if you have any alcohol at all in your system AND you are tired, you should not be flying at all, as the combination of the two is deadly.
Really? Could you site me some examples of air crashes, involving boozed up pilots?
And the effects of alcohol on any intellectual or physical activity are also very easy to study and understand, and there's nothing magic about flying that sets it apart from other such activities in this respect.
There is indeed something "magic" about flying (in many respects). Every time a pilot is breathalysed, and even if he turns out to be completely innocent, it is "Drunk Pilot" in the Tabloids all round, and the usual bunch of sanctimonious prudes float to the surface here. How many other professions get that? When was the last time a surgeon was breathalysed?
I wonder how many other people, if breathalysed at the start of their work day would be ridiculously past the limit airline pilots are required to meet, and 99.9% do, due to a few too many glasses of vino the night before. Some of them, shock horror, might even have safety critical responsibilities.
I just love the modern, political-correct way, that when anyone dares to voice mitigating circumstances, or try to add some balance to the outrage from the holier-than-though brigade, they are accused of "defending drunk pilots" etc. No one has ever defended drunk pilots. I've never even seen or heard of a drunk pilot on duty. That's drunk BTW, not blowing to some arbritrary limit, but effectively zero, imposed by a state.
Rules are rules, fair enough, but let's keep things in perspective.