I say…why not?
I agree 100%. There ain’t nothing wrong with that, but I think just let one sleep at a time, and if there is a crew of three, then two can sleep.
I love how they like to pretend that if you make up a rule everyone will follow it. Hell they should make it against the law to run out of fuel. Problem solved. They should also make it a law to not break the law, another problem solved.
If your a sleepy pilot, take a nap, as long as the other guy is fully alert. It’s not much different than doing Sodoku, crossword puzzles, listening to iPod, etc, that happens every day along with naps.
I’ve heard stories of AF pilots bringing alarm clocks and the whole crew simultaneously sleeps…
Maybe that’s how they flew directly into those thunder storms 
Sorry, I meant Air Force.
Who knows what pilots call sleeping while they are cruising?
This grammatically doesn’t make sense.
Besides. I don’t think the reporters in this article realize (then again, it is Fox News) that on international (read: long haul overseas) flights that there are two separate crews.
On my KLAX-YSSY and KLAX-NZAA-YMML flights, there were two separate crews in the flight deck. One set went to sleep while the other set had the plane. They swapped sometime midflight, and the second crew landed the plane.
Wash/rinse/repeat on those flights.
BL.
My first job in corporate was in a King Air 100, On long legs, and i do mean long, (home to Oregon from florida) our ground speeds was more often than not less than stellar, I’d look over to my Pilot staring straight out the window with his big aviators on and not a single emotion in his face. A few minutes would go by and still no change, i eventually would hold a cup of coffee or pepsi in front of him to see his response, when he neither moved nor spoke i knew he was napping.
So i know it happens, and if a pilot needs it let it be. theres nothing more dangerous than a fatigued pilot with hundreds of lives in his hands
Yes they should nap when needed. Hell we used to rock paper scissors for who got to nap first on every flight. We both took a nap, one at a time. You only need two pilots for take-off, landing and the once hopefully never emergency.
That may be a good idea, however, more rest time is what is really needed.
BINGO!
That will never happen unless the jobs stop going to the lowest bidder. More Rest=Less Pay
This reminds me of the Seinfeld episode when George got a chair for the security guard. Pilots are well compensated to FLY airplanes. I’m not a big fan of people getting paid to sleep. It’s a non traditional job and if you don’t like the work environment that goes along with it, perhaps you should seek a new career path.
That’s a fairly ignorant statement. First, most new pilots are well underpaid for there responsibilities. Secondly, working against your circadian rhythm will cause drastic physical and mental problems. Try pulling a demanding 16 hour day and see how you feel on the leg home at 3 in the morning. In my experience caffeine only makes things worse… but 10 mins of aviators O2 does help focus things. Unfortunately we don’t get the military Go Pills. 
I’m not against the nap theory, everyone needs a break. A 15 minute power nap does wonders for me.
But, since you bring it up, why not eliminate that 16 hour day? I don’t think limiting to 8 hrs on duty is a radical idea. Beyond that the body will fatigue both mentally and physically. Is it too much to ask that a flight crew be mentally and physically alert?
As one who works a schedule that also wreaks havoc with one’s circadian rhythm I can tell you that getting a restful night’s sleep isn’t always as a matter of just dealing with a nontraditional work environment.
Personally I’m a big fan of making it to my destination safely. Having an alert flight crew helps that happen. Besides we pay the airline the airline pays the pilots. Let just say the airlines started allowing the pilots to taken an certain number of unpaid naps. Our ticket prices wouldn’t budge a dollar.
Awww, come on! That part 91 repo leg counts as rest time… 
Two days after this incident: NTSB INVESTIGATING FLIGHT THAT OVERFLEW INTENDED MINNEAPOLIS AIRPORT – aircrew possibly asleep…
Your 13 Oct post seems eerily prophetic in a way…
They were not asleep. And if the pilots could nap it would only be one at a time, not both, or all three.
Who needs CVR and FDR…we have will!