Aircraft Fatigue Case Study

The factors that contributed to fatigue on our 30AUG16 flight:

1.) There was a 1.5 hour delay due to catering issues in Guam the previous evening. This reduced our rest period in Darwin, Australia where this duty period started. The aircraft was being positioned from Travis Airforce Base, California to Darwin empty. Having an augmented crew, stopping in Guam seemed unnecessary.

2.) When we arrived in Darwin, the new hire FO did not have a visa to Australia. This subtracted another 25 minutes from our rest.

3.) After deplaning and waiting to be released from Immigration, I had discussion about loading with the ground staff. It was estimated that our upload would take 12 hours. After describing our rest situation and challenging duty day to follow, I requested the loading team to delay our wake up if more time

We waited for over an hour for our handling agent to appear. When we finally made contact with ground ops, we were told that they were not yet complete and the aircraft would then be towed to the terminal to meet us. Unfortunately, we were further delayed because of a crewmember having to check in a bag that contained a bottle of liquid.

5.) Aircraft N473MC is a nonstandard conversion aircraft where the bunks are located on the starboard side. My crew had been paired with this aircraft for several days and discovered that the temperature in the crew rest area temperature would not cool below 24C/75F degrees. When it came time for me to take my rest, the bottom bunk was occupied and the top area felt like leaning into a kiln.

6.) I then discovered that there were no clean blankets supplied for the flight. The new hire FO admitted doing the upperdeck preflight and mentioned that his Check Airmen did not teach him how to inspect catering or say that clean blankets are required. There is an increasing trend of these items being neglected by new First