An B767 Captain fell asleep in flight because his domestic protected time was opposite the international flight departure he was involuntarily assigned so his awake time exceeded twenty four hours. Previously refusing an international trip fatigued cost him a day's pay.
Synopsis
An B767 Captain fell asleep in flight because his domestic protected time was opposite the international flight departure he was involuntarily assigned so his awake time exceeded twenty four hours. Previously refusing an international trip fatigued cost him a day's pay.
Narrative
Crew fell asleep momentarily during cruise. Aware of this as a result of knowing a position report was coming up nodding then realizing we were past point by a minute or two. Captain called out while on short reserve. He had been awake since XA:00. As a result of call out he went over 24 hours prior to crew rest. As Captain and non flying pilot at this time I have learned a lot. I recently refused a similar assignment for fatigue knowing I was unable to perform my duties safely. I was charged a personal day even though I had been on duty 13 of my 15 hours as a short call. Unfortunately this time I allowed the pressure by the company to mark it personal and dock my pay to influence my decision. I took the assignment and flew; resulting in falling asleep momentarily and surely operating at less than acceptable levels of safety. It is impossible as a short call reserve to be rested for all situations. If I had rested in afternoon just in case of a flight assignment then I would have been unable to rest during my protected time (PT) for assignment the next day. LEGAL does not mean safe. We need designated INTERNATIONAL reserves. Although no incident occurred; the awareness of its possibility is clear now.
Second reporter narrative
I was the Relief Pilot and ended up with the first break. When I returned from my break I relieved the First Officer. While filling in for the First Officer the Captain told me he had 'dozed off for a couple of minutes'. He said he realized it because he had missed a reporting point by a minute or so. Later on in the flight; closer to the end of the First Officer's rest break; the Captain said he was very tired and shortly thereafter dozed off for about two minutes. (He did what I refer to as a 'chin-drop'). No calls were missed. The First Officer returned a few minutes later and the Captain went to the rest seat. After his rest period the Captain returned and appeared to be adequately rested to destination. It's important to note that the Captain is a 'Short Call Reserve' and had been on RESERVE duty for approximately 13 hours and approaching his PROTECTED TIME (FAA Mandated rest period for DOMESTIC trips) when Scheduling contacted him and assigned him this trip due to a Captain out of position situation. Under our current system at my carrier reserves are expected to cover INTERNATIONAL trips without regard to the PT restrictions that are required for DOMESTIC trips thereby allowing for this Captain to have been on CONTINUOUS duty in excess of 24 hours. (Our contract has a 16 hour duty provision but for some reason this does not seem to apply). I personally have experienced just about every possible Reserve scheduling scenario one can imagine. Please believe me when I say that this situation alone represents the WEAKEST LINK in the Reserve assignment process. Add to it the fact that when this normally occurs there are other circumstances that only serve to aggravate the situation (late; mechanical; MEL; bad weather; backside of the clock; take your pick). Having been a Reserve almost all my life living in base with great family support as to getting sufficient rest due to Reserve I can tell you that there is no way possible a pilot can be adequately rested for an assignment like this unless: The pilot knows in advance he will be assigned or by accident. Apply the same rest requirements to International that are required for Domestic. Otherwise the message is 'we only care if you're rested for Domestic'. Rest is rest and it needs to be consistent no matter where you're going. THIS IS AN EASY FIX!
More incidents for this aircraft family →
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.