Would you? What if you were unknowingly hypoxic due to a carbon monoxide leak in the ducts? What if you had an bad reaction to a medication you'd taken during flight?
Can you say with medical certainty that your judgment wouldn't be impaired, and your performance decreased as long as you relied on past good habits and professionalism?
Fatigue is no different. At least according to everyone who's ever studied it. Pilot's who are great in the sim start to fall apart after 14 hours no matter how good they are. The same thing happens to pilots who fly under conditions simulating accumulated "sleep debt".
So yeah, I'm willing to say that pretty much all of this stemmed directly from fatigue. And I think the NSTB, by repeatedly referencing it in their report, are doing the same thing.
I'm not so sure I agree. There are other indicators that can define fatigue. A lously nights sleep, a long duty day--with low approaches, clashes with gate agents who push every time you come through the hub. Last day, last leg, --where is my car parked?
These are recognizable influences that directly affect your reponse, reaction time, and decison making ability. Personal experience---I will use "automation to it's fullest ability" on a leg where I'm "fatigued." I will brief the FO to "keep an eye on me, it's been a long day," or, "last low aprroach, let's not screw up."
Talking about it with your fellow flight deck crew-member is a huge error chain recognition technique when you're both bush-wacked from a long day/week/night. Crews fly tired all the time and they do a great job, because they recognize it and talk about it, especially before the approach.
This specific crew made fateful decisions prior to beginning the ILS 28 LOC UNSBL approach. They didn't brief the G/S out. They didn't talk about landing technique on a short contaminated runway--they didn't configure for a short contaminated runway landing. When the Captain elected to go-around, his FO, the PF, refused and continued the approach. Hello? Fatigue may have been a factor as the NTSB points out, but when the Captain says GO-AROUND, you don't continue. So what about command authority and mutual respect in that cockpit?
You see the result. Learn from their mistakes. Pray you can be smarter.
T8
P.S. Good post Rez