norman_nigel I too concur...... wherein perhaps all one can say, given the obviously vast scale of this ‘
problem’, is that it really must be down to just pure luck that airliners aren't falling from the skies on a regular basis with knackered commuter pilots zzzed’ing at their controls.
I once used to commute over 100 miles to work, then do a multi-sector scheduled service / 'low cost' day, then drive home after it and I felt fine the whole time; no incidents or accidents, consistently delivering a professional level of aircraft operation, good results in the sim & appraisals, never fell asleep either in the air or on the road, etc, ...... my commute seemingly had not the slightest effect on me - so there !
However, the funny thing is that, now ( working in ‘charter’ ), when the kids / wife / postman / gasman / neighbours manage to wake me up between night flights - which I didn't do in the previous job and wherein I presently only live 30 miles from work - I've had more times when I've felt tired with the present regime than with the former & its commute - so go figure, or maybe it’s just different strokes for different folks ?!
JustBelow - When was the last time you heard of somebody calling crewing and using the ‘F’(atigue) word as a result of, say, their sleep being disturbed ( by, say, kids / wife / postman / gasman / neighbours ) preceding a night-flight wherein one might be just a tired - if not more so - albeit that one might live close to the airport ?
Ps. What FTL's are applied to the armed forces ?