...going by this description from the New York Times of what they did before the flight. Maybe I'm naive, but this shocked me.
Captain Renslow had flown to Newark from his home in Florida the previous evening and had apparently slept in the crew lounge of Newark Liberty International Airport, a room not much different from a frequent-flier club lounge. Pilots are warned not to try to sleep there, under threat of dismissal.
Other pilots interviewed by board investigators said that Captain Renslow had discussed renting a ”crash pad” to sleep at near the airport, though he never did.
First Officer Shaw had left her home in Maple Valley, near Seattle, and taken an evening flight in the cockpit of a FedEx cargo jet to Memphis. Then, in the middle of the night, she transferred to the cockpit of another plane bound for Newark.
Investigators said it was not clear whether either pilot could have gotten any sleep during the day of the flight.
According to board officials, at one point Colgan Air warned crew members who lived far from Newark not to try to fly in the same day a shift began. But the airline’s most recent instructions to pilots do not include that warning.
In February, of the 137 pilots working for Colgan in Newark, 93 identified themselves as living far away, according to the board.