AN ACR PILOT DESCRIBES THE FATIGUE AND RESULTING ERROR AFTER THE FIRST LEG OF AN INTERNATIONAL TRIP AT THE DESTINATION.

2008-07 · NASA ASRS report 793535

Date: 2008-07 · Aircraft: B747-400 · Phase: ground

Anomalies: deviation-discrepancy-procedural-far|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-published-material-policy|other-fatigue

Synopsis

AN ACR PILOT DESCRIBES THE FATIGUE AND RESULTING ERROR AFTER THE FIRST LEG OF AN INTERNATIONAL TRIP AT THE DESTINATION.

Narrative

WITH FATIGUE ISSUES COMING MORE AND MORE TO THE FOREFRONT OF OUR ATTN I AM REALIZING JUST HOW BIG A PROB THIS REALLY IS. AFTER WALKING OFF THE AIRPLANE IN ZZZ2 IT OCCURRED TO ME THAT WE HAD NOT READ A PARKING CHKLIST. FLT HAS A SCHEDULED DEP TIME OF XA27 CENTRAL TIME. I HAD BEEN UP SINCE XA00 AM LCL TIME AFTER AN EXCELLENT NIGHT'S SLEEP. I WORKED OUT ABOUT XB00. GOING TO WORK I FELT GOOD. ON THE ACFT I TOOK THE LAST BREAK BECAUSE THE FO WAS FLYING AND WANTED THE MIDDLE BREAK. I GOT INTO THE BUNK ABOUT 3 HRS AND 15 MINS BEFORE LNDG WITH INSTRUCTIONS TO THE FO'S TO WAKE ME UP ABOUT AN HR AND 15 MINS BEFORE LNDG. I IMMEDIATELY FELL ASLEEP AND WAS IN A DEEP SLEEP WHEN THE FO'S RANG THE CALL CHIME. I WAS STARTLED AND DISORIENTED BECAUSE OF THE DEEP LEVEL OF SLEEP. I ALMOST FELT WORSE THAN I WOULD HAVE IF I HADN'T GONE TO SLEEP. IT WAS NOW ABOUT XU00 AM MY TIME. I COULD TELL THAT MY MIND WAS SLOW AND I FELT IRRITABLE. ON THE ARR AND APCH THE FLYING FO MADE SEVERAL SMALL ERRORS WHICH I WAS ABLE TO CATCH INCLUDING AT ONE POINT SOMEHOW SELECTING HDG HOLD WHILE WE WERE SUPPOSED TO BE ON LNAV AND HE DIDN'T NOTICE IT. I CAUGHT IT JUST BEFORE WE WERE TO MAKE A TURN ON THE ARR. WE ALSO MISSED A COUPLE OF RADIO CALLS I THINK BECAUSE OF WHAT COULD BEST BE DESCRIBED AS FEELING LIKE I WAS IN A HAZE FROM FATIGUE. ONCE AT THE GATE I RECALL SETTING THE PARKING BRAKE; CALLING FOR AND WATCHING THE FO CUT OFF THE START LEVERS AND WATCHING THE ENGS SPOOL DOWN; AND THEN PERFORMING MY FLOW AND TURNING EVERYTHING OFF. AT THIS TIME SOMEONE FROM THE RAMP CALLED THE COCKPIT AND STARTED INQUIRING ABOUT THE STATE OF THE AIRPLANE; WHAT WRITE-UPS HE RECEIVED; AND IF WE HAD ANYMORE. THIS WAS DEFINITELY A DISTR AND OUT OF THE NORMAL COURSE OF GND TO COCKPIT COMS AND MAY HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO THE PROB. AT THE END OF THIS DISCUSSION I GATHERED MY BELONGINGS AND WALKED OFF THE AIRPLANE. NEITHER COPLT CAUGHT THE FACT THAT WE MISSED THE PARKING CHKLIST. WHEN I WAS STANDING IN THE TERMINAL AT THE END OF THE JETBRIDGE SOMETHING IN THE BACK OF MY MIND KEPT TELLING ME THAT I MISSED SOMETHING. THEN IT STRUCK ME; WE DIDN'T READ THE CHKLIST. I ADVISED THE FO AND WE THEN TOOK ACTION TO CORRECT THE MISTAKE. WHILE WE ACTUALLY ACCOMPLISHED ALL OF THE PROPER PROCS IN TERMS OF SHUTTING DOWN THE AIRPLANE; IT IS WORTH NOTING HOW FATIGUE CAN AFFECT OUR PROCESSES. WHEN I THINK BACK ON THE YRS I'VE SPENT IN AIRPLANES WE OFTEN FEEL THIS HIGH LEVEL OF FATIGUE WHEN FLYING INTERNATIONAL TRIPS.

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.

Loading the flight search…

Frequently asked questions

How do I search flights by aircraft type on FlightFinder?

Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.

Which aircraft types can I filter by?

We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.

Is FlightFinder free to use?

Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.

Where does the route data come from?

Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.