A captain assigned an all night two leg trip was threatened with disciplinary action after he told s...

Narrative:

I am an airline captain; relatively new on reserve. I was recently assigned a trip that departed late in the evening and scheduled to arrive at the final destination early in the morning. I was given over 24 hours notice in advance. On the phone; not completely familiar with the reserve techniques; I told the scheduler that I had flown that trip as a first officer. I would be happy to fly the first leg; but might have to 'call in fatigued' when we arrived at the destination. I know how my body responds. When I had flown that trip as a 757 first officer; I literally could not keep my eyes open on the return leg. My intentions were to be considerate to the schedulers; up front and honest; and keep the highest standards of safety. A few hours later; I received a call from the union saying that scheduling had called the chief pilot. The chief pilot had then called the union and asked them to call me. I was warned; by the union that if I called in 'fatigued' that I could expect a call from the chief pilot. The wiser course of action for me would have been to accept the trip; with no comment that those all night trips are very difficult for me and then call in fatigued if I needed to upon arrival at the turn around destination. I have been employed at this carrier for over 20 years and have never called in fatigued; never. The first time that I used that word; I was threatened with a call (which will go in my employment record) from the chief pilot. I expect better from my company which states that they have a 'no fault' fatigue policy. I also believe my company expects better; at least I hope they do. A couple of comments: I believe the following statement to be 'pilot pushing;' 'you can expect a call from the chief if you call in fatigued.' second comment: the pilot's association acted as a surrogate for the company chiefs; in what I believe to be 'pilot pushing.' there seems to be some sort of unhealthy role confusion with this.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Captain assigned an all night two leg trip was threatened with disciplinary action after he told Scheduling that he may have to call in fatigued after the first leg because his body did not respond well on all night flights.

Narrative: I am an airline Captain; relatively new on reserve. I was recently assigned a trip that departed late in the evening and scheduled to arrive at the final destination early in the morning. I was given over 24 hours notice in advance. On the phone; not completely familiar with the reserve techniques; I told the Scheduler that I had flown that trip as a First Officer. I would be happy to fly the first leg; but might have to 'call in fatigued' when we arrived at the destination. I know how my body responds. When I had flown that trip as a 757 First Officer; I literally could not keep my eyes open on the return leg. My intentions were to be considerate to the schedulers; up front and honest; and keep the highest standards of safety. A few hours later; I received a call from the Union saying that Scheduling had called the Chief Pilot. The Chief Pilot had then called the Union and asked them to call me. I was warned; by the Union that if I called in 'fatigued' that I could expect a call from the Chief Pilot. The wiser course of action for me would have been to accept the trip; with no comment that those all night trips are very difficult for me and then call in fatigued if I needed to upon arrival at the turn around destination. I have been employed at this Carrier for over 20 years and have never called in fatigued; never. The first time that I used that word; I was threatened with a call (which will go in my employment record) from the Chief Pilot. I expect better from my company which states that they have a 'no fault' fatigue policy. I also believe my company expects better; at least I hope they do. A couple of comments: I believe the following statement to be 'pilot pushing;' 'You can expect a call from the Chief if you call in fatigued.' Second comment: The pilot's association acted as a surrogate for the company Chiefs; in what I believe to be 'pilot pushing.' There seems to be some sort of unhealthy role confusion with this.

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.

Attributes
ACN	926386
Time
Date	201012
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Medium Large Transport
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Parked
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 200 Flight Crew Total 15800 Flight Crew Type 600
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural FAR Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

A captain assigned an all night two leg trip was threatened with disciplinary action after he told scheduling that he may have to call in fatigued after the first leg because his body did not respond well on all night flights.