Narrative:

I was not feeling fit to fly so I had to call in fatigued. I had not gotten a proper nights rest the previous night. It was a long five leg day on the last day of a four day pairing. Day three of the trip was a very long duty day with multiple long 'sits'. Day three we arrived 28 minutes late into our overnight due to a late arriving aircraft before our previous departure and a re-route due to thunderstorms on our route of flight. Upon arriving I very quickly grabbed a bite to eat and tried to rush to bed because I knew had a predawn van on the last day. I fell asleep very briefly then woke back up and found it very difficult to fall back asleep. The remainder of the night I tossed and turned and never got a good nights rest. I was tired to start the last day and by the time I had arrived in our base before our last two legs my body was extremely fatigued and worn down. I almost felt like I was starting to get sick. This is when I consulted the captain and informed him of my situation. I then called scheduling and told them I was fatigued and not fit to fly the remaining two legs. In the past I have been able to work safely after not getting a proper nights rest; however this day it was very apparent I was beyond tired and was feeling fatigued. Never before in my aviation career had I felt this worn down while on a trip. I knew that calling in fatigued was the professional and safe thing to do. The reason I felt fatigued was a combination of not getting a proper nights rest along with the combination of two consecutively long duty days with a very short amount of rest in between. In order to minimize future fatigue events I feel longer rest periods are needed between such long duty days. In addition; long duty days with consecutive hours of 'sits' should be reduced from the schedule. Many of my peers would agree with me that long 'sits' in airports without proper rest quarters during duty days are the most fatiguing aspect of our job.

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An ERJ170 First Officer called off fatigued the last two legs on day four of a four day trip because of long days and the previous night's poor rest.

Narrative: I was not feeling fit to fly so I had to call in FATIGUED. I had not gotten a proper nights rest the previous night. It was a long five leg day on the last day of a four day pairing. Day three of the trip was a very long duty day with multiple long 'SITS'. Day three we arrived 28 minutes late into our overnight due to a late arriving aircraft before our previous departure and a re-route due to thunderstorms on our route of flight. Upon arriving I very quickly grabbed a bite to eat and tried to rush to bed because I knew had a predawn van on the last day. I fell asleep very briefly then woke back up and found it very difficult to fall back asleep. The remainder of the night I tossed and turned and never got a good nights rest. I was tired to start the last day and by the time I had arrived in our base before our last two legs my body was extremely fatigued and worn down. I almost felt like I was starting to get sick. This is when I consulted the Captain and informed him of my situation. I then called scheduling and told them I was fatigued and not fit to fly the remaining two legs. In the past I have been able to work safely after not getting a proper nights rest; however this day it was very apparent I was beyond tired and was feeling fatigued. Never before in my aviation career had I felt this worn down while on a trip. I knew that calling in fatigued was the professional and safe thing to do. The reason I felt fatigued was a combination of not getting a proper nights rest along with the combination of two consecutively long duty days with a very short amount of rest in between. In order to minimize future fatigue events I feel longer rest periods are needed between such long duty days. In addition; long duty days with consecutive hours of 'SITS' should be reduced from the schedule. Many of my peers would agree with me that long 'SITS' in airports without proper rest quarters during duty days are the most fatiguing aspect of our job.

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.