Date: 201503
Local time of day: 0601-1200
Location: NCT.TRACON, CA
Light: Night
Aircraft: Light Transport; Low Wing; 2 Turbojet Eng
Operator: Fractional
Operating under: Part 91
Flight plan: IFR
Mission: Ambulance
Flight phase: Descent
Airspace: Class A NCT
ATC / advisory: TRACON NCT
Reporter organization: Government
Reporter function: Approach
Reporter qualification: Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Human factors: Communication Breakdown; Confusion; Distraction; Fatigue; Situational Awareness
Anomaly: ATC Issue All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Clearance; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Detector: Person Air Traffic Control
When detected: In-flight
Contributing factors: Human Factors; Procedure
Primary problem: Human Factors

Narrative: The Area E controller yelled over to me during the handoff that Aircraft X was direct the airport.  I checked the ATIS weather sequence and stopped reading on when I saw that it was IMC; and direct the airport wasn't going to help out Aircraft X.  As soon as I got him; I wanted to set him up for a quicker approach and put him direct the IAF for Oak ILS 28R; GROVE intersection.  The pilot read back that he would be expecting ILS Runway 30; but it was said quickly and I was so tired I didn't catch it.  It was about XX30L on the mid shift; and I had just taken the position.  I was extremely tired; more so than usual; and was having difficulty focusing on anything.  The pilot read back something about 27R; which 'used' to be the runway designator; so I corrected him that it was now 28R. All I heard was the mistake the pilot made in the runway numbering; and I missed it when he said that the ATIS was reporting 28R closed.  I also hadn't read the full ATIS sequence when I saw that the airport was IMC; I attempted to quickly alleviate any delays by giving him GROVE instead of direct the airport.  When I'm as tired as I was; I fall back on the habits I've built throughout the years; and direct GROVE is always a good fix. Out of habit; as relieving controllers we all start the briefing with 'I have the board'; even if we haven't read every single last detail on the board.  'Having the board' typically means we've got the weather; we see the NOTAMs are the same as they've been for the last year and we see the Traffic Management Unit (TMU) flows.  We see what we're accustomed to seeing.  If there is a detail out of place; it's often overlooked; such as an opposite direction runway in use; or a runway closure.  Runway closures are often posted in both the ATIS sequence and in a separate 'outage' box; but the font is small and red and easily overlooked. I would recommend first changing the font color and size in the outage box; and secondly I would make a change to the relief briefing SOP to verbally brief 'non-standard' procedures; even if it's 'on the board'. Things don't change much; and we don't expect them to.  Even if I 'have the board'; I appreciate it when the controller being relieved points out the obvious and briefs me on non-standard configurations and outages.




Synopsis: A Northern California TRACON (NCT) Controller working the mid shift reports that he didn't catch errors that he normally would have. The Controller reports he didn't catch a bad read back from a pilot and didn't remember that a runway was closed. The Controller reports that he was tired and having difficulty focusing.