I've had a wee look at the jetstar website for flight time and if we assume a one hour sign on period and a one hour turn around time in Singapore, then the F/O would have been awake for 18 hours when approaching to land in Darwin on the second sector. Nine of those hours would have been spent with a cabin altitude of about 7000ft, and 11.6 of those hours working (not including catching the crew bus to and from hotels).
Can we really expect sharp performance in an emergency situation after being awake for 18 hours after 5 hours of broken sleep? I'm not saying we can't, but I'd like to hear what other pilots think keeping in mind that this isn't an operation where the crew can retire to crew rest for a power nap.
Another thought; If 0630 is this guys standard rising time and he did that the day before as well, he would have had a total of five hours sleep in a period of 42 hours. 17.6 of those 42 hours would have been at work.
I think pilots should make every effort to manage their down time in order to be well rested, but if you haven't managed it (wife, kids, bank manager, next door neighbours etc etc etc), how is it recieved by the company if you call unfit for duty?