4X4, I guess it's not that I am lenient about it, but I am acutely aware that fatigue related issues are often systemic in nature (as opposed to individual negligence). If Joe Controller had a couple of beers before coming to work, I have zero sympathy. Any form of willful negligence I get pretty angry about, but someone who fell asleep?
Maybe if he didn't bother trying to get sleep that day, maybe he intentionally tries to sleep when he shouldn't be while on shift, then he holds some significant responsibility. But what if he is a very good controller (he was a 20 year vet apparently) who didn't get a great days sleep, and was struggling that night when suddenly he accidentally drifted off during a slow time with no traffic? Is that reason to fire him?
There is an incident that had a pilot fall asleep in flight, and it was later determined that he had sleep apnea and wasn't aware how much it was impacting his sleep.
Maybe there was some negligence in this case that is yet to come out, but barring that we are talking about sleep and fatigue, not drugs and alcohol. Totally different to me.
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