I was just curious if there are any real world pilots out there that fly on long routes for the airlines or cargo carriers. If you have a long flight, lets say over 10 hours, do you have to remain alert during the whole flight? Do pilots and co-pilots take turns keeping track of the systems and air traffic control while the other takes a break? Do you bring a book to read or something to break up the monotony. It seems like once everything is in the FMC then all you would need to do is monitor air traffic control in case they gave you instructions and monitor weather in case it changes for the worst. I have done an 11 hour drive a couple times but that was really hard to do and I had to stop a couple times to rest so I can't imagine a pilot having to remain fully active on a 10+ hour flight. Thanks for the info.Ryan

Hey Ryan,Most of the long hauls actually utilize two flight crews. One crew (the crew in command) that departs the a/c and takes the a/c at some point again to land the a/c , and an enroute crew. The enroute crew takes over from the main crew, and does the maintaining of the flight, navigation, fuel, systems etc. This allows the "Crew in command" to get some sleep, watch a movie, or just relax. Both the 747's and A340's have crew quarters that actually are quite comfortable with VCR, TV's.......flight attendants...did I say that out loud? :) :) The whole system provides a fresh and ready crew during the critical stages of a flight.Harry

And they get paid for this?

>And they get paid for this?Yep, as the saying goes, "Airline flying is hours of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror". They get paid a lot for those rare moments.Timhttp://www.spottedantelope.com/bwomack/images/maam-sim_sig.g

Actually the way it works is most airlines have a third pilot, typed in the aircraft and the crew rotates in and out of rest during the flight. You usually get three hours somewhere of uninterupted rest in a first class berthing or a seperate crew rest facility. I think if the flight is over a certain block time like, 13 or 14 hours you have to have a full second crew. That doesn't happen often. Its not bad but it aint home by any stretch. I personally have not chosen to fly internationally yet due to the boring hours and lack of actual flying..like take-offs and landings. I still prefer to "fly" :) We call it "dozing for dollars" lolHornit

Way back a while ago I flew with a crew in a Hercules over a long haul to deliver a radio wagon to Belize, required in flight refuel to make it all the way.What did the crew do then? Well they took it in turns to run laps of the nearly empty cargo bay :)That was the longest noisiest coldest flight I ever went on.... and the best :)Refuel is something else to witness!Jonathan O'Connor