General day to day airline flying seems pretty straight forward, I find problems seem to clump together so perhaps 1 day a month is challenging. For example we took an A321 after a ‘D’ check up for a flight test, after take off into bad icing the wing anti ice duct blew (whilst picking up ice very quickly) and simultaneously started to have dual IDG (electrical generator) problems leading to a quick return to land. Then there are the majority of days where everything works out, run to time, no tech or weather problems.
I really enjoy the job most of the time, the pay is good and I really enjoy the short-haul lifestyle; being able to get home most nights is a real bonus for me. I am sure long haul would ruin my relationship (I will be actively avoiding the A330). The downside is the instability at the moment, for the last year I have been expecting to lose my job, thankfully things have settled down now. Also at the start of the career, being a flying instructor was a ball ache, I know some people love it; I couldn’t stand it by the end, 6 day weeks for less than minimum wage doing circuits all day long. My first airline job I was treated badly, essentially stuck in a foreign country with no money and no pay (no pay until release from safety pilot and no flying to make sure we didn’t have the hours to jump ship before the summer). After that I was volunteering to do flights to get good food to eat and begging a foreign landlord to give me a few months before I could pay rent because I was broke with a maxed out credit card. Either way now I’m at a very good company, very happy and have no place else I would prefer to be.
Cheers.