Real life is not what civil servants (i.e. those on the States payroll) e.g. the Police, or HSE inspectors, or Sleep Professors know about.
The harsh and commercial realities of aviation life are that when you get called - as I did, and still do, e.g. just two nights ago, for a very heavy night flight - yet having been awake all day - one doesn't say "I'm sorry but I'm afraid that I've not been able to sleep this afternoon, and accordingly I can't come in to work, because I may be, or might become, fatigued. So you'd better call somebody else. Byee"
To which they reply, "but there is nobody else - it's either you, or we lose this £100,000 worth of business !" etc.
Suddenly your minds-eye reveals your colleagues having to tell their children why there's no food on the table.........
"Ok, what times report ?"
Perhaps then, FTL's are really a crock of sh!t (just a nice aiming point) and we all know it, in that if you stick to them then (at best) you're either marking your card for the future, or else (at worst) the company goes out of business - when it's undercut by some other airline who's crew are 'more flexible'.
E.g. how many times have we all gone to work when asked (begged) by crewing (or OpsMgmt) to do so due to an 'unplanned crew shortfall' or unexpected yet lucrative market opportunity, albeit that you know you maybe shouldn't ?!
And whilst I'm on my soap box...... those wa_nkers in the Belgrano (UK CAA) are a prime example of the biggest bunch of lazy incompetent to_ssers that ever lived - because one can be sure that they'll say that they always audit the hours which crews keep and find only minor infringements (surprise surprise)
But hold on a minute, nobody from FltOps Inspectorate has ever bothered to call me about what was an apparently 'legally rostered' flight duty (see above) - and why not ?!
The fact that it was actually outrageous seems to escape them, e.g. I finish work the night before at 10pm (after a five sector day), drive home, go to bed at midnight, wake at 6am (the rest you can read above)
So let's all get real (and honest about it) !
Yeah, there's certainly different strokes for different folks - but everybody needs (some) sleep, be yea driving a plane, car, ship, train, etc.......
ZZZZZZZZZZ