No Aircraft
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Fatigue
Other Fatigue
General Work Refused
Company Policy; Human Factors; Staffing
I called in 'fatigued' for an assignment with an early morning show time. I feel; however; the problem started with the trip prior which finished with a red eye the previous morning. That trip had an evening show time. With a late show; your day does not start late; your day starts at 'normal' times; because of daily commitments; chores; duties; etc. my day; that day; started at 0600 as usual. By the time we got to the hotel around midnight I had been awake for around 21 straight hours. I then; inexplicably; awoke around 3 hours later (0600 home time)--probably out of body clock habit--and had trouble falling back to sleep. Got a phone call 4 hours and 22 minutes later; but no one was on the line. I called front desk thinking it could have been Scheduling or my First Officer; but they said it was not his number and that it was internal but probably a wrong number.Could not fall back to sleep. Started to but; an hour later; a construction crew across the street from my room started their day. That noise; made it impossible to fall back to sleep…hammering; jack hammering; cranes; trucks; etc. I gave up trying to sleep and got out of bed after another hour; having been awake for the most part; since the phone call. Our van time was in 9 hours for an hour later push. [I] had to fly two legs; with a sit and aircraft change in the middle. By the time we got to our first destination; I had been awake for nearly 14 hours. Still felt OK at this point. By the time we got to our second destination; I had been awake for around 24 hours and was feeling rather wiped out. I then drove an hour and a half home. At this point I had two choices; neither of which was attractive. I could sleep now; risking being up and wide awake later and not able to fall back to sleep; or wait until later; risking not getting enough sleep and not being wide awake by my early wake up time. I tried napping but had errands to do and distractions all day long. Luckily I set my cell phone alarm because I passed out on the couch later. I took a shower and drank a cup of coffee at my wakeup time but; as I tried to dress; I was literally dead on my feet. I knew I couldn't safely make the drive for a show three hours later; let along fly all day. I knew the only safe course of action was to use a 'fatigue' call. I felt guilty at first; but truly believe I made the prudent choice today.
An air carrier Captain provided a detailed account of the events leading up to his refusal to fly a later assignment due to fatigue.