"As UPS emphasized quite strongly the crew were coming in from time off! But that is precisely my point, there does not appear to be any acknowledgement that change in waking and sleeping hours causes symptoms that you could argue are not due to fatigue but they are precisely the same lack of attention, loss of situational awareness and cognitive tunneling. There should be some agreed method of moving to night operations after a period with normal days."
I started line flying (USAF-MAC) in 1971...I was flying constantly fatigued...the day/night problems were never addressed, EVERYBODY flew tired, some worse than others. In 1978, until 2005, I flew my airline short and long haul...the short haul was even worse, sometimes, than the long haul...(5AM starts until 6PM) rest 24, then 6PM tip 3AM were common). Long haul, with flight engineers, and sometimes double crews, were do-able, but, still, everybody was tired. There were stratergies (with a 3-man crew, one napped whilst the other two watched each other for nodding off; the idiots at FAA said it was illegal, but we did it because it worked), but the day-night anomaly was never addressed...EVERYBODY FLEW TIRED! I'm out of it now, and somehow fatigue was overcome (with numerous close calls; i.e., waking up with rest of cockpit asleep, napping off on short finals, etc...). This is a problem that will NEVER BE ADDRESSED...I suggest y'all jest...live with it, and accept the small percentage of flights, like UPS 1354, that pay the inevitable price. "There but for the grace...." Sam