Narrative:

I; the pilot not flying; fell asleep/micro-slept multiple times during the flight; approach; and short final into ZZZ. I was assigned a reserve duty period beginning at XA00 and ending at XO30. At XA09; crew scheduling contacted me and released me to rest with a report time of XK25 on this day; with a trip that had a 7 hour 57 minute block and an 11 hour 57 minutes duty day; with a release time of XW22; 21 hours 22 minutes after the reserve window begins. A 7 hour 57 minute block and an 11 hour 57 minute duty day is taxiing on a well rested pilot; not to mention a pilot that had 3 hours of sleep. The day before; I went to bed at XA00 to be prepared to operate flights throughout the night and until early afternoon the next day if necessary -- up to 15.5 hours. I was not prepared to operate flights until XV58. I was unable to get more than 3 hours of sleep after being released to rest during the period I was originally expecting to fly. How can a pilot professionally prepare to operate a specific reserve duty period and then within that reserve period; essentially be reassigned a reserve duty period that operates as late as 24 hours later than the original reserve duty period began? Conceivably; I was on duty from XA00-XV22 (XV58 actual); with a 10 hour break; that allowed me to get 3 hours rest -- almost 'ZZ00 hours' of duty. I was incapable of going back to sleep because my circadian cycle had been reset to operate night flights; not mid morning to night flights. Regardless of the far or contract legality; this by far is the most dangerous assignment I've ever been given or heard of -- a pilot preparing to fly at night to early noon but instead with no notice; assigned flights that operate from midmorning to night. Due to irregular sleep; I was physically trembling and could not think in coherent sentences. This is the type of situation that if the media became aware of; would cause this airline to cease to exist. I know if anything went significantly wrong with any of those flights; I would not have had the capacity required of my position to prevent a catastrophic situation and this airline would have lost another aircraft. This is an 'intentional disregard' for the safety of the crew and the passengers on the part of the FAA and the airline. When will the FAA address this type of legal scheduling?

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A CRJ900 Captain reported falling into microsleep on approach as a result of extreme fatigue due to scheduling practices at his airline.

Narrative: I; the pilot not flying; fell asleep/micro-slept multiple times during the flight; approach; and short final into ZZZ. I was assigned a reserve duty period beginning at XA00 and ending at XO30. At XA09; Crew Scheduling contacted me and released me to rest with a report time of XK25 on this day; with a trip that had a 7 hour 57 minute block and an 11 hour 57 minutes duty day; with a release time of XW22; 21 hours 22 minutes after the reserve window begins. A 7 hour 57 minute block and an 11 hour 57 minute duty day is taxiing on a well rested pilot; not to mention a pilot that had 3 hours of sleep. The day before; I went to bed at XA00 to be prepared to operate flights throughout the night and until early afternoon the next day if necessary -- up to 15.5 hours. I was not prepared to operate flights until XV58. I was unable to get more than 3 hours of sleep after being released to rest during the period I was originally expecting to fly. How can a pilot professionally prepare to operate a specific reserve duty period and then within that reserve period; essentially be reassigned a reserve duty period that operates as late as 24 hours later than the original reserve duty period began? Conceivably; I was on duty from XA00-XV22 (XV58 actual); with a 10 hour break; that allowed me to get 3 hours rest -- almost 'ZZ00 hours' of duty. I was incapable of going back to sleep because my circadian cycle had been reset to operate night flights; not mid morning to night flights. Regardless of the FAR or contract legality; this by far is the most dangerous assignment I've ever been given or heard of -- a pilot preparing to fly at night to early noon but instead with no notice; assigned flights that operate from midmorning to night. Due to irregular sleep; I was physically trembling and could not think in coherent sentences. This is the type of situation that if the media became aware of; would cause this airline to cease to exist. I know if anything went significantly wrong with any of those flights; I would not have had the capacity required of my position to prevent a catastrophic situation and this airline would have lost another aircraft. This is an 'intentional disregard' for the safety of the crew and the passengers on the part of the FAA and the airline. When will the FAA address this type of legal scheduling?

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.