AZR, thanks for that point.
Across a translation, there is ample room for doubt inhow one understands that remark.
If one's body clock was a bit off, one's rest might be disturbed.
There are other reasons for not getting a full night's sleep, none of which the Captain's remarks refer to. Nor did he amplify. I don't doubt that in his career, he'd flown a flight or two when his sleep had been interrupted the night before. See CONFiture's point ...
If I go to bed to get six or seven hours of sleep, but on a particular evening toss and turn and get interrupted or poor sleep, versus getting uninterrupted sleep, will I just throw up my hands and not make my take off time?
I doubt it.
Whether or not the Captain was alert, or if he was shaking off the effects of a tired body remains a point of speculation. I don't think we can ever know, unless someone comes up with credible evidence. Sharp or not so sharp, he entered the problem playing a game of catch up. There was a finite window of time where remedy was going to be possible, and in that amount of time he was unable to unravel the knot. The two already in the seats put him in an extremely diffucult position. Not sure how many other captains would have saved it, and others not.
We can speculate all we like, we still won't know.
This isn't a TV script, this is real life. Sometimes even hindsight is partially obscured by clouds.
