Narrative:

The last four days of flying have consisted of multiple 10 plus hour duty days with just slightly more than minimum rest each night. The previous day; before the trip in question; we had flown a transcon from ZZZ3 to ZZZ with a fuel stop in ZZZ4. We arrived into ZZZ around 1700 local time and entered rest at 1830 local time. After being on the west coast for the last two days my body clock was on west coast time and I was unable to fall asleep until about 01:00. This would have been fine since the trip we were scheduled for did not depart until the next day around 14:00. At 5:24am I was awakened by my company for a pop-up trip scheduled to leave in 2 hours. The trip is from ZZZ-ZZZ1-ZZZ2; then sit in ZZZ2 for a sliding departure back to ZZZ1 later. Needless to say this is an unsafe situation since my body has not had even one night to acclimate to the eastern time zone. Essentially my body thinks it is 02:24. The scheduled duty of this pop-up trip is to end at 1730 eastern time; if flown as scheduled. Most likely this won't happen because the passenger didn't know when he would return. A 12 hour plus duty day for a crew that has not been sufficiently rested after doing a transcon flight across 3 time zones the day before. During our preflight briefing; the captain and I come to the conclusion that we will not be able to accomplish this trip as scheduled and that flying any trips after arriving in ZZZ2 would not be safe as we will definitely be fatigued. The captain relayed this information to flight management and it appeared on the schedule that we will end in ZZZ2. When we arrive in ZZZ2; the flight follower is still expecting us to continue flying later in the day. Obviously the communication chain was broken. A crew should have been scrambled when we first told them of this impending fatigue issue early in the morning. The company proceeded to scramble another crew to drive up to ZZZ2 to fly our plane for the rest of this trip. The crew planner then tells us that we will be driving to their original airport this afternoon to crew the other plane. We say that is unacceptable as we are fatigued and driving for another 2 to 2.5 hours is not safe for us either. The prudent thing for us would be to be released to the hotel so we could start our rest. However; we are instructed by our chief pilot to stay on duty and wait for the crew from naples or the passenger to arrive; whichever occurs first to provide 'customer service'. As I write this report I am still on duty; extremely exhausted and fatigued; and my company is unwilling to release me to rest. I feel that once a crew declares they are fatigued; the company should recognize that and release the crew to rest. Having us 'hang out' at the airport now is doing nothing more than increasing my fatigue and frustration level. I should be getting rest in preparation for my next duty assignment. Crew planning also must start looking back to see if situations like flying eastbound 3 time zones the day before; previously flying multiple long duty days; and then putting a pop up on a crew at 02:24 body clock time would really be safe. Just because it is legal does not make it safe.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A corporate flight crew expressed concern about rescheduling practices at their company that failed to consider the need for essential rest prior to flights.

Narrative: The last four days of flying have consisted of multiple 10 plus hour duty days with just slightly more than minimum rest each night. The previous day; before the trip in question; we had flown a transcon from ZZZ3 to ZZZ with a fuel stop in ZZZ4. We arrived into ZZZ around 1700 local time and entered rest at 1830 local time. After being on the west coast for the last two days my body clock was on west coast time and I was unable to fall asleep until about 01:00. This would have been fine since the trip we were scheduled for did not depart until the next day around 14:00. At 5:24am I was awakened by my company for a pop-up trip scheduled to leave in 2 hours. The trip is from ZZZ-ZZZ1-ZZZ2; then sit in ZZZ2 for a sliding departure back to ZZZ1 later. Needless to say this is an unsafe situation since my body has not had even one night to acclimate to the Eastern Time zone. Essentially my body thinks it is 02:24. The scheduled duty of this pop-up trip is to end at 1730 Eastern Time; if flown as scheduled. Most likely this won't happen because the passenger didn't know when he would return. A 12 hour plus duty day for a crew that has not been sufficiently rested after doing a transcon flight across 3 time zones the day before. During our preflight briefing; the Captain and I come to the conclusion that we will not be able to accomplish this trip as scheduled and that flying any trips after arriving in ZZZ2 would not be safe as we will definitely be fatigued. The Captain relayed this information to flight management and it appeared on the schedule that we will end in ZZZ2. When we arrive in ZZZ2; the flight follower is still expecting us to continue flying later in the day. Obviously the communication chain was broken. A crew should have been scrambled when we first told them of this impending fatigue issue early in the morning. The company proceeded to scramble another crew to drive up to ZZZ2 to fly our plane for the rest of this trip. The crew planner then tells us that we will be driving to their original airport this afternoon to crew the other plane. We say that is unacceptable as we are fatigued and driving for another 2 to 2.5 hours is not safe for us either. The prudent thing for us would be to be released to the hotel so we could start our rest. However; we are instructed by our chief pilot to stay on duty and wait for the crew from Naples or the passenger to arrive; whichever occurs first to provide 'customer service'. As I write this report I am still on duty; extremely exhausted and fatigued; and my company is unwilling to release me to rest. I feel that once a crew declares they are fatigued; the company should recognize that and release the crew to rest. Having us 'hang out' at the airport now is doing nothing more than increasing my fatigue and frustration level. I should be getting rest in preparation for my next duty assignment. Crew planning also must start looking back to see if situations like flying eastbound 3 time zones the day before; previously flying multiple long duty days; and then putting a pop up on a crew at 02:24 body clock time would really be safe. Just because it is legal does not make it 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.