Air carrier captain describes the rigors of flying a red eye from west to east with only two pilots ...

Narrative:

Unsafe schedule/departure time! Flying as 'back-side' of the clock as possible with only a two man crew; this is an accident waiting to happen. The crew was constantly falling asleep about two hours into the flight. The cockpit crew was completely unable to handle even the smallest of emergencies had one arisen. Even a go-around could have ended in disaster with that level of fatigue! Put an east coast crew on this trip. Leaving at 0300 body clock instead of midnight (for a west coast crew) allows for at least some sleep prior to departure; the same as the 0600 east coast departures that the west coast crew frequently fly. West coast crew are seldom able to get any sleep in the afternoon prior due to the time variance from normal sleep patterns; i.e. Trying to fall asleep at 1700 vs. A normal 2100. An east coast crew would be in that perfect zone for a nap; 1700 local is 2000 body clock. Also; a layover for an east coast crew does not require them to leave their home 1-2 hours before sign in to allow for traffic; the parking lot; bus schedule; etc. Either put a third pilot on all departures > 2000 body clock; give the trip to east coast crew (in this scenario); or get rid of the trip and add another 0600 departure. This is the most unsafe trip I have done in over 21 years at this company.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air Carrier Captain describes the rigors of flying a red eye from west to east with only two pilots and believes that crew based in the east would be better suited to this flying.

Narrative: Unsafe schedule/departure time! Flying as 'back-side' of the clock as possible with only a two man crew; this is an accident waiting to happen. The crew was constantly falling asleep about two hours into the flight. The cockpit crew was completely unable to handle even the smallest of emergencies had one arisen. Even a go-around could have ended in disaster with that level of fatigue! Put an East Coast crew on this trip. Leaving at 0300 body clock instead of midnight (for a West Coast crew) allows for at least some sleep prior to departure; the same as the 0600 East Coast departures that the West Coast crew frequently fly. West Coast crew are seldom able to get any sleep in the afternoon prior due to the time variance from normal sleep patterns; i.e. trying to fall asleep at 1700 vs. a normal 2100. An East Coast crew would be in that perfect zone for a nap; 1700 local is 2000 body clock. Also; a layover for an East Coast crew does not require them to leave their home 1-2 hours before sign in to allow for traffic; the parking lot; bus schedule; etc. Either put a third pilot on all departures > 2000 body clock; give the trip to East Coast crew (in this scenario); or get rid of the trip and add another 0600 departure. This is the most unsafe trip I have done in over 21 years at this company.

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	979001
Time
Date	201111
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B767-200
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Cruise
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Other Fatigue

Air carrier captain describes the rigors of flying a red eye from west to east with only two pilots and believes that crew based in the east would be better suited to this flying.