Why Pilots Fall Asleep

William Saletan offers a contrarian defense of pilots who sleep on the job: they can't help it. Nobody can resist sleep for very long. And apparently the airline-employers count "commute time" as "rest time" (evidently the employers are hoping the pilots will sleep in their cars). This makes sense, but I can offer another reason why pilots doze off on the job: there isn't enough to do. It's all so computerized the pilot is supposed not to interfere. Joel has a pilot friend who tells us that the modern day cockpit should contain two creatures: the pilot and his dog. The dog's job is to bite the pilot when he reaches for the controls. Maybe we could train the dog to nip the pilot when he falls asleep. But the dog would need rest time.