Are pilots allowed to sleep on long flights when the plane is full of passengers?

Are pilots allowed to sleep during flights?

In fact, allowing pilots to sleep on the plane helps them have enough health and spirit to ensure the safety of the flight.

Recently, the case of two Indonesian pilots being suspended for falling asleep causing the plane to deviate from its course has attracted public attention.

Batik Air, a subsidiary of Indonesia's Lion Group, has suspended two pilots who fell asleep while flying flight 6723, carrying 153 passengers, from Kendari city, Sulawesi province to the capital Jakarta on January 25.

According to Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC), about half an hour after takeoff, the captain said he wanted to rest and the first officer agreed. The first officer took control of the plane but then fell asleep.

28 minutes after the co-pilot last contacted air traffic control, the captain woke up and discovered the plane had deviated from its original route but fortunately landed safely.

In fact, some countries allow pilots to sleep in the cockpit, while others - like the US - prohibit this practice and only allow rest when a replacement pilot is present.

A flight from the US to Europe will typically have three pilots. At any given time, there will be at least two pilots in the cockpit and a third on a break. On longer flights, there will be four pilots assigned to work in teams of two.

Scheduled rest periods are “tightly regulated” and “are an important practice for long-haul flights,” said Hassan Shahidi, president and CEO of the Flight Safety Foundation.

In fact, regulations allowing pilots to rest while working depend on each country. Photo: Pixabay

However, another type of pilot rest — banned by US Federal Aviation Administration regulations — is naps in the cockpit, known as "controlled rest."

Some countries such as Canada and Australia allow pilots to take "controlled rest" in the cockpit, with strict requirements to help reduce fatigue while flying.

The International Civil Aviation Organization says pilots should nap in the cockpit, if permitted; this usually applies to short-haul flights without rest areas. In such cases, the pilot will notify the crew that there will be a nap and the rest of the crew will check in after a certain period of time.

Even for airlines that allow naps, they should be carefully arranged and not just random naps.

Canada's regulations require that "controlled rest periods" last 45 minutes or less, occur during the flight's flight time, and end at least half an hour before landing begins. The regulations also state that "only one crew member may rest at any one time."

Meanwhile, the US Federal Aviation Administration has strict regulations on rest: no more than 30 hours of flight time in 7 consecutive days or 100 hours in a month. Pilots must have 9 consecutive hours of rest before a flight of less than 8 hours and 11 hours of rest if the flight is 9 hours or more.

If allowed, how do pilots sleep while flying?

Pilots have to take turns resting on long overnight flights.

Pilot sleep can be divided into two categories: controlled rest and bed rest. Controlled rest involves sleeping in the cockpit; bed rest involves leaving the cockpit for the passenger cabin (first or business class) or the crew's dedicated "secret" sleeping area.

This is a common practice and standard across the airline industry because sleep has been shown to improve flight safety. This ensures pilots are well rested and ready for the most difficult tasks of the flight, such as landing.

Controlled rest or sleeping in the pilot's bunk is common on long-haul overnight flights, especially between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. On long-haul wide-body aircraft, there are secret sleeping berths for crew that passengers are unaware of.

One of the two pilots on the flight must always be awake and handle situations, machines, and equipment. However, on some long-haul flights, there are about 3 or 4 pilots so that the sleeping opportunities can be divided appropriately and that helps everyone get enough rest during the flight.

After a while of taking off, the first pilot (the one who just took off) will rest or sleep for a certain period of time, then it will be rotated to another pilot. The remaining working time is distributed evenly among the members until about 1 hour before landing, everyone must gather in the cockpit.

Controlled rest allows a pilot to sleep for up to 45 minutes whenever the workload on the flight is low. This helps keep the pilot alert during the more critical parts of the flight, according to Flightdeckfriend.com. However, controlled rest is ideally around 10 to 20 minutes, while 30 to 60 minutes can lead to grogginess and nausea upon awakening.

There are rules in place when pilots rest in flight, such as: Controlled rest must be discussed by both pilots and only one can sleep, the other must be awake; must sleep in that pilot's seat; seat must be pulled back from the controls.

There is a risk that the pilot who is assigned to a task may fall asleep. To avoid this, other crew members must be in constant communication with the pilot. On some aircraft, there will be a warning button if certain controls have not been touched for a period of time.

Source: https://giadinh.suckhoedoisong.vn/phi-cong-co-duoc-phep-ngu-trong-nhung-chuyen-bay-dai-may-bay-dang-cho-day-hanh-khach-khong-172240520080150145.htm