King Bladud
1966, as a brand-new co-pilot I was in the right hand seat of a Bristol Britannia -my first flight with passengers on board. It was 2.00 am in the morning and we were crossing the Alps northwest bound on a glorious moonlit night. The very experienced captain said "I'm just going to close my eyes for 5 minutes, stay alert and wake me if there's a problem" (this was a period when we flew 120 hours per month and everyone was tired) I nodded nervously and sat slightly taller in my seat as I assumed my new role as temporary commander. After a few minutes the captain was fast asleep. I turned to give a reassuring worldly smile to the flight engineer: his head was already on his desk, gone to the world!
Slightly concerned by the turn of events I concentrated on the task, but all was well and I slowly relaxed and then became curious about the small black lever down on the side of the centre consol. "I should know what that does I thought", and leaning down gave it a tweak. The ensuing silence was deafening as all four throttles fell back to their stops and the big Proteus engines ran down to idle. The silence didn't last, as captain and f/e woke with a start and pointed what a silly chap I was to relax all of the throttle friction in one go.
I once had some 'business' cards printed as follows:
'Happily, advancing age does not appear to be a noticeable factor in pilot related incidents. Presumably because the detrimental effects of aging on the cognitive process are mitigated by the beneficial effects on judgement that increased operational experience affords.......' So there!