Narrative:

I was reassigned four extra legs two of which; fortunately; were dead heads. I originally did not feel fatigued; just tired. Yet I noticed as the day went on that things just were not flowing smoothly and that we had been late out of the gate on every flight. Later; I got on my first dead head and woke up [only] when we landed. It was then that I realized I had been exhausted and that was why I couldn't seem to get a flight out on time. I was then called repeatedly asking about delays. All of which I slept through. The company is always johnny on the spot with these calls but god forbid I need someone to answer at headquarters when I need something.when an airline or scheduled 135 applies for a certificate; the DOT and FAA ask and require the operation to submit a financial form to show they have the finances to run a safe operation. But after that they apparently do not care. I say this because when a company (such as ours) is asking for and giving leaves of absence to pilots when it is already understaffed; it can only mean they do not have the finances to run a safe operation or they are operating the airline with the only concern being the third and fourth quarter financial results; not safety. This sounds alarmingly like many other airlines that have done similar things with disastrous results. Therefore; I would have the FAA look into our staffing practices. I would have our airline staff actual reserve pilots. I would have the company quit telling pilots they can't call in fatigued when they slept in their own beds despite the fact our recurrent training [material] clearly states 'fatigue doesn't just happen at work'. I would have; if I could; a chief pilot that understood the industry; aviation; and pilots and was concerned about the real issues instead of silly things like pilots wearing their hats. Pilots are simply on their own against the FAA and the company yet to hear each of those groups speak safety is their biggest concern.

Related reports:

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Commuter Airline Captain waxed eloquent regarding concerns for what he believes to be his company's callous disregard for safe flight crew scheduling practices.

Narrative: I was reassigned four extra legs two of which; fortunately; were dead heads. I originally did not feel fatigued; just tired. Yet I noticed as the day went on that things just were not flowing smoothly and that we had been late out of the gate on every flight. Later; I got on my first dead head and woke up [only] when we landed. It was then that I realized I had been exhausted and that was why I couldn't seem to get a flight out on time. I was then called repeatedly asking about delays. All of which I slept through. The company is always johnny on the spot with these calls but God forbid I need someone to answer at headquarters when I need something.When an airline or scheduled 135 applies for a certificate; the DOT and FAA ask and require the operation to submit a financial form to show they have the finances to run a safe operation. But after that they apparently do not care. I say this because when a company (such as ours) is asking for and giving leaves of absence to pilots when it is already understaffed; it can only mean they do not have the finances to run a safe operation or they are operating the airline with the only concern being the third and fourth quarter financial results; not safety. This sounds alarmingly like many other airlines that have done similar things with disastrous results. Therefore; I would have the FAA look into our staffing practices. I would have our airline staff actual reserve pilots. I would have the company quit telling pilots they can't call in fatigued when they slept in their own beds despite the fact our recurrent training [material] clearly states 'fatigue doesn't just happen at work'. I would have; if I could; a Chief Pilot that understood the industry; aviation; and pilots and was concerned about the real issues instead of silly things like pilots wearing their hats. Pilots are simply on their own against the FAA and the company yet to hear each of those groups speak safety is their biggest concern.

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.