Wino: You said it. The paper shufflers in Washington DC can't measure fatigue and the FAA relishes almost any chance they can to evade the topic by describing FAR "legalities". At least the NTSB finally had the nerve (b***s) to blame an accident primarily on fatigue [by standing up to the FAA] when the Connie Kalitta DC-8 cartwheeled years ago during the hazardous turn to final at NAS Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. This accident followed an all-night duty period which was preceded by a long daytime period when most of the crew had enjoyed little sleep, if any.
The duty periods were "legal". How have fatigue and the well-documented MD-11 control anomalies affected the investigation of the terrible FEDEX accident at Newark, if at all? How much pressure was exerted by MD/Boeing on FEDEX and the FAA to find fault only with the crew?
