Originally Posted by lcd
What is officially considered "serious" tiredness in pilots and CC as opposed to fatigue?
- I posted on this on the Mangalore thread in R&N.
It is very easy for people to become confused about 'serious tiredness' and 'fatigue'.
Tiredness is a state to be expected following or during a hard 'duty'. SSH/LXR is just that sort of duty. Crews are expected to be sufficiently rested before duty to allow working to the full FTL limit
and allowing for discretionary extension. Yes, they will be 'tired'.
Fatigue is a medical condition brought about by repeated and constant exposure to disruptive sleep patterns or disruptive social, medical or family events - real on-going difficulty in achieving adequate pre-flight rest is one example. This crew may well have been 'fatigued' but were they just tired? A succession of night duties followed by a run of days followed by a run of nights etc etc can, of course, cause 'fatigue' as can repeated time-zone shifts. Under the ANO it is NOT acceptable for crew to operate while 'fatigued' but quite acceptable (and expected) for them to operate when reasonably 'tired'. If genuinely 'fatigued' there are identifiable medical symptoms which can be recognised by a GP. A 'fatigued' crew member SHOULD report sick and be checked.
I'm afraid you will almost certainly have a 'tired' crew on your flight - that is the way it works, unless you fly with a 'premier' carrier that does not do those out-and-backs like that.
Even then, if the crew have been out shopping/sight-seeing that day before flying......................................