An international First Officer reported being fatigued because he woke early for an afternoon departure which was delayed over 3 hours. Then he could not sleep during his inflight break and on arrival felt he was unsafe to fly.
Synopsis
An international First Officer reported being fatigued because he woke early for an afternoon departure which was delayed over 3 hours. Then he could not sleep during his inflight break and on arrival felt he was unsafe to fly.
Narrative
Due to a maintenance delay our flight departed 3 hours and 6 minutes late and into the night. I was acting as the First Officer and the non-flying pilot. Crew Scheduling did not call the crew to advise of a delayed departure due to maintenance. I signed in at approximately 4 hours and 40 minutes before departure. I woke in the early [morning] that morning unable to sleep any longer. After the late departure; I finally took my rest break at approximately 5 hours and 30 minutes after takeoff; approximately 21 hours after awakening the previous morning. My break was for about two [hours] and twenty minutes. I was unable to get any rest at all during my break due to a variety of reasons. The main reasons were excessive galley noise; passenger noise; a meal service in progress; window shades opened and bright sunlight entering the cabin; the light from a video monitor directly in front of the crew rest seat; location of the crew rest seat near the galley; the opening and closing of the closet directly in front of the crew rest seat; and the opening and closing of overhead bins. As a result I returned to the cockpit extremely fatigued. I mentioned this to both the Captain and the Relief Pilot. The Captain had slept on his break; but the Relief Pilot was also fatigued. I had now been awake for approximately for 24 hours. We descended and landed without incident. The entire descent; approach; and landing were unsafe in my opinion as two of the three pilots were very fatigued due to a lack of crew rest in flight. I feel my performance was seriously downgraded and that I was operating in almost a fog. I would have switched positions with the Relief Pilot; but it was clear he was in the same or worse condition. Weather was not a factor and we experienced no abnormal or emergency conditions. If we had; I am not sure I could have performed in a manner that would have resulted in a safe outcome due to the serious fatigue I [was] experiencing. Had I been able to sleep for even two hours of my break; the fatigue I experienced would not have occurred.
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Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.