captain reports debilitating fatigue as the result of endemic schedule practices at their airli...

Attributes
ACN	816871
Time
Date	200812
Local Time Of Day	1201 To 1800
Place
Locale Reference	airport : zzz.airport
State Reference	US
Aircraft 1
Operator	common carrier : air carrier
Make Model Name	A320
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	ground : parked ground : maintenance
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Affiliation	company : air carrier
Function	flight crew : captain oversight : pic
Experience	flight time last 90 days : 85 flight time total : 5000 flight time type : 85
ASRS Report	816871
Events
Independent Detector	other flight crewa
Resolutory Action	other
Supplementary
Problem Areas	Company FAA Flight Crew Human Performance Environmental Factor
Primary Problem	Company

Narrative:

The nature of this report is pilot fatigue. This newly qualified A320 captain has just flown 8 of the previous 9 days. I am scheduled to fly a 4-day trip tomorrow; without a day off in-between; hence the fatigue notification. This would mean 12 out of 13 consecutive duty days. Very long duty days (13+ hours); extremely long awake times (18+ hours); being forced to radically change the pilot's sleep cycle (up till XA30 one night then an XB45 wake-up for the next day's flight schedule); plus very challenging weather conditions at ord and cyyc with very little rest; have taken their toll. From this 'pilot's perspective; this company continues to disregard the spirit of the FAA flight time regulations. The rules are skirted by strategic use of deadheading; 30 hour layovers (that do nothing more than cause the pilot to fly both sides of the clock).

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A320 Captain reports debilitating fatigue as the result of endemic schedule practices at their airline.

Narrative: The nature of this report is pilot fatigue. This newly qualified A320 Captain has just flown 8 of the previous 9 days. I am scheduled to fly a 4-day trip tomorrow; without a day off in-between; hence the fatigue notification. This would mean 12 out of 13 consecutive duty days. Very long duty days (13+ hours); extremely long awake times (18+ hours); being forced to radically change the pilot's sleep cycle (up till XA30 one night then an XB45 wake-up for the next day's flight schedule); plus very challenging weather conditions at ORD and CYYC with very little rest; have taken their toll. From this 'pilot's perspective; this company continues to disregard the spirit of the FAA flight time regulations. The rules are skirted by strategic use of deadheading; 30 hour layovers (that do nothing more than cause the pilot to fly both sides of the clock).

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of May 2009 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

A320 captain reports debilitating fatigue as the result of endemic schedule practices at their airline.