A fatigued air taxi crew transitioning from the las grnpa 1 RNAV arrival to a night visual mistook h...

Narrative:

The crew was scheduled for a late night reposition flight that departed well after midnight. We'd just landed and dropped off our passenger. Later we refuel for the reposition to las and began to preflight for the next leg. On the previous leg I was the PF; approximately 4:54 flight time. I did not feel sleepy or fatigued and shared my status with my crewmember. Overall we both cross checked with one another for fatigue issues and stressed 'safety first' prior to departing for las. With the reposition to las forecasted VFR weather we both agreed fatigue was a non-issue. While enroute to las I was the pm. We were flying the grnpa 1 RNAV arrival via mlf during the descent. Later while on the arrival ATC assigned us a heading towards las in prep for ILS-1L. I asked the PF 'you want me to extend the centerline?' he replied 'yeah go ahead and extend it.' I proceeded to extend the centerline from nodiy (FAF) since we'd already programed and briefed the approach. We continued on the assigned heading below 10;000 soon to be within close proximity of las. ATC-approach then advised us of the location of the airport (2 o'clock & 6 miles) and queried if we had a visual on the field. The PF gave the thumbs up & acknowledged the location of the field. I then transmitted 'field in sight' & we were 'cleared for the visual approach to runway 1L.' next the PF made a left turn towards the south paralleling the inbound localizer course for runway 1L. But as we continued to extend southbound we began to descend I felt our situational awareness was in jeopardy. As I stated 'man we are getting too low!' ATC queried our intentions / altitude and advised us of the MSA and location of las (mccarran). The PF corrected the flight path with pitch and power and maneuvered the aircraft in the direction to intercept the localizer towards the runway. ATC then mentioned there must have been some confusion between henderson executive and mccarran intl. Airport. Flights departing after midnight should be micro-monitored. I feel that this reposition flight could have been scheduled for the next day. In the future I will have to be much more diligent assessing in-flight crew fatigue issues. Also VFR night approach policies should include the use of instrument approach procedures.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A fatigued air taxi crew transitioning from the LAS GRNPA 1 RNAV Arrival to a night visual mistook HND for LAS and descended below the MSA before ATC alerted.

Narrative: The crew was scheduled for a late night reposition flight that departed well after midnight. We'd just landed and dropped off our passenger. Later we refuel for the reposition to LAS and began to preflight for the next leg. On the previous leg I was the PF; approximately 4:54 flight time. I did not feel sleepy or fatigued and shared my status with my crewmember. Overall we both cross checked with one another for fatigue issues and stressed 'safety first' prior to departing for LAS. With the reposition to LAS forecasted VFR weather we both agreed fatigue was a non-issue. While enroute to LAS I was the PM. We were flying the GRNPA 1 RNAV arrival via MLF during the descent. Later while on the arrival ATC assigned us a heading towards LAS in prep for ILS-1L. I asked the PF 'you want me to extend the centerline?' He replied 'yeah go ahead and extend it.' I proceeded to extend the centerline from NODIY (FAF) since we'd already programed and briefed the approach. We continued on the assigned heading below 10;000 soon to be within close proximity of LAS. ATC-Approach then advised us of the location of the airport (2 o'clock & 6 miles) and queried if we had a visual on the field. The PF gave the thumbs up & acknowledged the location of the field. I then transmitted 'field in sight' & we were 'cleared for the visual approach to runway 1L.' Next the PF made a left turn towards the south paralleling the inbound LOC course for runway 1L. But as we continued to extend southbound we began to descend I felt our situational awareness was in jeopardy. As I stated 'Man we are getting too low!' ATC queried our intentions / altitude and advised us of the MSA and location of LAS (McCarran). The PF corrected the flight path with pitch and power and maneuvered the aircraft in the direction to intercept the localizer towards the runway. ATC then mentioned there must have been some confusion between Henderson Executive and McCarran Intl. Airport. Flights departing after midnight should be micro-monitored. I feel that this reposition flight could have been scheduled for the next day. In the future I will have to be much more diligent assessing in-flight crew fatigue issues. Also VFR night approach policies should include the use of instrument approach procedures.

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.

Attributes
ACN	1330496
Time
Date	201602
Local Time Of Day	0001-0600
Place
Locale Reference	LAS.Airport
State Reference	NV
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Light Transport Low Wing 2 Turbojet Eng
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 135
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Route In Use	Visual Approach STAR GRNPA 1
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Pilot Not Flying First Officer
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Person 2
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Track / Heading All Types Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT

A fatigued air taxi crew transitioning from the las grnpa 1 RNAV arrival to a night visual mistook hnd for las and descended below the MSA before ATC alerted.