My mail was intended to open a dialogue on the subject and I except that to a point this sort of thing does make a rod for my own back. I also agree that it is irresponsible to work those hours and potentially dangerous.
The trouble with what happened was a perfect case of "can you just.....". On agreeing to go fix the aircraft I expected to finish at about 2am which would have meant a 14 hour shift. However as the positioning aircraft was delayed this pushed it back. Then I thought in the morning all that was needed was a pen job, as the MEL allowed us to go.Wrong again, etc.etc.
Also in the equation is the fact that I was contracting. Which changes the threshold at which you say no, both due to the money you're being payed and the vunrebility of the position.