In 60 Minutes TVshow last Sunday, there was a comprehensive program regarding the importance of sleep in terms of its effect on health, safety and general well being. Extensive research indicated that lack of sleep seriously degenerates one is ability to focus and react on time. Many car accidents were the result of drivers momentarily dozing off even as short as four seconds. My point is that if on long flights, one of the cockpit crew members is allowed to nap in place, from the result of the research, that the pilots are much more alert and much more in a position to react to immergencies. l was a crewmember of a submarine on a patrol during the ''cold war'' whereby our skipper, took naps every chance he gets. Asked why, he responded that he wo not be in his best performance if at the time of great demand, hewo not be physically and mentally ready to respond. We had a very successful patrol, got into lots of tight situations and got out of them unsacathe.

In the US there is no regulation preventing sleeping during flight. Unless the airline has such a rule, or the captain has such a rule, airline pilots are not prevented from taking naps on any flight. It is a good practice--not bad.

Who says there is any rule?

On a long flight, like from New York to HongKong there r ''relief crews'' And Crew crash beds, so the flight crew can get sleep.

Pilot is can & do sleep. One may stay awake & watch over everything, while one may sleep, & they trade off.

There is other measures taken to make sure a pilot is awake & alert. They can not work for more then 16 hours a day 100 hours a month & 1000 hours a year, this way there is not over kill.

Ryan l never said 12 hours...Nope l do not work for Comair. Who do u fly for?
Doubt ur a pilot..

Despite what u hear, most of it is B.S.

There is no law againt pilots sleeping in flight.

Pilots in the U.S r NOT allowed to sleep in the cockpit. If u r required crew member u must be awake. That is why they call u a required crew member. Comair, who do u work for because it sure is not comair. Do some pilots fall asleep? yes, if they were caught however they would be fired. On another note its 16hrs a day duty not 12.

Comair nice edit, & l do work for a 121 carier. It says in our GOM (general operating manual) we r not allowed to sleep. Just as it does in every other company is manuals which r regulatory.

True story about sleeping in a B-52:

The crew was coming back from an exercise over the Atlantic. When the captain awoke, he had an F-16 staring him in the face. He had a lot of explaining to do. Sleeping of crews on long flights is more common than you would think.

'Comair' is wrong as usual. If it was legal then why are the NBAA and NTSB both pushing for the FAA to form regulations and guidance for operators in two-crew aircraft to take approved naps on long haul flights?

Be careful what you read on the internet

Actually, the duty, flight & rest time requirements r a bit comples, but the pilots have to stay awake during the flight however they get a lot of rest.
l fly commercially & the requirements for me according to regulations r as follows:
l can be on-duty for 12 hours unless something unplanned happens in which case l can extend my duty time to a maximum of 14 hours - those times have to do with carrying passengers for hire. l can extend my duty time to 16 hours providing l am NOT carrying anyone other than required crewmembers for those two hours. This only happens if the aircraft has to be relocated to another airport after a revenue flight.
During those 12 to 16 hours, l may not fly more than 8 hours & regardless of whether r l was on duty for 12, 14 or 16 hours, l am required to rest a minimum of 10 hours before reporting back for duty.
There r other requirements for maximum flight time for calendar days, but these r the basic requirements & l do get plenty of rest before l go on duty.
This is the regulation concerning duty & rest time for a one or two pilot crew:
§ 121.481 Flight time limitations: One or two pilot crews.

(a) A certificate holder conducting flag operations may schedule a pilot to fly in an airplane that has a crew of one or two pilots for eight hours or less during any 24 consecutive hours without a rest period during these eight hours.

(b) If a certificate holder conducting flag operations schedules a pilot to fly more than eight hours during any 24 consecutive hours, it shall give him an intervening rest period, at or before the end of eight scheduled hours of flight duty. This rest period must be at least twice the number of hours flown since the preceding rest period, but not less than eight hours. The certificate holder shall relieve that pilot of all duty with it during that rest period.

(c) Each pilot who has flown more than eight hours during 24 consecutive hours must be given at least 18 hours of rest before being assigned to any duty with the certificate holder.

(d) No pilot may fly more than 32 hours during any seven consecutive days, & each pilot must be relieved from all duty for at least 24 consecutive hours at least once during any seven consecutive days.

(e) No pilot may fly as a member of a crew more than 100 hours during any one calendar month.

(f) No pilot may fly as a member of a crew more than 1,000 hours during any 12-calendar-month period.