After authorities said two pilots fell asleep during a flight in Indonesia, a detail in the report stood out: One asked the other whether it was okay to take a nap, then snoozed for nearly an hour.

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Editor’s Note: Scott R. Winter is Assistant Professor of Graduate Studies, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and Stephen Rice is Professor of Human Factors, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

Airline pilots are often exhausted. An extreme example happened in 2008, when a pilot and a co-pilot both fell asleep at the controls, missing their landing in Hawaii – earning pilot’s license ...