Flew with this young cappy one day on a 6 hr sector through out the night. During cruise he said something about how a short nap is actually good during times like that ( low monitoring period ) so that he'd conserve some energy during the last hour before landing. I had to stay awake and refused to take his offer later to find out that during the last hour of the flight, I could hardly keep my eyes open and having tremendous difficulty in calculating a simple descend profile....he took over and even did a greaser on a short runway!!!!
Now that I'm on the left seat, never fail to take a short nap during "low monitoring period" in the air and it does help a lot! But of course, with a proper CRM and high level of respect towards your righthand man... and not while someone from the regulatory body on the jumpseat!!!...... If you're sleepy, don't push it, tell the next guy that you're shutting an eye, just don't over do it with saliva running down your collar!
