How do long-haul pilots cope with boredom? Imagine you're in a large jet on a long route on a major airway -- say, for example, you're in a 747 going LHR-JFK at night. It's dark, you're over the Atlantic, and ATC has cleared you to just keep on heading along at FL330 (or equivalent) for another ~1500 nautical miles.

As it has throughout much of the flight, the autopilot is effectively flying the plane. There's nothing on the weather radar, no adverse meteorological effects expected, and ATC ensures that aircraft are well separated. In short, other than occasionally changing radio frequencies, there is very little for you to do.

Just a week ago, you were in the simulator, practicing spin recovery, instrumentation inop procedures, engine failures epsilon before V1, and all sorts of other fun things that required your attention. In your spare time, you're a private pilot and enjoy flying VFR at lower altitudes with the occasional bit of aerobatics mixed in, and practicing what to do in all sorts of rare eventualities at odd attitudes. In other words, you like flying planes. Now, your job is to check that the sophisticated flight computers are still flying this plane, and that ATC have done their job properly. They are, and they have. For the next few hours, you're going to be doing nothing but sitting in a chair watching blackness roll past. You can't even talk to the guy next to you about the weather -- there isn't any!

How do long-haul pilots cope with boredom on long, uneventful segments? Is my above scenario completely not plausible (aside from the lack of weather) -- is there always something meaningful to do during a 7+ hour long flight? I would expect that pilot boredom or distraction would be a safety-critical situation, yet I cannot imagine a situation that involves two humans sitting in chairs in a small room for a long period of time where they will not be bored or distracted at some point. 

Do airline transport pilots ever "hope" for "something interesting" to happen?
From what I know, airline transport pilots do not get large chunks of free time on a typical long-haul flight which you described. They may get small intervals of free time (e.g. 10-20 minutes), but for sure, not hours. They do need to constantly monitor if the airplane is flying on the correct course, on the assigned altitude, remaining fuel amounts and several other tasks, even when auto-pilot is engaged.

So what do pilots do when they are not flying at all?

Primarily, it depends on company policies. Delta does not allow pilots to do anything not related to flying the airplane:


  "You can't read a novel, but you could read a manual about procedures
  or about the airplane," ... "You can't read a newspaper. You can't use
  a laptop. That's strictly prohibited."


But generally speaking, pilots engage in causal chats between themselves and flight attendants (when they visit the cockpit)1.

When there are more than two pilots, one is generally allowed to get some rest. They can also browse through magazines or read some books or flight-related material, but mostly stay alert and available. Some will study for an upcoming proficiency or rating. One of the two pilots can go to the bathroom too. Getting locked out depends on pure luck.

So in a nutshell, there are several different activities/tasks pilots will engage into, each different for a particular flight.

This is a funny little anecdote I recently read, which fits this discussion very well:


  Murphy's law grants you a heap of emergencies once you start feeling
  bored in the cockpit.




1: As a ordinary passenger, I don't visit the cockpit, but I have noticed a few times what the flight attendants do. When they have free time, they have many things to talk about between themselves. Sometimes, they engage in small talk with passengers. They check their schedule and flights for the remainder of the day. Although the duties of flight attendants and pilots are entirely different, there are a bunch of activities which require their attention, and they can pass the time without getting too bored.