A CL65 flight crew cited fatigue as the primary reason they experienced an unstabilized approach condition and needed to go-around and start over.
Synopsis
A CL65 flight crew cited fatigue as the primary reason they experienced an unstabilized approach condition and needed to go-around and start over.
Narrative
The First Officer was pilot flying and briefed a visual approach in VMC. After being vectored and descended to 2500 and cleared for the ILS approach we got behind the airplane and ended up too high to make a safe approach and landing. We elected to go around. The main reason we wanted to report this was because it bothered us so much that it happened and wanted to share what we think where contributing factors. The ATIS was reporting visual conditions; but the side of the airport we came in from was such that I think the poor visibility (around 5 miles) caused us to feel like we were further away than we were and had more time to get down. We had the ILS tuned in and of course had DME but failed to watch them close enough. I think we where just expecting to be able to do it completely visual. We both got up that morning around XA:30 for our XC:00 show. I had 2 long days of ground school the 2 days before; one day off before that and five long days of flying before that. The night before this I had been up many times helping to care for my sick children. The point is I was definitely tired. I should have called in fatigued. I didn't because I would lose pay and the culture at my airline is that it is frowned upon to do so. Unfortunately flying tired is something I'm very used to doing and I've grown accustomed to it. This is by far the worst result of it for me. Maybe the fact that I knew I had a long overnight caused me to feel like I just had to get through the day and then could rest. It should be noted that both pilots have been on reserve for 2 years at the company. I feel ashamed that we let this happen; we should be more professional no matter what our personal circumstances or busy flying schedules.
Second reporter narrative
As the First Officer; and flying pilot of this flight; I executed a standard go-around that was primarily caused by lack of situational awareness due to fatigue. Neither the Captain nor I noticed that we were almost 1;000 FT high on the ILS; until we picked up the airport visually; much closer then we had anticipated seeing it. We tried to configure the airplane and salvage the approach; but quickly realized that there was no chance of it working out. We executed the go around at around 1;500 FT AGL and were vectored back around for the ILS; which we completed with no further problems the second time around. Both of us agreed that we should have called in fatigued before this flight; but the loss of pay makes that an extremely difficult decision.
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Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.