Narrative:

I was on the 10:00 am to 1:00 am short call. I prepared my body clock to be alert and ready to fly until 1:00 am; and possibly 2:00 am. At 5:00 pm the crew scheduling called to cancel my short call and assign me a 6:00 am departure for the next morning. I told the crew scheduler that I was all set to be working until 1:00 am and asked if the scheduler thought this new 6:00 am departure was a good idea? The scheduler's response was basically that is was legal. I accepted the assignment. I dutifully tried my best to go to sleep at 7:00 pm (I would have to get up at 2:00 am to get to the airport for this assignment). After tossing and turning with no sleep for 5 hours; I called the scheduler about midnight and advised her I was fatigued for the first part of my trip. I also advised I thought I would be able to get the necessary rest and that I would be willing to fly the balance of the trip. They put me down as fatigued for the turn and told me to fly the balance of the trip. I fell asleep shortly after 2:30 am. This whole 'resetting of rest' is not a good idea. While it looks easy on paper; the realities of resetting my body clock are not that easy; and is extremely fatigue inducing. Flying fatigued is not safe.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air Carrier Captain on late short call reserve is assigned an early departure the next day but is unable to get to sleep in time to be rested for the trip. A fatigue call is made to scheduling and the trip is picked up midday the next day.

Narrative: I was on the 10:00 AM to 1:00 AM short call. I prepared my body clock to be alert and ready to fly until 1:00 AM; and possibly 2:00 AM. At 5:00 PM the Crew Scheduling called to cancel my short call and assign me a 6:00 AM departure for the next morning. I told the Crew Scheduler that I was all set to be working until 1:00 AM and asked if the Scheduler thought this new 6:00 AM departure was a good idea? The Scheduler's response was basically that is was legal. I accepted the assignment. I dutifully tried my best to go to sleep at 7:00 PM (I would have to get up at 2:00 AM to get to the airport for this assignment). After tossing and turning with no sleep for 5 hours; I called the Scheduler about midnight and advised her I was fatigued for the first part of my trip. I also advised I thought I would be able to get the necessary rest and that I would be willing to fly the balance of the trip. They put me down as fatigued for the turn and told me to fly the balance of the trip. I fell asleep shortly after 2:30 AM. This whole 'resetting of rest' is not a good idea. While it looks easy on paper; the realities of resetting my body clock are not that easy; and is extremely fatigue inducing. Flying fatigued is not safe.

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.