Fatigue has been a contributing factor to many accidents in my opinion but of course it is not always stated as such in accident reports. I suspect the reason is crews have been operating within the rules but as we all know airlines see the rules as a target not a limit. No AIB investigator is going to put the accident down to fatigue unless the rules have been broken and there is clear proof the pilot was suffering from fatigue. If the airline was operating within the rules then of course any good lawyer would have a field day with any report that claimed fatigue was a contributing factor to any accident.
We have seen in the press recently several cases of pilots being arrested for drinking and flying, the effects of alchohol are simular to tirdness or fatigue. Yet I do not see the police or authorities doing anything about operators who put crew in this position. How many of us, if honest, have found ourselves very tired at the controls even though we have been rested and worked within the rules. The rules do not work!
Attacking an individual company is only part of the answer, we need to get the rules changed so that everyone operates on a level playing field. The harsh reality of life is companies are motivated by comercial pressures and will only do what they are forced to do by the law or industrial action.
What we need is the press for once to report on this in detail. Singaling out individual companies is not the answer the whole industry needs sorting out.