مقصورة راحة الطاقم (Crew Rest Compartment)

What Is a Crew Rest Compartment?

A Crew Rest Compartment (CRC) is a dedicated sleeping or resting area on commercial long-haul aircraft where augmented crew members can take regulatory rest periods during flight, enabling a single aircraft to be operated safely on routes too long to be served by a standard two-person flight crew within duty time limits. Crew rest facilities are divided into flight crew rest (for pilots) and cabin crew rest (for flight attendants), each with specific regulatory requirements for size, access, facilities, and separation from passenger areas.

How It Works

On ultra-long-haul operations (such as Singapore–New York at approximately 18 hours), an aircraft may carry four or more pilots — two operating and two resting. During scheduled rest periods of 2–3 hours, each resting pilot occupies a bunk in the flight crew rest compartment while the aircraft is flown by the operating pair. Regulatory authority (FAA, EASA) specifies minimum bunk dimensions (typically 1.88 m × 0.56 m for pilot bunks), ventilation, lighting, temperature, and acoustic requirements. Flight attendant rest areas on Boeing 777 and 787 aircraft are typically located in a pressurised overhead compartment above the rear galley, accessed via a dedicated staircase or fold-out ladder, and may accommodate up to 10 or more crew members in bunk beds.

Types and Standards

• Class 1 rest (pilots): Flat sleeping surface with privacy, temperature control, and adequate noise attenuation — required for scheduled augmented rest.
• Class 2 rest (cabin crew): A reclining seat providing at least 40° recline, with leg support — acceptable for shorter rest periods on some regulations.
• Class 3 rest: A standard passenger seat with no specific recline requirement — only acceptable for short resting periods under some frameworks.
• EASA Part-ORO.FTL: The European fatigue risk management framework specifying required rest facilities for augmented crew operations.

Interesting Facts

• The Boeing 787's crew rest compartment offers one of the most refined inflight rest environments — fully flat bunks with individual climate control and reading lights, located in a pressurised, acoustically isolated area above the main cabin ceiling.
• Qantas Project Sunrise research flights (Perth–London, ~17 hours) studied crew sleep quality in detail, with pilots wearing physiological monitoring devices to assess fatigue levels throughout the flight.
• Some narrow-body charter aircraft configured for long-haul leisure routes use crew rest seats in unused overhead compartments — a significantly less comfortable solution than dedicated wide-body crew bunks.
• On the A380, flight crew bunks are located above the forward galley between the main and upper decks — one of the few locations on the aircraft large enough to accommodate full-length sleeping berths at the correct structural stress level.