What I find SOoooo amazing is that it has taken SOoooo long for the press/public to "wake up"( sorry about the pun) to the fact that we pilots are nothing but normal human beings,requiring the same food & rest requirements as they!
The big difference between the average member of Joe public & us is that we are frequently required to go without the rest!
We are frequently called upon to be awake in a 2 pilot environment, in my case for up to 17 hours,before seeing a proper bed.After double the flight time as rest I can then be compelled to do it all again. Now this rest is not in my bed at home but possibly in a noisy hotel where in my case, a man with a hammer drill is always working on the floor above!
So when we co-ordinate LEGAL inflight rest between the 2 of us,for short periods of up to 1 hour, informing the cabin staff to make more frequent visists to the flight deck, you the general public should applaud our fine sense of responsibility, ensuring that we are more rested & therefore more likely to adequately deal with any emergency that may occour later on during the statistically proven more risky descent, approach & landing phase of the flight.
But, if you are still not convinced that we should be taking short periods of inflight rest then JOIN WITH US and write to your member of parliament asking that the authorities put pressure on the rogue airlines that continually roster their pilots above and beyond the legal limits!!!!!!
Enough said, Am in Havana, Cuba having just awoke from a full nights sleep & must go down for breakfast before flying back to Europe tonight. Now let me see, must report at the airport at 2200 hours tonight(1700 GMT) so should I go back to bed after breakfast, no,wont be able to sleep with that hammer drill working above me,will try to sleep this afternoon- maybe there will be a short break between the hammer drill man finishing and the afternoon/evening disco music from the pool bar beginning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!