A321
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Other / Unknown; Fatigue
No Specific Anomaly Occurred All Types
General None Reported / Taken
Company Policy; Human Factors
On departure; I missed a couple ATC radio calls. They were normal clearance calls and not urgent; but I just plain missed the calls. I also noticed that ATC communications with multiple instructions (heading; altitude; frequency; etc.) were difficult to mentally process and read back. I feel I was suffering the effect of accumulated fatigue. When we got to cruise; I tried to move around and get the 'blood flowing;' had a bite to eat and was able to complete my duties as pilot not flying for the duration of the flight. I noticed on the radio that many other 'company' call signs were also completely missing radio calls and miss-repeating clearances. These were call signs that I could distinctly hear and all of them were having difficulty with ATC of one kind or another and making mistakes. As the night progressed; I heard at least two times of ATC trying to contact 'company' flights multiple times with no response.The Captain and I discussed the issues at length during cruise. Both of us admitted to being more generally tired (on and off duty) than ever before in our careers. In all of our conversations with other pilots we are hearing the same story of being 'beat;' 'exhausted;' 'tired;' 'worn out' and even the dreaded 'fatigued.' The general consensus is that our work schedules have gotten so bad that we are unable to rest and recover when home or off duty. It is common to hear pilots complain that it feels like they are never home any more. First let me say that I am no slouch. I believe in doing an honest day's work for an honest day's pay and have worked hard all my life. Since the advent of FAR 117 and Company schedule changes; the pairings and monthly schedules out of my domicile have progressively gotten worse. These abuses of an airline-favorable regulation (117) and the perceived dumping of a lot of 'bad' flying on my domicile appears to be taking a toll after 5 months of accumulation. Myself and all pilots I speak with agree that an accident is not a matter of 'if'; but of 'when'. From what I heard on the radio on this night; the 'when' may be soon. For the first time in my career; I legitimately know what fatigue feels like. For the first time in my career; I am legitimately afraid of putting my loved ones on our planes. FAR 117 needs to be reviewed now that we are six months in. From all pilots' point of view; it has made things far worse than they have ever been before. We are ALL more tired and burned out (including our off-duty lives) than ever before. Company schedule creation policy needs to be reviewed. Domicile schedules have continued to erode over the last several years. It is finally taking its toll and starting to catch up with all of us. Company crew accommodations policy needs to be reviewed. Pilots generally agree that the quality of crew accommodations has eroded in line with the pairings. It is getting more difficult to get a good rest and almost as importantly a good healthy meal at many of the hotels in which we are now being placed and this is contributing to overall fatigue. Is it going to take an accident to fix these issues?
Airbus First Officer reports being more generally fatigued since the implementation of FAR 117; partially due to to the regulation itself and partially due to the poor schedules being designed for his domicile. Layover hotels were also cited as not being conducive to a good nights rest.