Is it okay to take a quick nap while flying long distances?

Meliss said:
My friend and I just completed a 22 hour straight flight, and on our last two legs we took turns napping and flying. I don't know if it was adrenaline or what, but at 3am after flying for 19 hours and my friend asleep in the back, I felt wide awake and incapable of sleeping. But the second we switched and I was in the right seat, I fell asleep immediately.
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That is awesome,

Where did you guys go?
 
weilke said:
Lol. I dont think my wife would make a good copilot. The tail waggle of the Bonanza and she is out back there in seat 3B before we reach cruise.
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Glad to know I'm not the only one!

SixPapaCharlie said:
I do ;)

We were headed back home (only 19 miles) and she was asleep again.
Just to test her, I did a touch n go. She didn't wake up. It was awesome.
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Well, that's not entirely true. I woke up when we lifted up. But then I may have doze off again in the pattern. Today was bad, I know, but that was due to yesterday being so exhausting. Not sure what my excuse is on the other flights though . . .
 
Meliss said:
My friend and I just completed a 22 hour straight flight, and on our last two legs we took turns napping and flying. I don't know if it was adrenaline or what, but at 3am after flying for 19 hours and my friend asleep in the back, I felt wide awake and incapable of sleeping. But the second we switched and I was in the right seat, I fell asleep immediately.
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Air Race Classic?
 
Oh man, I don't think I could ever sleep on a small plane for fear the other pilot might fall asleep too.

I have the same issue in cars though too. I am so scare if I nap, the driver will fall asleep.
 
Jimmy cooper said:
The crews during WW2 were all very young and very frightened. It was extremely cold in most instances , well below zero. No pressurization, flight suit heaters that did not work, very little sleep trying to stay alive. Very few "naps".
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My dad was a flight engineer on the first B29 squadron to go overseas. He said he never had any trouble staying awake even though many of their missions were around 20 hours round trip. But he did say that more than once both pilots were asleep at the same time coming back from a long mission.
 
FloridaPilot said:
That is awesome,

Where did you guys go?
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We flew from San Diego [KSDM] up to the San Juan Islands [74S] in Washington. Stopping at Monterey [KMRY], North Bend [KOTH], Eugene [KEUG], and San Francisco [KSFO]; ending in Orange County [KSNA]. It was a round trip flight and one really amazing experience.
 
Meliss said:
My friend and I just completed a 22 hour straight flight, and on our last two legs we took turns napping and flying. I don't know if it was adrenaline or what, but at 3am after flying for 19 hours and my friend asleep in the back, I felt wide awake and incapable of sleeping. But the second we switched and I was in the right seat, I fell asleep immediately.
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now put yourself in a twin turboprop where the engines are just a comforting hum and do that kind of day 7 or 8 days in a row. You'll find that flying definitely doesn't produce adrenaline.
 
I was flying with a friend last Summer (I had not even started flight training then) who handed to plane over to me (I had practically "flown" the plane before with no issues) and tool a five minute nap.
 
Meliss said:
We flew from San Diego [KSDM] up to the San Juan Islands [74S] in Washington. Stopping at Monterey [KMRY], North Bend [KOTH], Eugene [KEUG], and San Francisco [KSFO]; ending in Orange County [KSNA]. It was a round trip flight and one really amazing experience.
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I'm familiar with those areas quite well but not as a pilot (I took route 101 to route 1 down by car) It would be pretty cool to see it from the air.
 
A friend of mine claims to have fallen asleep in N Carolina and woken up in Ohio flying solo. Emphasis on the claimed.
 
JHW said:
We used to take turns napping. One flight from inland enroute to a port city, I woke up to find the other pilot also asleep and nothing but ocean in sight.
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There's a story about a Delta 727 which took off from Houston (last flight of the night, like 11pm local) going to Jacksonville, and what happened to Jeff happened to the three cockpit crewmembers -- 100 miles east of Jacksonville, and nothing but pitch black in front of them. Lacking the fuel to reach Portugal (or maybe Morocco :dunno:), they turned west and landed at JAX with low fuel lights.

Buddy of mine who was an L-1011 captain for ATA until they folded said on long hauls, he carried an alarm clock which he'd set for ETA-30 minutes and put up on the glare shield. He said more than once that alarm woke the crew, but he didn't say how many times more. That might have saved that NWA 757 crew which overflew MSP from a lot of embarrassment, too.
 
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Years ago I was flying a C-207 in northwest Alaska. I took off in clear blue skies, suddenly jerked my head up and was in clouds. Still on heading and on altitude, with no auto pilot. I couldn't have been asleep more than a few minutes since this was only a 45 minute leg.
 
Zeldman said:
Years ago I was flying a C-207 in northwest Alaska. I took off in clear blue skies, suddenly jerked my head up and was in clouds. Still on heading and on altitude, with no auto pilot. I couldn't have been asleep more than a few minutes since this was only a 45 minute leg.
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That would suck a big donkeys ... :yikes:

... as they say 'round here. :redface:
 
Slightly off topic but a friend from childhood (with no PPL but had soloed) was flying a Champ at night that belonged to a friend of his while the friend dozed off. The licensed pilot didn't wake up until this inexperienced friend of mine had managed to stall and enter a spin. Can you imagine waking up to that? Fortunately there was plenty of altitude and a fairly full moon.
 
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