Followyourdreams!
reason why so many crew leave is simple!
they work you so hard
rest times between shifts is getting less ie very rarly more than 15hours even in home base and (remember thats chocks on airport to sign on back at work -no travel time included)
the fatigue you experience from all those odd hours becomes cumulative
running around on turnarounds between aircraft and cleaning - no time to even go to the loo (sometimes...)
eating at all hours and often at record speed..
yeah three days off sounds great..but you dont really recover properly and then you are back at it again!
trying to sqeeze other normal day to day tasks into your days off when you ARE at home.
yes ..we all know that some ood these things are part of the job before we begin, but the fact is at Virgin, as at other big companies you are just a number ..they want efficency and results and productivity...ie KPI's and KRA's are very important and your sick leave will be monitored very carefully whether or not you have taken your 20 days and more or not.
Annual leave is great but good luck in getting it when you want it and having enough time to recover from your roster.
The fact is,no matter how much you love your job, crew start to get disgruntled with the arduous rosters very quickly and the average lifespan of a
VB flightie is really only 2-3years because of the pace you keep up.
I was, and still am passionate about avaition and i loved it, but i started to get very frustrated and run down to excess - I had to call it quits.
Please dont get too down about it, but it can be a rude shock after the novelty of it wears off and real fatigue sets in - you have to be SOOO good to yourself and your health to stay on top of it..unfotunately it is the way the whole indusrty works now...it's all about efficency.
To answer another qus, on call days are called 'availables' when you re at home - can be great if you dont get called, but also you have to be very organised (ie have your bag packed, unifrom ironed and ready, and have eaten etc) if you want to have the flexibility to go out do other things...and not go anymore than 2hours away from the airport in travelling time. They will call you and give you two hours to get there,if under to hours it is not legal unless they adjust your sign on time accordingly.
Never accept a duty if that happens as you are compromising everything the EBA stands for and is and it is VERY important you know those conditions like the back of your hand.
Good luck and take care- remember if you are passionate go for it but just know the reality.
