No Aircraft
Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Situational Awareness; Training / Qualification; Confusion; Distraction; Fatigue
No Specific Anomaly Occurred Unwanted Situation
General None Reported / Taken
Environment - Non Weather Related; Procedure; Human Factors
Sequence XXXX is paper legal but challenges common sense.  Bottom line up front; the overall experience level and proficiency of the [aircraft type] pilot group; the training for ZZZZ; ZZZZ itself and the lack of an opportunity to get real rest while flying creates the perfect storm of factors with the potential to cause a true safety event.   We had no safety issues on training flight X into ZZZZ and on training flight Y out of ZZZZ. However; this trip inherently causes the whole crew to be 'in the red' at the gate day one.The [aircraft type] Pilot Group in normal times run on the low end of the proficiency spectrum with 4 takeoffs and landings a month being a good month as compared to a narrow body pilot who will get close to that in one trip alone.  With COVID; the reduced flying schedule; and pilots taking leave of absences this proficiency has diminished even further.  There is also a steady stream of new [aircraft type] pilots entering the fleet despite the flying downturn as retiring pilots are often [aircraft type] Captains.  For example; on this crew; the Captain had XXXX hours; the Check Airman and myself had in the XXX-hour range; and the experienced pilot was the Relief Pilot with around YXXX hours. I would say this is typical with two of us have less than a XXXX in the equipment and one pilot being experienced.  Point being the [aircraft type] pilot group in a COVID world with diminished proficiency is not at their peak performance capability.  Now we add in ZZZZ and the training into ZZZZ.  My training into ZZZZ took place at night on the jump seat.  Again; this may be paper legal but to me negates the intent of in person training.  After this trip my spouse asked me how did the mountains look.  My reply;' What mountains?'  On our VFR night; I could see none other than the EGPWS red and yellow dots.  Luckily; I have a strong memory of going into ZZZZ in a [type aircraft] model and my flight engineer sweating as he ran spaghetti charts trying to figure if we could climbout.  With training at night into ZZZZ; it is like someone asking you to find the bathroom in a dark hotel room never seeing the room in the day.  You know there are some walls and furniture for obstacles but until you turn on the lights you don't get a sense of how close you are to smacking into something.  Also; the elevation and ground speed while sensed was reduced due to being night. We as a [aircraft type] group fly through mountainous terrain to mountain airports that are not high altitude.  Thus; we are 'new' as a group on this equipment despite previous experience on other equipment.  Finally; we have the problematic rest issue which is paper legal and perplexing of how it meets the intent of rest.  Typically; the Relief Pilot gets the first break.  On our Continent Y flights that depart at similar times; most don't sleep but the key difference they land 1-3 am body clock time.  So; staying awake the whole flight and not being fatigued is more attainable.  This sequence; however; lands at XA am body clock time and flies through the whole WOCL.  If a flight is going to this location area; they also land close to XA am body clock time but most Relief Pilots will sleep as the flights takeoff closer to a normal bedtime hour. On this sequence; I would suspect most Relief Pilots will not sleep as they are past the normal circadian dip in the afternoon but not ready for nighttime sleep.  End result landing in ZZZ or ZZZ1 with a fatigued third pilot. Now for the PF/PM.  Usually; the PF takes the second break.  But this is inherently problematic on this trip.  If you alternate legs; the PM from the first leg now will be the PF on the second leg.  The concern is that typically on a long-haul flight requiring three pilots the workload at this point has decreased and that pilot is winding down for their break.  This sequence is the exact opposite.  Everyone after sitting on the ground for an hour plus is at a heightened awareness due to the ever-present terrain and typical weather. So; the usual 15 minutes after takeoff to start a break might not work in that it may be less than ideal while still climbing out navigating storms to swap seats.  Since we had four pilots this played out differently.  Once the PF is able to commence a break that heightened awareness may work negatively against sleep.  Also; on long haul flights this is the quietest break as the first service is done and the second hasn't started.  Not the case with this sequence as their will be a service because it is a new flight. There is a strong potential that none of the pilots get sleep. All this will be repeated the second day with the added potential for hotel sleep issues etc.; and maybe not being able to get the restorative sleep needed to make up for the first night deficit. The second night the takeoff out of ZZZZ will be the most critical in my opinion especially if there is strong weather and or any maintenance issues.  But will a pilot really call-in fatigue on the go home leg to attempt rest at 8;000 feet? Finally; there is the human element that no one wants to talk about.  What are the options for a crew who knows their limitations when it comes to this trip such as proficiency; experience; fatigue; age etc.  All four of us didn't think this sequence was smart and were cautious about being there.  Most [aircraft type] sequences are 1 leg and 1 leg or it is a day turn.  COVID has changed this but not the expectation level of the [aircraft type] pilot group for this type of flying.  When I was junior in the company on reserve; I flew a lot of ZZZ2; ZZZ3 and ZZZ4.  Why because the senior pilots could avoid these high workload cities.  Now we are on a senior fleet that by definition is older. There is no true junior pilot on the fleet.   Pilots are doing their best to see and avoid this sequence understanding their limitations.  I think this adage sums up the situation there are bold pilots and there are old pilots but there are no old; bold pilots. The sequence is ripe with pitfalls and I think the group would rather be old than bold.Somethings we can't overcome no matter how good or professional we are as pilots.  One is fatigue.  Two is experience and proficiency.  This sequence challenges both of these.  [Airline] pilots will fly to ZZZZ. This is not in question. How we do this and how smart we are about this is the reason for this report.  First examine if the loads and cargo warrant the use of the [aircraft type].  If yes; can it be flown into daylight hours letting the pilots be at their peak waking performance? This would allow two of the challenging factors of this trip to be negated which are night operations into ZZZZ and rest issues.  If no; can the trip be divided into a ZZZ1 turn and a ZZZ turn at night that leaves earlier?  Still not ideal but better.   Finally; can training be accomplished in daylight hours.  We can't change the challenging nature of ZZZZ's terrain and weather; but we can change how we operate in and out of the airport to recognize rest concerns; crew limitations and thus optimizing safety every flight.
Air carrier First Officer reported safety related concerns with flying into and out of a challenging foreign airport.  Reporter cited lack of flying; training and fatigue inducing scheduling all increase the risk of flying into this location.