JWP ..........
Get up at 3am, go and get a dining room chair and sit in it for 12 hours.
better still, have the chair placed in the cupboard under the stairs, with no light other than maybe a 15 watt bulb, have the kids beat on the door every now and again, and run up and down the stairs, and the wife throw in a couple of meals on trays ( preferably chicken ).
Then get out and drive around the M-25 for awhile before going to bed, get up at dusk and do it all again - as was suggested - for a few days.
I was driving home from such a real life - not simulated - flying duty when I heard the BBC announce the sad news of the Vanguard crash in Basle, and the M.D. ( CEO's hadn't been invented then ) of the airline was asked if fatigue could have been a problem ? Not at all, was the reply (and of course it might not have been) because the aircraft didn't take off from Bristol until 08.30.
WTF had that got to do with it ? I was so incensed I drove straight around to my local M.P.'s home - he lived near me - and expressed my discontent, and explained that ... the aircraft had departed from Manston, and stopped at Hurn before arriving at Bristol to embark the members of the Womens' Institute on their chartered day out.
Do your own maths. What time did the a/c arr. at Bristol ? What time did it depart Hurn ? What time did it arr. Hurn ? what time did it depart Manston ?
What time did the crew report for duty at Manston ? What time did the crew get out of bed ? What time did they go to bed ? What had they done the day before by way of flying duties ?
WTF did a departure from Bristol have to do with no fatigue involved
just because it was at 08.30 ? Totally irrelevant, and yet it gave the impression to the Great Unwashed that the managements' scheduling and rest policies had nothing to do with the accident. I accept that it might not, and yes, I have read the accident report, I'm making a point that non-pilots have absolutely no idea of how accumulative fatigue can affect flight safety.
M.P.s need to understand what real people do - I made sure mine did.
Not my problem anymore ( I wish I had a job, at least I'd get one day off a week !! ) - except that I might now be your passenger !
Best of luck chaps.
JWP ..........
Your faith in autopilots whilst pilots sleep is staggering, ( and ignorant ) you must have heard the old story of the first fully automatic pilotless flight, where just before take off the passenger address system announces .... Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome aboard this fully automatic flight, where nothing can go wrong, go wrong, go wrong, go wrong, go... ?