Narrative:

We had a late night flight; which was preceded by a day of 14 plus hours of duty getting shut down late at night. Two days prior to this; we were both in a fog and lack of focus because of early morning fatigue. Our show was a very early morning; which was also preceded by a late night at home. At this point; when we finished our day we noticed the same lack of focus and poor communications. All due to fatigue from night shift; to morning shift; followed by late night shift.it should be noted that the night before the first day of duty; I was fully rested and had a late morning show; which provided me with a great night's sleep. I'm not sure how the chart illustrating circadian rhythms can be applied to our 3 days of fluctuation from late; to early; to very late. The circadian rhythms chart also shows that although there is legal time for rest; rest does not necessarily happen after getting up early morning it is not necessarily going to happen that someone would be able to shift to a late night. Although we had plenty of time on day number three; with a late morning show; I could not stay up late after a very early morning show in order to sleep in. So my day started when I woke up early in the morning; and my day ended as soon as we got shut down and to the hotel past midnight.this practice is becoming more and more common and more frequently. Because I was awakened a few hours after midnight on the 2nd day; there was no way I was able to stay awake long enough that night to be able to sleep in on 3rd day. Although I tried; I still woke up 2 hours prior to a normal wake time - and the time I woke up only 2 days earlier.our shows have shifted from one day to the next 8 hours earlier. Then within 2 days to 10 hours later; [which is] unhealthy physiologically; and extremely unsafe. Fortunately; on this night for which I am reporting; we had the engine shutdown and we were performing our post-flight duties when we noticed that we were exhausted and losing focus. There was no incident or accident due to this and fortunately; we did not have any further duty assignment.I am not sure what more we could have done to mitigate our fatigue; as the company encourages the crews to do. Maybe the company could do more on their part of mitigation other than a greater emphasis on scheduling to stop abusing circadian rhythms. A look at our schedule for the day prior to this shows very little that the crew can do. A few hours before midnight; on the second before going to bed the plan was to sit at the airport for eight hours. When we checked in the morning on the 3rd day; the plan had changed and we were now going to be done around noon and off to the hotel. One hour twenty minutes after; the brief had changed we were now going to a different route [and] arriving early in the evening. After eighteen minutes the brief had changed; we were going on a different route and arriving around midnight. Later in the evening; the planned destination changed once more arriving around midnight.not only does fatigue play a factor in the short term with alertness; response time; task fixation; etc.; there is also a longer-term consequence in compromising the immune system. The last three 'tours' I have gone home with a cold due to exhaustion. In the middle of the cold and flu season; it is even more imperative that fatigue does not compromise immunity; in turn impacting the company with more sick calls from crew members. The company self imposes the increased number of sick calls and fatigue calls.recommended narrative is that the company consider the risks that they are taking with the lives and safety of their passengers because not every pilot is going to stand up and resist the temptation to continue on when he shouldn't. The company should stop this practice of early morning to late night back to early morning shifts. It is a fact that most crews talk around the 'water cooler' and are in agreement about the appearance that the company is apathetic to contributing to an accident and the possible loss of life.

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Citation Excel (CE560XL) Captain reported multiple duty period changes resulting in extreme fatigue conditions.

Narrative: We had a late night flight; which was preceded by a day of 14 plus hours of Duty getting shut down late at night. Two days prior to this; we were both in a fog and lack of focus because of early morning fatigue. Our show was a VERY early morning; which was also preceded by a late night at home. At this point; when we finished our day we noticed the same lack of focus and poor communications. All due to fatigue from night shift; to morning shift; followed by late night shift.It should be noted that the night before the first day of duty; I was FULLY rested and had a late morning show; which provided me with a great night's sleep. I'm not sure how the chart illustrating circadian rhythms can be applied to our 3 days of fluctuation from late; to early; to very late. The circadian rhythms chart also shows that although there is legal time for rest; rest does not necessarily happen after getting up early morning it is not necessarily going to happen that someone would be able to shift to a late night. Although we had plenty of time on day number three; with a late morning show; I could not stay up late after a very early morning show in order to sleep in. So my day started when I woke up early in the morning; and my day ended as soon as we got shut down and to the hotel past midnight.This practice is becoming more and more common and more frequently. Because I was awakened a few hours after midnight on the 2nd day; there was no way I was able to stay awake long enough that night to be able to sleep in on 3rd day. Although I tried; I still woke up 2 hours prior to a normal wake time - and the time I woke up only 2 days earlier.Our shows have shifted from one day to the next 8 hours earlier. Then within 2 days to 10 hours later; [which is] unhealthy physiologically; and extremely unsafe. Fortunately; on this night for which I am reporting; we had the engine shutdown and we were performing our post-flight duties when we noticed that we were exhausted and losing focus. There was no incident or accident due to this and fortunately; we did not have any further duty assignment.I am not sure what more we could have done to mitigate our fatigue; as the company encourages the crews to do. Maybe the company could do more on their part of mitigation other than a greater emphasis on scheduling to stop abusing circadian rhythms. A look at our schedule for the day prior to this shows very little that the crew can do. A few hours before midnight; on the second before going to bed the plan was to sit at the airport for eight hours. When we checked in the morning on the 3rd day; the plan had changed and we were now going to be done around noon and off to the hotel. One hour twenty minutes after; the brief had changed we were now going to a different route [and] arriving early in the evening. After eighteen minutes the brief had changed; we were going on a different route and arriving around midnight. Later in the evening; the planned destination changed once more arriving around midnight.Not only does fatigue play a factor in the short term with alertness; response time; task fixation; etc.; there is also a longer-term consequence in compromising the immune system. The last three 'tours' I have gone home with a cold due to exhaustion. In the middle of the cold and flu season; it is even more imperative that fatigue does not compromise immunity; in turn impacting the company with more sick calls from crew members. The company self imposes the increased number of sick calls and fatigue calls.Recommended narrative is that the company consider the risks that they are taking with the lives and safety of their passengers because not every pilot is going to stand up and resist the temptation to continue on when he shouldn't. The company should stop this practice of early morning to late night back to early morning shifts. It is a fact that most crews talk around the 'water cooler' and are in agreement about the appearance that the company is apathetic to contributing to an accident and the possible loss of life.

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.