Narrative:

In my company's fatigue program it states that there will be proactive risk assessments of flight duty and rest requirements utilized by the company to avoid pilot fatigue. It also states that predictive assessments will use fatigue modeling software to verify alertness levels during trips and scheduling construction. Under the program the pilot's schedule leading up to the event; rest periods; work schedule; sleep opportunities and city pairs are a few of the factors to be considered to help avoid fatigue. In the above pairing I find it hard to believe that a trip that reports for duty [early] on day one would follow smart fatigue avoiding practices if no more than 42 hours later you report for duty [early] pilot domicile time. Stated another way in home domicile times. I wake up at 0430 to get to work on wednesday; the next day I arrive on the west coast at 1300 I'm expected to sleep during the day when I'm normally awake; and then report for duty at 0200 right in the middle of my normal sleep cycle. How can this pass any reasonable scrutiny; either human or software based?per the memorandum of understanding (mou) with the company [union] is responsible for ongoing discussions of fatigue events; or possible events. What is being done about these onerous two duty periods in one day trips? It's one thing to have a double duty day when the 'all nighters' is [airport 1-Airport 2]; approximately two hour flight. But when the trip is a true all night flight it makes no sense. These trips should be eliminated in the line building stage and never make it into our bidding. It is very difficult for pilots; being highly motivated goal oriented people; to call in fatigued at the departure time. We have managed our naps during the day and generally feel fine at departure time. But the real question is whether we will still be alert at top of descent through landing. This is something we can only guess at when we are still 4 to 5 hours from landing. But you can be certain that with this type of trip we will definitely not be at the top of our game during a demanding time.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A-320 captain points out potential fatigue issues with certain flight pairings.

Narrative: In my company's fatigue program it states that there will be PROACTIVE risk assessments of flight duty and rest requirements utilized by the company to avoid pilot fatigue. It also states that predictive assessments will use fatigue modeling software to verify alertness levels during trips and scheduling construction. Under the program the pilot's schedule leading up to the event; rest periods; work schedule; sleep opportunities and city pairs are a few of the factors to be considered to help avoid fatigue. In the above pairing I find it hard to believe that a trip that reports for duty [early] on day one would follow smart fatigue avoiding practices if no more than 42 hours later you report for duty [early] pilot domicile time. Stated another way in home domicile times. I wake up at 0430 to get to work on Wednesday; the next day I arrive on the West coast at 1300 I'm expected to sleep DURING THE DAY when I'm normally awake; and then report for duty at 0200 right in the middle of my normal sleep cycle. How can this pass any reasonable scrutiny; either human or software based?Per the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the company [Union] is responsible for ongoing discussions of fatigue events; or possible events. What is being done about these onerous two duty periods in one day trips? It's one thing to have a double duty day when the 'all nighters' is [Airport 1-Airport 2]; approximately two hour flight. But when the trip is a true all night flight it makes no sense. These trips should be eliminated in the line building stage and never make it into our bidding. It is very difficult for pilots; being highly motivated goal oriented people; to call in fatigued at the departure time. We have managed our naps during the day and generally feel fine at departure time. But the real question is whether we will still be alert at top of descent through landing. This is something we can only guess at when we are still 4 to 5 hours from landing. But you can be certain that with this type of trip we will definitely not be at the top of our game during a demanding time.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.