Would you want your bus or taxi driver be DRUNK and fall asleep while you are in the car? No? Why would you then accept your pilot be "drunk" from FATIGUE while you are on board? FATIGUE stemming from long flight/duty hours or insufficient sleep reduces alertness as much as alcohol does for car drivers.  ^[1]

Recent surveys in several European countries (e.g. Denmark, Norway, Sweden etc.), show that fatigue in the cockpit is a reality today. Surveys among pilots in Norway and Denmark show that 80-90% of pilots said they made errors due to fatigue, with 50-54% saying they dozed off in the cockpit without agreeing this with their colleague. A UK survey among British pilots showed that of those pilots who dozed off in the cockpit, 31% said they have woken to find the other pilot asleep. A recent UK survey among Aero-medical examiners (AMEs, i.e. the doctors who regularly examine pilots) shows that 75% of AMEs consider that up to one quarter of pilots are too tired to fly safely. And 68% of AMEs think pilots often fall asleep without realising it themselves.

These surveys show that already today there is a fatigue problem in Europe’s cockpits – a problem that needs to be controlled by strict medically and science-based regulations.

^[1] "Our results underscore the fact that relatively moderate levels of fatigue impair performance to an extent equivalent to or greater than is currently acceptable for alcohol intoxication." Drew, Dawson, Kathryn, Reid, Fatigue, Alcohol and Performance Impairment, in: Nature, Volume 388, July-August 1997.