Overnight flights?

No, never. I think that a pilot should be in the cockpit(front of the computer) when flying. What's the point of flying if you're asleep. It's like turning on a movie and going to bed in the next room. Then the next day do you say " I watched a movie"? Flying is so much more that sitting behind an autopilot for nine hours but if that is what you want to do then do it, don't sleep. Start long flights at a better time like 0800 hours.

CRJCapt wrote:

No, never. I think that a pilot should be in the cockpit(front of the computer) when flying. What's the point of flying if you're asleep. It's like turning on a movie and going to bed in the next room. Then the next day do you say " I watched a movie"? Flying is so much more that sitting behind an autopilot for nine hours but if that is what you want to do then do it, don't sleep. Start long flights at a better time like 0800 hours.

I understand where you're coming from, but what is there to do in a cockpit really?

im not planning on sleeping lol, ive got a 24 pack of walkers and 2 bottles of dr pepper 🙂

Well that's a long time to be awake in the middle of the night but to each his own. There is a saying "Flying is hour and hours of boredom punctuated by moments of shear terror". You monitor systems, calculate fuel burn/supply, monitor and update weather reports. Check time/speed/distance, a incorrect FMS or GPS can get you killed. You plan where you're going to divert if you have an emergency, that will change all thought the flight. In general you have to be ready to fly manually at anytime, AP's fail, weather does not always follow forecast and ATC can reroute you at anytime. Long haul flying is much time behind the AP. Don't get me wrong, I like the Boeing 747 but nine hours watching the AP fly is not for me. Pretend that the AP is inop for a hour and hand fly! 🙂

lol, the irony here is that in real life pilots DO get to sleep.

on long-haul flights (i forget the amount of hours it must surpass), pilots have two crews, and they work in shifts. one flies while the other catches up on sleep. ... (or other freetime activities if they arent tired)

744s, 777s, A340s... etc, all have crew rest areas, normally right behind and/or above the cockpit, depending on the a/c.

the 777, unknown to many people, has a second deck just behind the cockpit. .. a small ladder leads up to a loft-like area with some bunks and in some cases, a television... meant for the off-shift crew to retire to.

regardless.. an 11-hour flight is boring, real or simulated.

this is why when i eventually start working for the airlines i think i will stick with CRJs or maybe 737s, on shorter domestic flights 😉

I'll do an overnight flight once or twice a month. The last one I did was from KLAS to PHLN. I left LAS at 10:30pm and arrived in HLN at 2:48am (local). It took me 6hr18min. Would I do it again? Yes. But, I prefer to stick with puddle jumper routes.

I'm a hands on VFR flyer, but occasionally I like to do long haul.

The longest flight I have recently done was Brisbane to Auckland (3.5 hours), and it was just as fun with autopilot on as without it.

You still have to monitor all your systems and talk to ATC, change your altitude and heading and stuff, but I find the longer the flight, the more you anticipate the landing (the best part) and when you do eventually do it successfully, you feel all the more satisfied 😉

Just my opinion.

am really tired and had to have a kip for an hour or so! am awake and gonna do landing thne go to bed if the builder will stop knocking our damn bathroom out!

I sometimes do long haul flights for 14 hours or more but always sleep in the main part of the cruise. Like Ryan already said, pilots in real life do get some sleep whilst another crew takes over. I was once reading a report or account of a female Captain of a transatlantic airline. She said that if (whilst you are on your shift) you have nothing to do and are getting bored, then you are missing something out i.e. all of the above mentioned by CRJCapt. However, the sim doesn't allow you to access most of these functions or ideas so what is there to do but sleep ❓

Weee finally being vectored into changi, should be on the ground in about 13 minutes.

Now that I think of it, I may have to revise my position. I didn't think of it from a FS Passenger(Game) point of view, I don't use FS Pax. If the object is to build up flight time/revenue for FS Pax then I can understand sleeping or other activities while on a long flight. True, as stated above, real long haul pilots do take a break during transoceanic flights and let the relief pilot fly. I was only looking at it from a purely aviation stand point. 🙂

I fly across the atlantic alot according to my schedule on my virtual airline (Kennedy Intl - London Heathrow) and it is a pretty good senery. Flight is about 6-8 hrs depending on the weather.

Once but i got bored, i done this flight from Ezeisa BsAs. Argentina to Tokyo, starting flight at 9:00 P.M. The interesting thing here was that i made this flygt at same time in real life. But i could not complete it i was sleeping over keybord at 3:00 on the morning. 😕

Or you could enable time acceleration.....

username wrote:

Or you could enable time acceleration.....

Sure. Let's make everything totally unrealistic.

I fly long haul routes on a regular basis, Denver CO to Sydney Australia. 7400 miles, long flight.

I regularly rest during the flight, sometimes for as long as 6 hours. I also will speed up time to make the flight end quicker. I know it is not realistic, but I enjoy the time that I am flying. It is hard to own the computer with a wife, kids, and a full time job. May not be realistic, but it's still fun, and isn't that what this is all about?

Well, sharing a computer does make for some problems.

Since my long haul flights are usually IFR, I can't sleep or accelerate.