SP

Anybody can tell me please what a typical CX SO schedule (if such thing exists) in a month period should be like? (how many trips, reserve etc...)
Thanks very much
SP

404 Titan

SP

Typical S/O roster for a month would be 3 ultra-long hauls plus a block of 6 reserve days. Sounds easy but by the end of the month I was pretty shagged.

akerosid

I presume SOs only act as "heavy" crews on 340s/744s (possibly 330s to Australia?), so they wouldn't be flying "locally" at all?

What's the minimum length of flight that requires a heavy crew? HKG - Australia?

Generally speaking, how long does an SO take to make it to first officer level? Is there a set minimum?

Many thanks - just curious!

jungly

CX SO Rosters

In 2 yrs I only flew 3 trips on one occasion. That is to say I averaged 2.1 trips per month.
Reserve: In 2 years - 48 days.....average 2 days per month. (Reserve is rostered in blocks of 6 - therefore I averaged a week of reserve every 3 months) I was called out on reserve once and that was for a simulator session.
Simulator: 8 per year...ie: once every 6 weeks. (4-5 hours each)
Time off: Average - 13.7 days per month (12-17days)

CX deal in regional (2 crew), LH (3 crew) and ULH (4 crew).

There are a plethora of rules and regs that decide which is which... I'd have to copy Vol1 here to do it justice but.......in general it has to do with the number of time zones you are crossing. (but there are also flight time limitations too)
eg: HKG-AKL is 5 time zones and therefore only requires 3 crew whereas, HKG-FRA/ROM/PAR/JNB is 7 time zones and requires 4 crew. (The flight times are the same HKG- AKL or Europe)
HKG-Bali is a daytime flight 10hrs return but crosses no time zones, therefore its is a 2 man crew whereas HKG-Surabaya (right next to Bali) departs at 2am and therefore requires a 3 man crew.

Boeing SOs stay on the 744 until upgrade, Airbus SOs start only on ULH (A340) and then cross qualify (CCQ) onto the A330 after about a year. The dual qual opens up routes to Australia and Dubai.....all 3 man crew flying. The flying hours are less on the A330 so you are more likely (almost certainly) going to get a 3rd and even 4th trip each month.

Hope this helps

ae-jacko

Howdy,
Thanks for the great post Jungly! What and how long are your layovers? What is your quality of life, when you are on the road?
Thanks

jungly

Please note that I am only 1. talking about what I did and 2. that of only mentioned the 1st two years (ie: life as an SO)
The JF/O roster is a large step up! (Min days of is 8 per month)

ae-jacko: Overnights vary immensely, esp now in the wake of SARS but it would be fair to say that most are only 24hrs. The 744 guys do it harder than those on the A340.

The A340 still has 96hr layovers in LHR and 72hrs in JNB on certain days of the week. As an SO there is also a 54hr layover in ANC over summer (A340).
The 744 has just picked up ROM and I think they now have a 72hr layover too.
The worst is/was AKL where you could legally get an 18hr layover (after an 11hr flight that covered 5 time zones!!) I understand that this has now ceased.
Lastly - there is a 54hr layover in YVR too. Just enough time to bus upto Whistler for a few beers - a sleep - followed by a full days skiing and then back to YVR for another sleep and shower before work!

No complaints!