A fatigued LR40 crew accidentally changed frequency from TRACON to tower and consequently upset the ...

Attributes
ACN	975758
Time
Date	201110
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Dusk
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Learjet 40
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Route In Use	Visual Approach
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Air/Ground Communication
Person 1
Function	First Officer Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 60 Flight Crew Total 7850 Flight Crew Type 120
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Clearance

Narrative:

After a very long day of flying; we were being vectored onto the ILS for 26L. We were talking to approach and knew that the next frequency would be the tower. I dialed in the frequency into the back up and I must have hit the button to transfer it to the active frequency. The pilot and I realized that something was not right when we were not getting a lower altitude and then heard the tower giving a clearance. I called in and confirmed that we were on the wrong frequency. Called back to approach and the controller was not happy. Said that he was trying to get us for the previous 10 miles and wanted to know where we had gone. The bottom line is that both pilots in the cockpit were overly tired and that you make stupid mistakes when you get into that condition. Need to be more observant when we get into that condition.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A fatigued LR40 crew accidentally changed frequency from TRACON to Tower and consequently upset the TRACON Controller and received a late descent clearance to their destination.

Narrative: After a very long day of flying; we were being vectored onto the ILS for 26L. We were talking to Approach and knew that the next frequency would be the tower. I dialed in the frequency into the back up and I must have hit the button to transfer it to the active frequency. The pilot and I realized that something was not right when we were not getting a lower altitude and then heard the tower giving a clearance. I called in and confirmed that we were on the wrong frequency. Called back to Approach and the Controller was not happy. Said that he was trying to get us for the previous 10 miles and wanted to know where we had gone. The bottom line is that both pilots in the cockpit were overly tired and that you make stupid mistakes when you get into that condition. Need to be more observant when we get into that condition.

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.

A fatigued LR40 crew accidentally changed frequency from TRACON to tower and consequently upset the TRACON controller and received a late descent clearance to their destination.