StopStart
While I see where you are coming from, I would take issue with part of your comment. If you are unfit for routine, non-emergency work due to fatigue, whatever the cause for it, you are duty bound to delay the flight. Anything else is dangerous. If you choose to put yourself in that position by carousing the Strip/Sunset Blvd/Oz equivalent then that is a serious issue with professionalism and airmanship isn't it?
Likewise, on the mil side, if the crew are knackered and the mission non-essential then the mission should not be flown by that crew. Ideally, the mission plot should be altered to allow for another crew to fly that sortie or it should be delayed.
I am not naive enough to think that this situation is possible or likely in the current op tempo with the overstretch we are experiencing. As SLF either on MERT or doing Aeromed missions, we have similar issues in the back with fatigue but no rule book (whether outside or inside the window) to fall back on other than the general rules of professional conduct set out by our registering body (Gen Med Council/ Nursing & Midwifery Council). Research is being undertaken at the moment (those current 99/101/216 Sqn people may have seen the laptop with the testing software) to try and quantify the levels of fatigue. I will be interested to see how the issue will be managed when this research is completed.
I think the rules can be bent/broken/destroyed when operational necessity dictates but this should be a decision for higher authority (notwithstanding the a/c capt is making the final go decision)
Obviously these are non-pilot views and our CRM lags years behind the aircrew.
I stand by for correction/flaming
BtD