# How long could a pilot/co-pilot of an airliner doze off?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-could-a-pilot-co-pilot-of-an-airliner-doze-off/515528>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 29, 2009, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-could-a-pilot-co-pilot-of-an-airliner-doze-off/515528 "2009-10-29T00:16:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\
**Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-could-a-pilot-co-pilot-of-an-airliner-doze-off/515528/21 "2009-10-30T21:43:48Z")

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> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#):
>
> I had no idea autopilots were so sophisticated nowadays. If both pilots died or were incapacitated, in some sort of _Airport_ dramatic situation, and the cockpit door was locked, could ATC remotely control and land any large passenger-carrying jet today?

No, because there is no way for ATC to transmit instructions to the auto-pilot. ATC can not remote control any airplane, and given that most air traffic controllers are not pilots you probably wouldn’t want them to be able to do that, anyhow.

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**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\
**Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-could-a-pilot-co-pilot-of-an-airliner-doze-off/515528/22 "2009-11-02T08:00:01Z")

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> [@lazybratsche](#):
>
> NPR had an interesting and somewhat related segment a few days ago. Link [here](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=114208007). Apparently it’s not uncommon for pilots to take little cat naps (one at a time, of course) during cruise, when there’s not much else to do. And there’s also a fine line between pilots being distracted with too much to pay attention to, and pilots being bored by nothing to do. Both lead to bad situational awareness.

“Back in the day” there was a time when you almost had to take a nap to survive. Without an autopilot it becomes very tedious to maintain course, altitude and speed. One person would fly for up to an hour and then switch off. It is a mentally draining task to maintain an IFR flight plan. You have to constantly scan the gauges to make small corrections.

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