BAe 125 Series 800
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Communication Breakdown; Fatigue
Other fatigue
General Work Refused
Company Policy; Human Factors
I am a pilot for a large unscheduled fractional operator. The [company's] fatigue inducing schedules are almost impossible to manage. I was forced to call in fatigued this time because two days in a row my scheduled duty start time forced me to wake up at 0300 one day and 0200 the next. These times reflect the time zone where I live. The workload is not the issue. The problem is that I am constantly being shifted back and forth on duty start times and it creates a constant state of fatigue while I am on the road. There are no controls or safeguards for this at the scheduling level and it is up to the pilot to call in fatigued. The company fatigue policy is supposed to be a no questions asked policy; yet I have been called into Headquarters and asked why I have so many fatigue calls. This causes me to be uneasy about calling in fatigued and to push myself when I should not. Another issue I see a lot are very early duty start times--often between the 0300-0500 hour--with six to eight hours of sitting at the airport. After these very early wake ups and extensive sits I am often expected to fly another five or six hours. This causes fatigue. Management's practice of calling people into Headquarters about fatigue calls has also created a social stigma among the pilot group where; if one deviates from the statistical average of fatigue calls; he/she is deemed an 'abuser' of the policy. Because our company is an unscheduled operation and pilots cannot bid trips ahead of time; Schedulers often give certain pilots 'preferential treatment' with their schedules thereby skewing the fatigue numbers. This helps the company justify that only a few 'abuse' the fatigue policy by giving just a few the most 'fatiguing' schedules.
An HS-125 Captain for a fractional operator alleged coercion of some pilots to fly fatiguing schedules and preferential treatment for others to avoid the same; resulting in flight crews being compelled to fly when not fit to do so.