B737-700
Time Pressure; Workload; Communication Breakdown; Fatigue; Physiological - Other
ATC Issue All Types; Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Other / Unknown
Flight Crew Overcame Equipment Problem; General Flight Cancelled / Delayed
Aircraft; Human Factors; Company Policy
This was an extended chain of events that started in city. We were supposed to fly from city to city to city. When we arrived in city we were pulled from our aircraft and it was given to a crew that was almost five hours late. They were to fly our leg to city since they were almost timed out and we were to fly their pairing of city; city; city; city greatly extending our day. We were told the aircraft was at another gate and we were to leave in a half hour.When we arrived at the new gate; the aircraft was there but two Mechanics had the First Officer's sliding window out and were working on it in the front seat. Obviously the airplane was not going to leave in a half hour; it was not boarded; and we had not been informed by anyone that it was being worked on. The Mechanics worked on the window for quite a while and finally pulled the aircraft from service. We were told we would get the next aircraft to terminate. This took a long time and we did not leave city until two hours later.We flew to city which was controlled on the way in and uncontrolled on the way out due to the late hour. We unloaded and loaded the aircraft and flew to city. Both of these flights occurred without incident. We loaded up in city and departed early in the morning. On climbout the Center Controller seemed slow to respond and we had to ask for a turn on course to the north. We proceeded up to city which was now uncontrolled as well. Center descended us down to 2;000 FT; but because we were never given a frequency change; at some point we went lost comm. We were now at 2;000 FT on a downwind flying inland with no communication with Tower; Approach or Center.I tried to raise Center several times and was about to squawk 7600 and turn in for the approach when the First Officer noticed another frequency listed on the approach plate for Center. We dialed it up got hold of the same Center Controller and turned in for the approach.Although ATIS was reporting 800 FT overcast we broke out right at minimums; almost a go-around situation. We landed and blocked in an hour later.This situation is not that abnormal ten days later. I was woken up in my hotel room by scheduling after getting to the hotel late in city; moved up; and given 30 minutes to van time to then take an airplane from city to city. Once in city the aircraft was taken and we had to wait almost three hours for an aircraft to be ferried from city. We then proceeded with our 12 hour plus day after a short overnight.It may be a difficult situation; but at some point; a flight may just need to be cancelled or fresh reserves called in. Fatigue is not limited just to Company. We had controllers that were slow to respond. ATIS information that was inaccurate or slow to be updated; maintenance information that was not getting passed along and; because of Dispatch and Scheduling decisions; two flight crews with long days and very late hours instead of one. All of this happened to us in the continental United States. My concern is that this will only be compounded in such places as Mexico with poor English speaking controllers; no terrain clearance; and poor radar coverage.
A B737-700 Captain provided a detailed description of the debilitating effects of flight pairing reassignments and delays encountered on flight crew's ability to perform effectively. Also provided examples of ATC disfunctionalitly he believes may be exacaerbated by similar fatigue inducing scheduling practices.