FATIGUE is in NO WAY a VALID excuse for violating SOPs or FARs or AOM prodecures. With that being said please spare us with the usual cliches.
Fatigue causes non-compliance by the effects on the individual. Studies in Australia have shown that being awake for 24 hours is similar to a blood alcohol content of .10 which is twice the legal limit on Australian roads. The legal limit for pilots is .02 which is effectively zero.
You are not allowed to pilot a plane while intoxicated so why is it ok to pilot one when fatigued? Because you cannot exactly measure fatigue as it is different in everybody. captjns is once again quite happy to hang the individuals concerned rather than look a little deeper and see how the individuals got to be in that place. They had obviously flown successfully many times before so they had the skills to get the job done. What was different on that night? How did the two of them commuting from opposite sides of the country end up flying together?
This was an accident waiting to happen, it was only a matter of time before the two long distance commuters ended up being paired together. Airlines have a duty of care to staff, passengers and the general public to ensure this sort of accident is not allowed to happen. Commuting crew are setting themselves up to fail as they are trying to sleep on aircraft, crew rooms or the couch at a mates house. Hardly the ideal environment that they need to be properly rested before reporting for duty. If the airlines wont regulate these workers, and the company wont, then we will see an increase in the accident rate. Currently global aviation is stalling but as soon as the economies pick up we can expect seat numbers to double again in the next 10 years. In this time it is crucial to get fatigue systems in place to protect all concerned or we will see accident rates climb back to heights not seen since the 1970's.
Prof James Reason's swiss cheese model proves itself again.