B737 PLT HAS CONCERN WITH HIS FLT SCHEDULE AND FATIGUE.

Narrative

THIS RPT CONCERNS CREW FATIGUE. I RPTED TO THE ACFT AT XC00 (XB00 ON MY BODY CLOCK) ON MONDAY FOR THE SECOND DAY OF A 2-DAY TRIP FOR A PART 121 CARRIER. WHILE I KNEW I WAS TIRED; I DIDN'T THINK IT WAS BECAUSE OF ANYTHING DIFFERENT FROM ANY OTHER EARLY MORNING WAKE-UP. THE ACFT HAD AN MEL ITEM CONCERNING A PACK DEFLECTOR DOOR. BOTH THE CAPT AND I MISREAD THE MEL AND WE SUBSEQUENTLY PERFORMED A BLEEDS OFF TKOF WHEN ONE WAS NOT REQUIRED. AFTER TKOF; I RECONFIGURED THE ENG/APU BLEED VALVES OUT OF ORDER. WHILE NOT A BIG MISTAKE; IT IS ONE I DO NOT USUALLY MAKE AND ONE THAT I HAVE DONE CORRECTLY HUNDREDS OF TIMES. ALSO; THE DEP CTLR INFORMED US THAT OUR XPONDER CODE WAS 1 DIGIT OFF. BEFORE WE LANDED IN ORD 1 HR LATER; I HAD MISSED 2 RADIO CALLS FROM CTR AND MISREAD MY CALL SIGN SEVERAL TIMES ON READBACKS. BY THIS TIME I WAS WONDERING WHAT WAS WRONG WITH ME AND FEELING LIKE AN IDIOT; I WAS BEHIND THE PLANE AND JUST MOVING SLOWER THAN USUAL; MISSING LITTLE THINGS. I WAS VERY EXPERIENCED ON THIS PLANE AND HAD FLOWN THIS LEG/FLT DOZENS OF TIMES. THE APCH INTO ORD WAS UNEVENTFUL AND WE PREPARED FOR OUR SECOND LEG. THIS LEG WAS ALSO UNEVENTFUL; BUT AT THIS POINT I KNEW I WAS HAVING A BAD DAY AND WAS PAYING EXTRA ATTN TO EVERYTHING. THE CAPT FLEW THE LAST LEG. I SUSPECT HE WAS TIRED AS WELL; SINCE I CAUGHT HIM ON 2 TAXI MISTAKES. ONE HE TRIED TO TURN THE WRONG WAY AND ANOTHER WHERE HE ALMOST MISSED OUR GATE; THINKING WE HAD A DIFFERENT ONE. BY THE TIME WE FINISHED UP; I JUST WANTED TO GET HOME AND TAKE A NAP. IT WAS NOT UNTIL THAT AFTERNOON WHILE SITTING AT HOME AND REVIEWING THE MISTAKES I HAD THAT DAY; THAT I REALIZED THAT I HAD FLOWN 6 OUT OF THE LAST 7 DAYS FOR A TOTAL OF 25 HRS. ALL OF MY DEPS HAD BEEN XC00 SHOWS. MOST OF THEM HAD BEEN XC00 SHOWS EASTERN TIME WHICH MEANT AN XA15 WAKE-UP ON MY CENTRAL TIME BODY CLOCK. THIS TYPE OF FATIGUE WAS DIFFERENT FROM THE NORMAL; 'I'M JUST TIRED; SINCE THIS IS AN EARLY WAKE-UP' THAT I HAD EXPERIENCED IN MY 16 YRS OF PROFESSIONAL FLYING. I HAD HAD A DECENT NIGHT'S SLEEP THE NIGHT BEFORE; BUT FOR THE PAST 6 DAYS I HAD BEEN GETTING UP AT XA00 OR SO IN THE MORNING AND IT WAS STARTING TO WEAR. IN YRS PAST; WHEN AIRLINE SCHEDULES ALLOWED A RECOUP AFTER A TRIP; PLTS COULD READJUST AFTER FLYING STRANGE HRS. I HAD FLOWN A 4 DAY TRIP WITH ALL EARLY WAKE-UPS; HAD 1 DAY OFF THEN WENT BACK OUT ON A 2 DAY. THIS SCHEDULE IS BECOMING MORE AND MORE COMMONPLACE AS PLTS ARE REQUIRED TO FLY MORE HRS/DAYS PER MONTH DUE TO DEMANDS PLACED UPON THEM IN THE NEW WORK ENVIRONMENT. WHEN I STARTED AT MY AIRLINE; A 75 HR MONTH WAS LOTS OF TIME; NOW 85-95 HRS IS THE NORM. THIS JOB IS NO LONGER THE GRAVY TRAIN IT USED TO BE. THERE WAS A REASON WHY WE HAD DAYS OFF BTWN TRIPS. WHAT WORKED FOR US WAS ADHERENCE TO SOP AND GOOD CREW COORD. THE CAPT WAS WATCHING ME AND I WATCHED HIM AND WE WERE ABLE TO BACK EACH OTHER UP; ONCE WE REALIZED THAT WE WERE MAKING MORE MISTAKES THAN USUAL. OUR EXPERIENCE IN THE PLANE HELPED AS WELL; BUT THIS COULD HAVE BEEN A GOTCHA SINCE EXPERIENCE MAY HAVE CAUSED ME/US TO 'GO THROUGH THE MOTIONS' INSTEAD OF REALLY LOOKING AT SOMETHING.