A320
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Fatigue; Situational Awareness
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Flight Crew Became Reoriented
Human Factors
The First Officer had not seen an autoland and since it was a long day after a short day sleep; I decided it was a good day to do an autoland. The approach was perfect. My FO missed the Approaching Alert Height and I reminded her. She missed the alert height call and I reminded her. Shortly after that I lost situational awareness. For some reason; I thought we were on the ground. I quickly pulled the thrust levers to idle and started to raise the thrust reverser paddles. As soon as I did that I quickly pushed the handles back down. The landing was very firm; but not hard.I did not realize how tired I was. I felt ok. But; that loss of situational awareness gave me a shot of adrenaline and that's when I realized I wasn't as alert as I thought. I really don't think the reversers ever deployed; but because the landing was much harder than I'm used to on an autoland; I thought I better write this report.
A320 Captain reported that during an autoland procedure; he mistakenly thought the aircraft was on the ground. He set trust to idle and started to raise the thrust reverser paddles resulting in a very firm landing.