Narrative:

[I had a] severe lack of alertness and fatigue during cruise flight including periods of sleep without the awareness that it was happening; self awareness and ATC communication getting my attention. [I was] unable to attain adequate sleep rest prior to beginning of duty period. Tried to move around within the flight deck; changed lighting; changed temperature all were temporary changes to alertness lasting no more than 10 minutes. Conversation with other crewmember helped but nothing was able to truly change the need for my body to have sleep. This duty period starts in a busy west coast airport at mid afternoon local time. This is after a late night arrival the previous night. Four flight segments are scheduled; the first three into and out one of the highest work load airports in the country. ATC constraints; complex arrival procedures; high traffic volume; short leg distances and flow restrictions into and out of this airport combine to keep the pilots in a constant state of peak attention as things are changing usually as fast as you are reading this sentence. These three legs are fatiguing enough but then after this we are scheduled for a redeye flight to the midwest. After departure for our last destination there is much less work load enroute and with the body now thinking it should be sleeping there is little distraction for it to do so. The other scheduled red-eyes we have at least there is a chance to take a nap of 3-4 hours before a later departure; but with the mid afternoon show time and getting up around mid morning local; there is no way to get some sleep at noon. We should not be jeopardizing the safety of our passengers or crew members with schedules that contradict the basic needs of life. I know now that if I am faced with this trip again I will more than likely call out fatigued prior to the last leg. The company's ideology is that if we are legal to do the trip then put it in the schedule. If and when accident occurs; then it is the pilot's fault without any liability to the company that put them in this precarious position in the first place.

Related reports:

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An A319 Captain reported severe fatigue during a red-eye flight to a Midwest airport after flying three short legs earlier that day and getting poor sleep the previous night.

Narrative: [I had a] severe lack of alertness and fatigue during cruise flight including periods of sleep without the awareness that it was happening; self awareness and ATC communication getting my attention. [I was] unable to attain adequate sleep rest prior to beginning of duty period. Tried to move around within the flight deck; changed lighting; changed temperature all were temporary changes to alertness lasting no more than 10 minutes. Conversation with other crewmember helped but nothing was able to truly change the need for my body to have sleep. This duty period starts in a busy west coast airport at mid afternoon local time. This is after a late night arrival the previous night. Four flight segments are scheduled; the first three into and out one of the highest work load airports in the country. ATC constraints; complex arrival procedures; high traffic volume; short leg distances and flow restrictions into and out of this airport combine to keep the pilots in a constant state of peak attention as things are changing usually as fast as you are reading this sentence. These three legs are fatiguing enough but then after this we are scheduled for a redeye flight to the Midwest. After departure for our last destination there is much less work load enroute and with the body now thinking it should be sleeping there is little distraction for it to do so. The other scheduled red-eyes we have at least there is a chance to take a nap of 3-4 hours before a later departure; but with the mid afternoon show time and getting up around mid morning local; there is no way to get some sleep at noon. We should not be jeopardizing the safety of our passengers or crew members with schedules that contradict the basic needs of life. I know now that if I am faced with this trip again I will more than likely call out fatigued prior to the last leg. The company's ideology is that if we are legal to do the trip then put it in the schedule. If and when accident occurs; then it is the pilot's fault without any liability to the company that put them in this precarious position in the first place.

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.