I was hoping that this might be a thread about staying awake on long
flights, but apparently not.

How _does_ one stay awake on a long flight as the sole pilot aboard?
I know that commercial pilots doze off frequently enough on long
flights, although they are reluctant to officially admit it. But then
there are usually at least two qualified pilots and others who can
wake them up. What do you do when you're the only pilot on board and
you have to fly a really long distance?

In the old days, staying awake was more a matter of life and death, as
you had to manually fly the plane at all times. Today, with
autopilot, you could drift off and survive, if you were lucky. So how
does one avoid it? Or is it just not a good idea to fly long
distances on one's own in an aircraft?

This all applies to other forms of transportation, too, of course.
Truckers and car drivers cannot afford to fall asleep at all. Boats
might be more forgiving, at least in open water with good navigational
aids and plenty of fuel (or wind).

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