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It is required, yes. However, sometimes the body simply won't comply with regs. This is why so much research has been done over the years concerning this very issue. The industry - companies, pilots, the FAA, scientists - all want to know how and why this is happening and how best to prevent it.
Now, all of that being said, this is a very rare phenomena. For me and most of my brethren, this has never happened. But I can tell you that in broad daylight, with plenty of sleep the night before, I have had to FIGHT myself from falling asleep with all the willpower I could muster.
On a side note, this event desribed did not happen during the "approach". Far from it. This happened during what we call the initial descent, which will typically have a workload higher than simple cruise, but has far, far less workload and potential danger than the real approach phase. Personally, I can't imagine anyone falling asleep during that period. There's just too much going on and that, in and of itself, tends to snap a pilot out of his tired state (almost always, anyway. There was DC-8 cargo jet crash years ago while on a early morning approach into a Cuban airport [I think] that was attributed to the flying pilot literally falling asleep at the controls - I think the crew lived).
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