Narrative:

I had flown arriving at XA00 the morning we left on the event trip. The return flight departed at XR27 bodyclock time. At approximately XW00 departure station time; we were on final inside the FAF. The first officer was pilot flying. I was the pilot monitoring. Unfortunately; due to the backside of the clock flying; especially two nights in a row; I was not much help in monitoring and adjusting the progress of the flight. We were slightly high and fast; but speed brakes helped us arrive at the 1;000 ft AGL window on speed configured; but during the adjustments somehow the autoflight system had been taken out of 'land' mode and was in vertical speed and speed. When we broke out of the clouds; we were offset about 1/2 mile to the east of the localizer course. I quickly realized there was no runway in front of us and with no possibility of correction that close to the ground; I called out 'go-around.' I think the first officer was pretty tired too; because at first there was no immediate response. I believe she was evaluating the situation out the front window to determine where we were and being fatigued did not connect with what I was saying. In the position we were in; there is a small hill that rises about 200 ft above the fairly level ground. Just about the time the realization hit in her eyes of what I was calling for; the egpws was warning of ground impact. A flawless missed approach and subsequent approach was flown to an uneventful landing. I would suggest regulation to prevent being able to be scheduled in this manner. Backside of the clock flying fatigue is insidious. One night of this every 3rd day with no relief pilot for rest and relief should be enough.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier flight crew experienced extreme fatigue during series of all night flights. The autopilot becomes decoupled from the ILS and is not recognized by the crew in a timely manner. When the EGPWS terrain warning sounds the First Officer goes around.

Narrative: I had flown arriving at XA00 the morning we left on the event trip. The return flight departed at XR27 bodyclock time. At approximately XW00 departure station time; we were on final inside the FAF. The first Officer was pilot flying. I was the pilot monitoring. Unfortunately; due to the backside of the clock flying; especially two nights in a row; I was not much help in monitoring and adjusting the progress of the flight. We were slightly high and fast; but speed brakes helped us arrive at the 1;000 FT AGL window on speed configured; but during the adjustments somehow the autoflight system had been taken out of 'land' mode and was in vertical speed and speed. When we broke out of the clouds; we were offset about 1/2 mile to the east of the localizer course. I quickly realized there was no runway in front of us and with no possibility of correction that close to the ground; I called out 'go-around.' I think the First Officer was pretty tired too; because at first there was no immediate response. I believe she was evaluating the situation out the front window to determine where we were and being fatigued did not connect with what I was saying. In the position we were in; there is a small hill that rises about 200 FT above the fairly level ground. Just about the time the realization hit in her eyes of what I was calling for; the EGPWS was warning of ground impact. A flawless missed approach and subsequent approach was flown to an uneventful landing. I would suggest regulation to prevent being able to be scheduled in this manner. Backside of the clock flying fatigue is insidious. One night of this every 3rd day with no relief pilot for rest and relief should be enough.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.