This is not the first academic report to conclude that there are safety concerns in the way some airlines are run these days. Take a look at this report that was commissioned for the JAA and published in August 2001:
http://www.icon-consulting.com/study...s/reportv2.pdf
This paragraph in the executive summary will strike a chord with airline pilots:
'Unsympathetic rostering increases fatigue, upsets sleep patterns, reduces morale and has a detrimental effect on the personal life of crew. In some cases this is combined with a reduced ratio of crew per aircraft, leading to a loss of flexibility and pressure to fly despite personal welfare.'
The point is that the CAA know about these problems and do not act. Who controls CAP 371? Commercial airline management or the regulator?
Better to put a lower limit on the maximum number of flying hours now than suffer the consequences of a fatigue related accident.
With these types of reports in the public domain it might be very difficult for the existing hierarchy at the CAA to remain in place in that terrible event.