Besides flying the plane and talking to the person in the other seat, what other forms of entertainment are (also legally) available to pilots while on the job?
I'm thinking of 'activities' like reading, listening to music, watching a movie, or... playing a flight simulator game on a laptop.
I am not aware of any legal requirements, but rules may differ according to the country of jurisdiction.
Generally it is up to the company that a pilot works for to establish their own rules to cover "in-flight entertainment" in the flight deck. Most companies do not allow it. It has been my experience that the rules are generally ignored and common sense rules are used instead.
During non-critical phases of flight, pilots will often read newspapers, books, iPads etc. Many will do crossword puzzles or Sudoku. A few will even listen to music or watch a video, but it is pretty rare.
In 40 years of flying, I can't recall ever seeing a pilot play a video game or flight simulator.
For Part 91 flight operations, many pilots will listen to the radio or music. I have often listened to songs on my iPhone music library fed through an aux jack into my headset. And many IFDs and integrated GNSS navigation systems often offer XM weather and XM Radio services through subscription that pilots will use to listen to XM radio, as this SR-22 pilot making a flight out to Camarillo, CA does.
One older option, if the aircraft is equipped with a functioning ADF, is that, since NDBs broadcast in the kilohertz range, pilots can tune an ADF into AM radio stations and put it through to their headsets using the audio panel. The ADF needle will point in the direction of the AM radio transmission tower for that station. AM stations that are tracked this way can be used as a supplemental navaid in VFR operations but are not approved as terrestrial navaids for IFR operations.
Use of visual entertainment such as movies, television programs, video games, etc., is not allowed for a flight crew as they are required to maintain visual scanning outside the aircraft, if able, for situational awareness and collision avoidance.
I can't speak for Part 121 or Part 135 operations but I'd venture a guess that such activity is frowned upon by employers during flight operations. But I'm sure many a 747 or A380 crew over the Pacific at FL410 with another 9.5 hours to go before making Kingsford Smith Intl will listen to the radio or take turns watching outside of the aircraft while the other flight crewmember reads a book or relaxes.
It is important to limit these activities to low workload phases of the flight such as long stretches of cruise in low density airspace and maintain a sterile cockpit during attention intensive phases such as takeoff, departure, approach and landing. I will only listen the the radio in cruise and use is terminated at least 10 minutes before a planned descent begins. A pilot should do a realistic self assessment of his/her flying abilities and refrain from the use of these things if they have difficulties with multitasking or are easily distracted from the airmanship tasks at hand. Use of entertainment products during emergencies is unacceptable as well.
Having been a couple of times at the flight deck myself I have seen and asked pilots a similar question. The pilots have to routinely monitor the instruments so playing a game reading a book or watching a movie imposes a high risk on "forgetting time" so the pilots I spoke did not do this. They spend quite some time on the flight monitoring part, communicating with ATC and OCC adjusting their course. Then you have the occasional flight attendant visiting the flight deck who stays for a chat or brings food. Newspapers are also read and provide food for conversations and if there is enough staff they can make a short walk though the cabin.
Interesting question.
I work for an In-flight Entertainment company and none of our in-seat video systems have ever included anything for the pilot to interact with, other than the PA-system. With the PA-system they can entertain themselves with knowing that they're pausing all passenger entertainment for the duration of their prolonged speech.
Now for our new WiFi based entertainment systems, there's nothing to stop a pilot with a PED (Portable Electronic Device) from connecting to the entertainment system like a passenger. Personally I would hope a pilot would never do this.
