Cessna Citation Undifferentiated or Other Model
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Fatigue; Time Pressure; Communication Breakdown
Other Fatigue
General Work Refused
Company Policy; Human Factors
On [Day 1]; we had a 1215 EDT show and eventually finished up our day with an owner flight. Our duty off time was 0056 EDT with a total duty day of 12 hours and 41 minutes. We had delayed transportation to the hotel and eventually entered rest at 0120 EDT on [Day 2]. I had been up since 0700 EDT on [Day 1] for a total awake time of 17 hours and 56 minutes at shutdown. While I felt fit to fly the night flight; I did consume a couple of cups of coffee during the evening to help with my attentiveness. Our brief for [Day 2] was for an 1138 EDT show; 3 legs and a planned duty day of 9 hours. Prior to our shut-down on [Day 1]; I notified the company that I felt the chances of accomplishing that brief were not good due to the fact that I was going to have a hard time getting to sleep immediately due to the caffeine I had in my system. I told them a ten hour turn after a late night arrival wasn't the safest plan they could come up with. They said they would notify Scheduling of my concerns and to 'do my best.' I eventually fell asleep around 0345-0400 EDT and woke up at 0845 EDT due to noise in the hotel hall. I tried to fall back asleep for another hour or so but was unable to do so. I knew I hadn't gotten adequate rest to safely accomplish my flight duties and I notified the company of that fact at 1138 EDT when I checked in for duty. I was placed back in rest at 1230 EDT with a show of 0700 EDT on [Day 3].10 hour turns are difficult enough to get adequate rest in the best of cases - i.e. when you know they are coming and you are on a normal wake/sleep schedule. We never know what our show times are going to be on Day 1 of a trip; so adequately preparing for a trip is almost impossible. Also; when flight operation requirements dictate deviating from normal wake/sleep cycles; increased rest and shorter duty times should be the norm. On [Day 1 and 2]; the company took the alternate path of planning long duty days with minimum turns from late night operations. The only safety mechanism left at that point was my crew calling in fatigued. Specific recommendations: 1) use available fatigue abatement software to force Scheduling into a safer operation. Build in constraints for duty time and rest periods based on normal wake/sleep cycles. 2) When crews advise that the planned rest/duty cycle doesn't look doable; require an immediate review of the situation by a flight operations supervisor to determine if this is the best available plan. Lip service of 'do your best' isn't adequate. 3) Give a greater heads up on planned duty times for Day 1. Getting a brief at 1800L the night prior doesn't allow any [necessary sleep/rest cycle] modifications to be made for early or late operations.
A C560XL Captain for a fractional operator addressed debilitating scheduling practices that force flight crew members to refuse flights due to fatigue or to accede to them and risk violation of regulations requiring they fly only when fit for duty.