Originally Posted by
Sailvi767
The US rules require a third pilot. NYC to Rome is not a short flight and controlled rest is basically a joke. To many things can interrupt such a rest and a cockpit seat is never great for sleep.
Lol, I never had any trouble sleeping, especially over the South Atlantic. One night, destination, Campinis, the load master came up front and found the 3 of us ALL sound asleep. He soon woke us up. That was after a long duty period.
I encouraged "controlled rest" if someone let me know they would like to "put their head down" for half an hour or so. That was during the time it was strongly discouraged by the authorities. My argument for it was this. It is better to have a crockpit crew member rested, rather than 2 or 3 cockpit crew members exhausted battling to stay awake for hours on end. No condition to act in an emergency. Nice to have at least one crew member "rested". IMHO.