Hi Hedges81
Can't vouch for any of the above as i'm not a pilot, just a wannabe. I've wanted to be a pilot for ages so when I graduated I decided i'ld start at the bottom to get some work experience in an airport working for a major handling/passenger services agent. If you want a taste of how much disruption this sort of life can be then I suggest you try this. I got my shifts approx 2 days before the weekly rota started, had roughly one weekend off every 5 weeks (if i was lucky!) and had shifts ranging from 4 hrs to 12 hrs starting at anytime in the day (i mean literraly anytime, could have been 3 in the morning or 9 at night). I missed numerous friends birthday who didn't understand why i couldn't just swap a shift and as for my G'friend, It was like trying to explain to a brick wall why I couldn't see her at weekends. I'm sure pilots hours can't be this bad(!) because of flight time directives etc but its definitely a taster!
Having said this I loved it. I loved the buzz of the airport and it taught me shed loads about ops etc of an airline and also I learnt loads of CAA regulations etc. All minor stuff but non-the-less still stuff! I only did it for 6 months because my hours dropped in the winter but it was great fun. I also harassed (to the extent i'm sure one or two of them turned the other way when they spotted me) every pilot I met about how they trained, did they enjoy the job etc. Most were easy/bmibaby/First choice and Thomas cook pilots and all were very pleasant and helpful.
It's not glamorous and its minimum wage stuff and bl**dy annoying at times but i'm definitely glad i did it for the experience.
