Narrative:

I was on an reserve window which opened at 1000 EDT. At about 1003; I was paged by scheduling for a trip that required a 1750 local report to DH to ZZZ1 sit for 2 hours and 48 minutes to ferry an aircraft back to ZZZ2. It was scheduled to release at 0050 on the morning of the next day. I told scheduling that was an extremely long day. They replied that it was legal under the contract. 'An assignment given to a reserve must be scheduled to commence within one of his/her reserve periods and end within fifteen and one-half hours from the time he/she begins the reserve window.' I spoke to the union who explained legally the company could do this; but a representative spoke to a chief pilot about this explaining that a later window reserve was available starting at 1200 local (who was later assigned another trip which would have made my duty day shorter). The following paragraph cited above in the contract states 'the company may by-pass a more junior reserve pilot if; at the time of the assignment; the assignment is scheduled to end more than fourteen and one-half hours after the junior reserve pilot began his/her reserve period.' the chief pilot exercised this saying it was at their discretion to implement the clause and it was a legal assignment. Even though they agreed it was a long day. The assignment was completed as assigned releasing at 0013 local. This also took the trip they had assigned off my line for the next morning scheduled for a 1015 local report. Even with the original release I would not even get 10 hours of rest in domicile. This is a result of the lack of staffing and using pilot efficiently. This trip started with a dead head and had a 4 hour and 56 minute break in ZZZ3 before operating two legs for a scheduled 13 hour duty day. This is not a safe way to operate an airline with long duty days with a minimum rest. I was not used on that day; I sat at home on call. The trip was broken between two other reserve pilots. This type of scheduling is going to lead to a disaster. The lack of concern by the company relying on legalities despite common sense that the day was long with a short overnight to return the same morning for another trip. The first thing to go when you are fatigued is judgment. I was fine at the end of the day just tired. But having the trip removed for the next morning was good but it was removed due to my even later arrival in ZZZ2. The company needs more pilots; limiting duty days to 13 and half hours maximum. The need to push crew members is unnecessary and dangerous.

Related reports:

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An Air Carrier Captain described what he considers to be unsafe flight crew scheduling practices by his airline.

Narrative: I was on an reserve window which opened at 1000 EDT. At about 1003; I was paged by scheduling for a trip that required a 1750 local report to DH to ZZZ1 sit for 2 hours and 48 minutes to ferry an aircraft back to ZZZ2. It was scheduled to release at 0050 on the morning of the next day. I told scheduling that was an extremely long day. They replied that it was legal under the contract. 'An assignment given to a reserve must be scheduled to commence within one of his/her reserve periods and end within fifteen and one-half hours from the time he/she begins the reserve window.' I spoke to the union who explained legally the company could do this; but a representative spoke to a Chief Pilot about this explaining that a later window reserve was available starting at 1200 local (who was later assigned another trip which would have made my duty day shorter). The following paragraph cited above in the contract states 'The company may by-pass a more junior reserve pilot if; at the time of the assignment; the assignment is scheduled to end more than fourteen and one-half hours after the junior reserve pilot began his/her reserve period.' The Chief pilot exercised this saying it was at their discretion to implement the clause and it was a legal assignment. Even though they agreed it was a long day. The assignment was completed as assigned releasing at 0013 local. This also took the trip they had assigned off my line for the next morning scheduled for a 1015 local report. Even with the original release I would not even get 10 hours of rest in domicile. This is a result of the lack of staffing and using pilot efficiently. This trip started with a dead head and had a 4 hour and 56 minute break in ZZZ3 before operating two legs for a scheduled 13 hour duty day. This is not a safe way to operate an airline with long duty days with a minimum rest. I was not used on that day; I sat at home on call. The trip was broken between two other reserve pilots. This type of scheduling is going to lead to a disaster. The lack of concern by the company relying on legalities despite common sense that the day was long with a short overnight to return the same morning for another trip. The first thing to go when you are fatigued is judgment. I was fine at the end of the day just tired. But having the trip removed for the next morning was good but it was removed due to my even later arrival in ZZZ2. The company needs more pilots; limiting duty days to 13 and half hours maximum. The need to push crew members is unnecessary and dangerous.

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.