Is this a complete non-story or am I just too laid back (and practical about the ‘challenges’ of long-haul flight).

Air New Zealand pilot ‘fell asleep’ during flight

As long as he wasn’t actually flying the thing and he had a co-pilot I’m not sure why this makes the news.

well if it was standard practice to let them sleep then i would be concerned but nodding off whilst someone else is awake and the plane is on auto pilot is not that bad , nor that good.
I assume at any one given time only one can actually fly the plane anyway

Normal practice to allow naps during the cruise, when the autopilot is legally required to be in. Max 40 minutes to avoid sleep inertia. Suspect this happens across Europe on a daily basis especially in the low cost airlines.

What wheel

Non-event.

What wheel

rolls of the tongue better than rudder/levers/touchpad

My Mrs hates it when I fall asleep at the wheel.

If I was on one of Flaperons flights I’d be more worried when he was awake at the controls 😀

I dozed off at the traffic lights a few days ago. A well timed blast from a truck’s air horn soon wakened me.