How far away do you live?

[mainfrog2]

How far away from their base airport do people live and how do people work around standbys etc?

I'm leaving rented acc. soon and its going to be nigh on impossible to buy anything here in the South East on my salary. Probably looking at the Midlands or East Midlands. Does anyone else travel this far and does it cause problems with homelife work?

When you can pick up a two bed house with garden and countryside in Nottinghamshire and only 2 hours up the M1, for less than a studio flat in the SE it's looking tempting.

[Notso Fantastic]

You've got to look at how far you'll drive and how often per week. Doing dailies for 6 days on.......can you do and hour each way and still have quality of life? If you will be coming to work once a week on average, then driving or commuting several or many hours is in order. What I would suggest is if you have a free choice, don't be too quick to consign a large part of your week to commuting or driving- better to have a poorer home and quality and time for yourself in life rather than burning up motorways for 15+ hours a week which is totally 'wasted', non-productive and tiring time out of your life. You may be able to get a better home far away, but you will have MANY hours to ask yourself if it's worth it (and think of the early starts, and expense...petrol, cars, wear & tear on you as well as the car).

[Bealzebub]

You can buy a house wherever you like. Don't forget that it is a condition of your contract of employment with most airlines that you maintain a contact address within 90 minutes normal travelling time of your assigned base. This means that you can report for duty (scheduled or called out from standby) within a maximum of that time plus around 30 minutes.

The reality is that even for people living on the edge of this requirement road conditions these days often mean the actual driving times can be very much longer particularly during the rush hours.

If you are working long haul where travelling to and from work is a small part of the overall duty cycle it may be feasable to reside a long way from your base. On the other hand short haul or charter flying may involve considerable elements of commuting within the normal duty cycle. Often this will involve long duty days with minimum rest between flights. This will do nothing to add to your "quality of life" if you then get to drive for 4 hours a flight cycle with insufficient sleep in between. You would need to maintain local accomodation near the base.

The cost of housing in the south east ( as well as some other areas ) is certainly a major problem and very much so for people like Nurses, Police officers and Teachers whose average income is often much less than ours. Property prices like most other things are market driven. Demand in the East midlands is lower and the supply is better. unfortunetaly this is not the area with the greatest employment opportunities.

The cost of commuting in real terms would add a lot to most peoples outgoings if they had to drive over 300 miles a day to and from work. It would certainly add a considerable amount of cumulative fatigue to their lives. This is why most people don't do it, coupled with the fact they may be contractually prevented from doing it.

Obviously only you can decide if it will work for you. A bigger house may seem attractive in isolation, but if it is the only reward for a poor quality of daily life it may be a major price to pay.

[Pilotage]

I'm not an airline bod, but I used to live very happily (and cheaply) in a village in the middle of Salisbury plain. Happened to suit me well for the airfield I was working on, and it's worth mentioning that the M4, which runs along the North edge of the plain takes you straight to LHR.

If it wasn't for the preferences of Mrs Pilotage, I'd still be there.

The art is not being too close to anywhere with a large yuppie or sloane population. Fortunately northern Salisbury Plain was only close to Swindon, which may have a large population but no Yuppie would be seen close to the place.

If you fly out of LGW, then the south side of the Thames Estuary - particularly the Isles of Grain and Sheppey might offer similar advantages.

P

[Hand Solo]

I have to drive 100 miles to work on short haul. Its do-able and two hours notice to report is achievable barring unforeseen traffic jams, but it's certainly tiring. I find it tolerable because I work on a touring fleet and can go to work for three, four or five days at a time, however it's impossible to completely avoid day trips which means spending 4 hours on the road to spend 3.5 hours on the aircraft. In addition it'll really hit when you have an 0600 report and need to get up at 0330. It just takes one bad nights sleep and you'll barely be able to function for the rest of your multi-sector day. It also gets to you at the end of a long and tiring day when you really just want to go to bed but you've got to drive instead. Plus you'll feel an overwhelming compulsion to speed all the way home which can rack up the points on your driving licence very quickly if you have a run of bad luck.

In terms of homelife, well I'd say I don't actually have one at the moment! You need to bear in mind that sometimes its just not worth driving home between trips, so you get to spend a costly night being bored in a B&B somewhere. Also what can look like a good roster (e.g. off duty 1900 Friday night) can look less attractive when you won't be home until 2100 at the earliest and everyone you know has already left for wherever they're going. Throw in a weekend visiting friends or relations once or twice a month and I can count the number of nights I spend in my own home on my fingers.

Commuting that sort of distance is not uncommon, even on short haul, but the people who are committed to it generally have strong family ties where they live and are prepared to tolerate the drive for that. If your only reason to move to the midlands is affordability then I would suggest you stay in the south and buy somewhere small that you'll actually see, rather than a northern mansion that you'll be a stranger in.

[fireflybob]

I commuted from Nottm to Man for circa 4 years and I vowed NEVER EVER again!!

It is expensive, tiring, stressful and a waste of valuable time. If you cannot live within a reasonable distance of your base (unless you are flying long haul) then find another job where you can do so!

You also miss out in other ways. If you are close to base it is no big deal to pop in and pick up company mail, have a chat with the nav/crewing dept etc and join any social "dos" which will mean you feel a part of the company and will indirectly enhance your career.

The traffic on the roads will only get worse and who can predict what will happen to the price of petrol?

Remember though that you can always come up with creative ideas for what is "home" - I have known pilots who have lived in narrow boats, camper vans and caravans to mention a few.

[mainfrog2]

Thanks for the replies folks, family do live up in the Midlands, just looking to see if it was an option, obviously not, judging by the posts above.

[BigGreenPleasureMachine]

I agree that living close is preferable. One has better things to do than study the back end of a vauxhall vectra for 2 hours every morning.

What's the furthest anyone here lives from base? I have a cousin who's long haul for an American major. He works out of Newark, NJ, but lives in Jacksonville,FLA. Kinda puts a two hour drive in the shade.

[Notso Fantastic]

Commuting by air is a different ball game. Much easier physically, but bringing with it a whole new set of problems. Many BA longhaul crew commute to LHR- we even have several who live in Australia, more in South Africa, in San Francisco, Thailand, hordes in France, Spain, some in Italy........... Not recommended for a shorthaul type operation!

[Pilotage]

Driving in this morning I was listening to Terry Wogan (note for foreigners, the UK's most popular national morning-show DJ) trying to conduct his show from a mobile phone whilst stuck in a 4 hour queue on the A40.

Shows impressive grit and determination, but more difficult to do with an airbus, even if it has got FBW.

I did know a longhaul pilot based at LGW who used to go (light/a.c) flying from Redhill and asked for a "company message" to be passed on Redhill tower frequency if he was wanted.

P