Pilots need to stay awake and alert at all times so they can be ready to take control of the airplane at a moment's notice. Some of the ways pilots stay awake include drinking caffeine, getting plenty of rest the day/night before, staying busy, keeping the cockpit warm and the lights bright.
They take turns napping and yes, they have both fallen asleep at the same time on a few occasions. Most long haul flights have two sets of pilots. Most modern aircraft that do the long hauls have bunks and relaxation places which are out of sight of the passengers.
They're not glamorous, but they're very comfortable, with padded bunks and sometimes even in-flight entertainment! With 14- to 18-hour flights no longer unusual, pilots and cabin crew have legally mandated rest times —and airlines also realise that a rested, refreshed crew member is a happy crew member.
Generally, if the flight is longer than eight hours, a third pilot (second officer) is required onboard. That requirement may vary slightly between operators.
Pilots and flight attendants don't always stay at the same hotel. Depending on the airline and the city, crews might remain in the same accommodation or split the flight attendants and the pilots into different hotels.
Fatigue is particularly prevalent among pilots because of unpredictable work hours, long duty periods, circadian disruption, and insufficient sleep. These factors can occur together to produce a combination of sleep deprivation, circadian rhythm effects, and 'time-on task' fatigue.
Flight crew (the pilot, co-pilot) and Cabin Crew (purser, flight-attendants) relax and sleep in “crew rest” compartments. The crew rest for the flight and cabin crews are separate compartments located next to the passenger compartment. The location of the crew rest depends on the airline and aircraft type.
Today, fatigue remains a very real concern for pilots. It's estimated that pilot fatigue accounts for around 15-20% of all fatal air accidents related to human error, and there's no way of knowing how many unexplained accidents were caused by a pilot falling asleep at the controls.
The simple answer is yes, pilots do, and are allowed to sleep during flight but there are strict rules controlling this practice. Pilots would only normally sleep on long haul flights, although sleep on short haul flights is permitted to avoid the effects of fatigue.
Pilots have a legal right to have a minimum of 10-11 hours of rest between two consecutive flight duty periods. Some airlines introduce their own policies about the minimum number of hours for rest between duty periods as they may consider it sensible to allow their pilots more time to recover.
John Edward Long, Jr. (1915–July 18, 1999) was an American pilot who is in the Guinness Book of Records for the most flight time by a pilot: over 65,000 hours (more than seven years and four months) at the time of his death.
Flight times within the duty periods are restricted to a maximum of 8 hours for flight crews consisting of one pilot and 10 hours for flight crews consisting of two pilots. The 8-hour and 10-hour flight time limitations include any additional commercial flying performed by the flight crew during the period.
Currently, the bragging rights for the longest flight in the world belong to Singapore Airlines' New York City to Singapore route. Its longest flight path, which connects Singapore's Changi Airport with New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, 9,585 miles away, takes 18 hours and 40 minutes.
Do pilots pay for their own hotels? The airline handles and pays for accommodations for crewmembers when they are on a trip. Many pilots do not live where they are based and choose to commute.
According to The May 2021 Occupational Outlook Handbook, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the salary for commercial pilots is $99,640 per year. The median annual wage for airline pilots, copilots and flight engineers is $202,180.
Most of the time, pilots read up on flight manuals while they're up in the air. They also check the fuel's condition every now and then. In other cases, pilots also ask reports from cabin crew members about the happenings inside the cabin.
Whether flying at night or during the day, pilots need to see some kind of horizon. They use this to determine the airplane's attitude. At night pilots will turn their gaze from outside to inside and use the artificial horizon. The artificial horizon is normally a simply globe split into two hemispheres.