Narrative:

On june 2009 upon arrival into ZZZ at XG06 pacific time; we were notified from the gate agent to contact crew scheduling concerning a change to our schedule. Crew scheduling notified us that our layover had been changed and that we were to be flying the red-eye flight back to ZZZ in ten hours. I informed the scheduler that I woke up this morning at xa EDT and it was now xj EDT. The idea that I am supposed to sleep for eight hours; starting at xj EDT and then [be able to] work the red-eye home was slim. If I was not able to sleep in the middle of the day; I was going to be up for 25 hours straight and I asked the scheduler if she thought that was safe. She said it was a legal assignment; there were no other reserves and it was up to me to work for the flight. I should have called off fatigued at that point and let the company start the process of finding a replacement. However; being new to the airplane and not having been in this situation before; I elected to try to rest and possibly sleep before the flight home. I laid in bed trying to sleep but the frustration and stress would not allow it. As I said previously; I had not been put in this situation before and was hesitant to cancel the flight. I finally was able to sleep for 1 and 1/2 hours before the flight. I felt awake when I reported to the airport; had my coffee and performed my pre-flight duties. Once we leveled off in cruise; the fatigue started. First it was the blurriness of not being able to focus on the instruments in front of me. Then came the 'head bobs' as my body wanted to sleep. I elected to have a caffeinated soda to keep me awake. That did not stop the fatigue. I elected to get up and use the bathroom and stretch. That did not stop the fatigue. I asked myself the question 'if I felt like this while driving a car; what would I do?' the answer is pull over to the side of the road and rest. Upon arrival into ZZZ; I elected to do an autoland as both the captain and myself were in no condition to be operating the aircraft. Although no rules were broken; I will never accept an assignment of this nature again. The reason of me writing this letter is in the hopes that the company will realize what an unsafe practice this is. There is a difference between being legal and being safe. Yes; we as pilots always have the right to call off fatigued. The problem is; we shouldn't have to. The company needs to put safety over schedule and stop these unsafe practices. It is unreasonable to expect someone to be able to go to sleep at xj and then stay up all night long when this is not part of your original schedule. If I knew that I was to be doing the red-eye flight home days earlier; I would have gone to sleep earlier the night before to allow me to sleep more before the red-eye. Doing red-eye flights is part of the business of aviation. The point of this report is to prevent crew scheduling from putting an unscheduled red-eye in your pairing with minimum rest. It is an unsafe practice and must stop.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B737 First Officer was given an unscheduled re-assignment to a red-eye flight with 10 hours of rest in the middle of the day. He was unable to sleep sufficiently and described the progressive fatigue stages until the flights termination.

Narrative: On June 2009 upon arrival into ZZZ at XG06 Pacific time; we were notified from the gate agent to contact crew scheduling concerning a change to our schedule. Crew scheduling notified us that our layover had been changed and that we were to be flying the red-eye flight back to ZZZ in ten hours. I informed the scheduler that I woke up this morning at XA EDT and it was now XJ EDT. The idea that I am supposed to sleep for eight hours; starting at XJ EDT and then [be able to] work the red-eye home was slim. If I was not able to sleep in the middle of the day; I was going to be up for 25 hours straight and I asked the scheduler if she thought that was safe. She said it was a legal assignment; there were no other reserves and it was up to me to work for the flight. I should have called off fatigued at that point and let the company start the process of finding a replacement. However; being new to the airplane and not having been in this situation before; I elected to try to rest and possibly sleep before the flight home. I laid in bed trying to sleep but the frustration and stress would not allow it. As I said previously; I had not been put in this situation before and was hesitant to cancel the flight. I finally was able to sleep for 1 and 1/2 hours before the flight. I felt awake when I reported to the airport; had my coffee and performed my pre-flight duties. Once we leveled off in cruise; the fatigue started. First it was the blurriness of not being able to focus on the instruments in front of me. Then came the 'head bobs' as my body wanted to sleep. I elected to have a caffeinated soda to keep me awake. That did not stop the fatigue. I elected to get up and use the bathroom and stretch. That did not stop the fatigue. I asked myself the question 'If I felt like this while driving a car; what would I do?' The answer is pull over to the side of the road and rest. Upon arrival into ZZZ; I elected to do an autoland as both the Captain and myself were in no condition to be operating the aircraft. Although no rules were broken; I will never accept an assignment of this nature again. The reason of me writing this letter is in the hopes that the company will realize what an unsafe practice this is. There is a difference between being legal and being safe. Yes; we as pilots always have the right to call off fatigued. The problem is; we shouldn't have to. The company needs to put safety over schedule and stop these unsafe practices. It is unreasonable to expect someone to be able to go to sleep at XJ and then stay up all night long when this is not part of your original schedule. If I knew that I was to be doing the red-eye flight home days earlier; I would have gone to sleep earlier the night before to allow me to sleep more before the red-eye. Doing red-eye flights is part of the business of aviation. The point of this report is to prevent crew scheduling from putting an UNSCHEDULED red-eye in your pairing with minimum rest. It is an UNSAFE practice and must STOP.

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.