The Life of a Pilot

[JamesTigris]

This may take up 10 minutes of some people's lives but I was hoping that some professional pilots could post a description of a typical flying day/week...

It would be good if people from various stages through their flying careers could contribute, and not limited at all to airline folk. Anyone that flies anything for a living!

I originally thought of posting this as a way of finding out what the life of an airline pilot is honestly like, from the guys that fly, but all are welcome.

I've chosen to post on this forum as I feel it is of most use to people yet to get into the industry, just hope I can catch enough pros to get a good response! Thanks in advance..

JWT

PS
Don't worry about the length of posts, I'm sure there are alot of people who want to read them...

[Scoob]

?

[redsnail]

I've worn several hats over the years. Bush pilot, coastwatch pilot, regional pilot, night freight... About to start the new job so you'll have to wait for that one. (Corporate pilot).

Bush pilot.
Salary circa $A20,000 if you're lucky.
Equipment: Cessna 206, 207, 210 or Partenavia if you have the hours etc.
Location. Remote and I mean remote part of Australia.

Normal day.
Alarm goes off at 4am. Get to work by 5am. Check board to see what beast I have. Wander out. Do daily. Listen carefully as I pull the prop through. Check the rest of it out. Untie it, tidy the seat belts and check the number of sick bags and check the safety cards are there.
Wander back inside, argue who's doing the pax collection and who's doing the mass briefing. Usually lose, set out in the work bus to drive around town collecting the pax. Thump on the back packer's doors loudly. No avail. As usual.

Get the now slightly bewildered pax into the main briefing room and then proceed to humourously tell them about their up and coming 2 hour adventure having a look at err the great Australian outback. Meanwhile, my colleagues have divvied up the passengers into reasonable loads.
Herd them onto the aircraft making sure they don't break any thing and it doesn't sit on it's tail... Brief the pax, avoiding such terms as "crash", "emergency", "turbulence" and "sick". Scares them you see.

Fire up the mighty C207 (affectionately known as the Slugwagon). Do the run ups etc. Hope like heck the condensor hasn't crapped itself.
Roar down the runway at the same time as being blinded by the rising sun. Ahhh dawn. Nice.
Tootle down the set scenic path telling the pax all about our wonderful scenery. Try not to yawn too loudly.
After 2 hours of joy, return the Slugwagon to the runway hopefully not making too much of a meal of the landing. Look out for the resident croc in the river. Point it out to the excited pax.
Extract the passengers and drive them back to their hotels.

Now the fun really begins. Some of us will do another scenic, others will head out to the aboriginal communities carting food. Prepare the aircraft accordingly, get more fuel. Food truck turns up. Unload said truck and organise the "freezer" the "chiller" and the perishables into 500kg lots.
Load the Slugwagon and set off. Eat an apple, file nails. An hour later descend into "Kalumburu" (note, recently clobbered by a Cat 5 cyclone). Unload the freight. Yell at the local aborigines to get them to move and give you a hand. Put the seats back in and see if there's any pax wanting to head to Kununurra. Look around to see if the cattle have wandered back onto the strip. Roar off again to Kununurra.

Lunch time. Yay. Get to eat something. Change out of the "pilot" shirt and into some manky grease and oil covered shirt to "assist" with the 100 hourlies. You get real good at changing cyclingers. Do a 50 hourly on your favourite SLugwagon. Sweep a hangar. Wash an aeroplane. Clean a bus. WIlling the clock to hit 14.30. Fill out the log book. Check the duty board, another early scenic. Go home.

Sleep for an hour or whatever. If you can that is. Set alarm for 4am. Repeat.

After a while, the chief pilot takes pity on you and you go to other destinations. No GPS, no navaids. Now, that is a lot of fun. :D

I won\'t bore you guys with the Coastwatch stuff.

Small regional pilot. (FO)
Location. Cairns (ahh paradise) Australia.
Pay: $A33,000 if you\'re lucky.
Machine: Bandeirante

You\'ve made the big time, you\'ve done the hard yards out in the bush and now you\'re a flash turbine driver. Woo hoo.
Alarm goes off at 5ish (ooh a sleep in I see)
Get to work at 6ish for a 7am departure.
Get the notams and wx. Peruse. Wet season usually means more perusing than dry season.
Make sure the destination runway is still serviceable and the NDB hasn\'t died.
Scribble out the flight note and fax to Brisbane for filing.
Figure out the fuel number and wait for the captain to finish his coffee and confirm your numbers.
Have a brief joke swap session with ops before heading out to the tarmac.

If it\'s raining, the FO will do the external. Actually, even if it\'s sunny and stinking hot, FO will do the external. Captain hassles for the fuel and makes some nice lines on the trim sheet.
Loadies turn up, swap rude jokes with them or comment on the cricket/rugby/aussie rules. Agree that the government\'s an arse. Check that the load\'s tied down.

Wait for the pax. Steer them onto the correct aircraft. No, not the Bae 146, the Bandeirante. No, don\'t care that you think it\'s too small.... Get them in and give the pax a briefing. Try and not laugh. Frantically remember the captain\'s name. Shut the door.
Strap myself in, call for clearance.

Depart Paradise and head up the coast for an 30 min flight. If you\'re handling, dream up a descent point, tell the boss how you\'re going to do the approach, let him correct you. :D If you\'re the PNF, fish out the wx and chat to company.
Land, welcome the pax to this godforsaken part of the world. Assist them off the aircraft and away from the hot engines.

Unload the bags and joke with the handling agent. Load up the aircraft. Do a quick walkaround. Captain finishes off the paperwork. Last minute joke to the handling agent. Get the pax onto the aircraft, brief them. Advise them that you\'re not the FA but are in fact flight crew. Watch their faces go pale. :D

Fly back to Cairns. Tidy up the aircraft. Get it fuelled for the next trip/crew if it\'s a short turnaround. (checked in with ops before TOD). Gather the paperwork, hand to ops. Get something to eat before heading back out to some other interesting part of Queensland that no one in the Northern Hemisphere\'s ever heard of. Do more loading and unloading of aircraft. Tidy more seats, brief more pax. Fly home.
Hand in the paperwork, sort out the plans and load sheets.
Note duty times and flight times. Check the roster.
Go home.

[Airbus Girl]

Excellent post which almost can't be followed!!!

However, from a UK charter airline pilot point of view:-

Typical week. 2 days off (probably Wed and Thurs)
Fri 3.45am alarm goes off. At work 5.30am for 6am report. Need to catch up on company e-mails and system takes about 10 minutes to get into (and about 10 passwords!). Check file for any company mail and good stuff like return of leave bids for sometime next year. Chat to cabin crew, chat to Captain, have cups of coffee. Start lengthy discussion into the latest plan for the company to degrade our conditions. Look at flight paperwork for flight information. Hassle ground staff to provide it. Wait 15 minutes whilst they go and get it. Check NOTAMs, weather, more company messages, which aircraft, weather, de-icing, check PLOG, call Ops to get PLOG with correct alternates on, check if tanking fuel. Call fueller, ground handling, etc. Put hats, coats, scarfs, gloves and company trenchcoat on to brave the freezing walk to the aircraft. Get to aircraft to find no-one is there. Ask our ground person why no steps. Lots of shrugging. Call ground handlers ourselves to chivy them along. Wait 10 minutes in the cold whilst steps and airbridge put on. Get on aircraft, run through full checks. Check Tech Log. Start APU. Turn central heating to full hot whilst engineer stands by frowning and drawing breath. Ask engineer why x isn't working. Engineer says "the crew didn't report a malfunction when it came in last night!". More drawing of breath and lots of circuit breaker pulling. Captain goes to do walk round, and en route hassles ground staff to get the cleaners/ caterers/ fuellers to turn up. Now 6.40am and passengers should be boarding but catering not arrived and fuel still going on.
FO enters data into flight computers - route, weights, winds, speeds, etc.
Engineer and Captain back from hassling cabin crew for cup of tea. Ask Engineer if he knows any gossip. Says no, but spends next 10 minutes telling us about new aircraft, new staff, staff who've been sacked, the general poor time engineers have, and then another 10 minutes recalling his experiences in a previous job.
Passengers start boarding. FO gets clearance (instrument clearance) from tower. Pilot flying briefs pilot not flying. This includes all the usual stuff - aircraft, speeds, flap reduction height, emergencies during taxi and on the runway. This might include things like going to full power (from reduced power take off), getting the gear up, height to start the emergency drills, whether we will continue on heading or if we need to turn straight away (for example to avoid a hill straight ahead). We then state if we will hold, if we are going to return or if we were to divert where we might go. Discussion of which pub we'd go to once we'd got the broken aircraft back on the ground.
Cabin crew comes to tell us everyone on board. Now ETD - 30 seconds and load sheet or load figures arrive along with the dispatcher to tell us everyone is on board. Check load sheet and correct errors. Get head count from cabin crew. Doesn't match load sheet. Discover 3 LMCs were accepted and we weren't told.
Tell cabin crew to shut up. Wait 5 minutes whilst ground handler ambles round removing steps, etc. Call tower to ask for push and start. Do pre-start checks. On pushback start each engine in turn. Ask ground crew why we are at a funny angle. Told tug has broken. Think we can taxi from this angle. Do post-start checks. Call tower for clearance to taxi from this angle. Get tug removed from aircraft. Tower call marshaller to check. 5 minutes later marshaller arrives to tell us, yes, we can taxi from here. Call tower for clearance to taxi. Taxi to holding point whilst doing flight control checks, and rest of pre-take-off checks. Sit in queue at holding point whilst 5 low cost carriers turn up and go. Eventually get clearance. Cabin crew tell us cabin is secure for take-off. Final check of wind and line-up. Cleared for take-off, engines up to 50% then full. Off we go. Lots of talk on the radio as we get vectored about and step climbs whilst retracting flaps and accelerating and doing more checks.
Note time of take-off. Moan about time of getting back home tonight. Wind speed up to make us feel better.
Half an hour later talking to the French probably and in the cruise. Tell jokes. Put the company to rights. Put the world to rights. Have discussion about something/ someone. Have tea. Have snacks. Ask how long until lunch. 10am. Have lunch. Horrible sarnie and crisps. Get lots of weather in case of diversion. Play joke on cabin crew. Brief approach. Land. Taxi in, hoping for a stand near to the shops in the terminal. Have same hassles as earlier on ground. Lose 2 passengers, probably still shopping in duty free. Open holds to search for bags. Passengers wander on 10 minutes after scheduled departure time claiming there were no calls for this flight. Funny, cos the other 200 passengers made it. Reload bags. Close up. Proceed as before. 3pm have dinner. More jokes. Play another joke on cabin crew as they have got us back for the earlier one. Call ground handling to tell them precise arrival time and number of wheelchairs required. Try and talk to London who are very busy. Told high speed approved so we fly at 340 knots. Eventually they take a breath and we get a call in. Next frequency are very quiet. Admire fabulous view of city. Get handed to approach. Get told to fly 180 knots. Get vectored round a sightseeing tour of local counties on route to the runway. Do more checks. Have bets on how much longer we are going to be vectored. Take bets on which aircraft we are following. Take bets on how few miles ATC will want us to lose 5000 feet in. Cabin is secure. Disconnect automatics cos it makes it slightly more interesting. Fly ILS approach, land, taxi in, shut down. Fill in reams of boxes on our flight form. Wait 5 minutes for steps to arrive. Ground handler arrives and tells us he didn’t know we wanted wheelchairs. Waste a minute telling him we called his office 30 mins ago. Waste a minute whilst he tells us his office never told him and it’ll be another 30 minutes before the wheelchair company arrive at aircraft. Throw rubbish into overfilled toilet and slam door quick. Find gap in exiting passengers and make a run for it. Hand aircraft to engineer and walk back to crew room. File paperwork, try and remember where car is parked. Drive home.

Sat, Sun – repeat.
Mon – drive through rush hour to report at 5pm for night flight.
Tues – drive home in the morning, have a couple of hours kip. Get up have some food. Try to force body into thinking its night time and need to sleep. Doesn’t work. Get up and drive through rush hour to work.
Do another night flight.
Wed – drive home through rush hour, fall asleep at least twice, honking of horns in traffic jam wakes you up.
Wed/Thurs/ Fri – attempt to recover lost sleep, recover normal eating times (no curry at 3am), remind spouse who you are and explain again why you can’t go out for a drink tonight. Try to trick your body into getting ready for a 4am alarm call on Saturday.

[Number Cruncher]

Nice and amusing post, AG.

So, $64k question: Would you jack it in for something else then? A 9-5 maybe.............??

[redsnail]

Airbus-Girl,
Same rubbish, different sized aircraft I see? :D Great post.
Do you also have landing competitions? :E

[Dualcouple]

I'm a FO on regional fleet of a major airline up north.

Arrive at airport approx. 10 minutes before reporting time. Check in, meet with the cabin crew (they're often early too). Print out briefing package including weather, notams, company information and OFPs. Captain arrives, shake hands with him. Go through the papers I just printed. We discuss about tankage and alternates, he makes the fuel order. Leave crew facilities for aircraft, go through security to airside of airport, jump into crew bus, which will take us to apron stand or gate.

Either one (if it's raining, probably me :() will make the walkaround. Meanwhile the other one powers up the airplane, checks technical log and cabin memorandum for defects and hold items, checks flight deck emergency equipment and does some routine checks that don't require attention of both flight crew members. Hopefully we'll get some coffee. Check cabin readiness for pax (cleaning, catering etc). Communicate with flight coordinator, when to board pax, possible fuelling with pax on, balance factors, de-icing, etc.

When all OK, depart from A for B. Drink some more coffee. When approaching destination contact B ground crew regarding if arriving on schedule, fuelling if no through tankage, disembarkation methods, pax requiring special attention, connecting pax if late etc. Turnarounds are quite fast, 20-40 min. Again either one, usually pilot not flying, will make the walkaround while pilot flying prepares the flight deck (ATIS, loading FMS, runway performace calculations etc). Get a cup of coffee. Check latest weather, final decisions regarding fuelling, alternates etc. Communicate with flight coordinator. Conduct flight from B to A. Drink some coffee.

Repeat once or twice.

After final sector say thanks to the crew (probably won't fly with them in a few months), carry official documents to office, drive home. Alternatively (~50% of time) head to hotel, maybe have a beer with the captain (or cabin crew too if lucky) if reporting time allows this. Fall asleep, wake up after minimum rest, repeat.

And I love my job, but this thread wasn't about that :ok:

[smith]

Roll out of bed unshaven, get cornflakes and watch breakfast TV (News at One).

Iron my uniform and start to get ready for my start at 3pm.

Pull on T-shirt and skip hat and put on my golden arces badge.

Arrive at work and smell the big Mac's and whopper's getting made.

Go behind the counter and flip burgers for 8 hours.

Come home and go to sleep.

Just kidding everyone but I couldn't resist it.:O

[North Shore]

Air Tanker Pilot, Canada. ~CDN$65K

1997: C185 on floats in the bush
1998: DHC6 '' '' '' '' '' (f/o)
1999: DHC6 " " Commuter. (f/o)
2000: DHC3T "" "" bush.
2001: PA31-350 in the bush
2002-now CL215 f/o

Show up 1st week in April for 2 weeks of spring training (Recurrent g/s, sim, ride, etc..) End of April/beginning of May - out to the base. Up at 0730ish, leisurely brekky, off to airport for 1000. Wait for phone to ring. If it does, then off to fire for maximum four hour stint, scooping water, and then dropping it. If fire's out, then return to base to wait for phone to ring. If the phone doesn't ring, then wait at airport until 19:30 ish, and then back home. Repeat until early September. Return home, ride mountain bike and ski all winter. Repeat until pension kicks in.

88 hours last season, 250 before that. This year??

[Airbus Girl]

redsnail - of course! Usually who can do the best landing, who can give the most wrong wind (Captain usually says its 8 knots down the runway when its really 20 knots right across)....
And sometimes we get applause from down the back. Not sure if its cabin crew being sarcastic sometimes though...

[scroggs]

Within this thread (http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=131649) you can find links to threads where WWW and I give an insight into our professional lives. They're a little old now, but the basics haven't changed a lot.

Of course, as a long-haul god (;) ), I have minions to do all the work for me. My most pressing decision is whether to do the Times or the Telegraph crossword in between Upper Class meals and resting in the luxurious pilots' bedroom, or watching first-run movies on the on-demand in-flight-entertainment system.

God, it's hard!

Scroggs

[v1r8]

My past 4 years..

17-19 FAA and JAA ATPL course
19 C310 (air taxi)
20 F/O BE-200 (charter)
21 Capt BE-200 (corporate)

[father murry]

Enough now ladies and gentleman. I think the writer of the original post has got the idea now.

[ATP_Al]

Why stop now? This is one of the best threads I have seen on PPrune in ages, especially as it acknowledges those who don't fly for the airlines:ok:

As for myself,

Tuesday - Sunday: Get up 8.30am. Check out Islander, get weather and call London Control for squawk and frequency. Go have coffee, complain about job and send out CVs. Wait for parachutists to turn up. Watch them jump out of big shiny twin turboprop. Wait some more until big shiny twin turboprop breaks or student parachutists turn up. Fly 2-3 lifts in Islander, stop complaining for a while. Refuel islander, put control locks on and go work in bar.

Keep the posts coming!

Al

[conor_mc]

As a wannabe, I say keep 'em coming ladies and gents!

The more wide and varied the better!

[Artificial Horizon]

Got up this morning at 5am and drove to the airport for a 6am checkin. Before reporting to the crew room visit the despatchers office to pick up a weather briefing pack. As with each morning for the last two years despatchers seem to be suprised that we now get weather from them, after the initial discussion the weather prints out at an unbelievable slow rate. Read it as it comes off of the printer. Take weather to the crew room, now 10 minutes late for checkin, join the que to get access to one of the two computers for all 30 flight/cabin crew trying to check in at the same time, finally get to my turn and both computers have crashed and won't print. I give up on checking in and just go and ask each captain where he/she is flying until I find my captain for the day. He asks me what the weather is like and I can't remember (good start), I print off all of the PLOGs, we plan the fuel load and discuss the weather. By this point both of our cabin crew have given up on the computer aswell and are now roaming the crew room looking for their flightdeck for the day. Once all together we go to the aircraft 30 minutes before departure, I do the walkaround whilst captain prepares the flightdeck. Passengers on and underway on time this morning for a short hop across to LPL to deliver our 70 passengers. As we climb up through the gloom and break into the bright sunlight the stress of all the pre flight admin is forgotten and both the captain and I remark how lucky we are to get this view everyday. All goes tits up in LPL when no one meets the aircraft, passengers aren't allowed off until chocks have been placed, I finally give up and get out myself to go and find some chocks, get a couple and place them at the wheels, passengers start to disembark just in time to see me get a blast from airfield ops because in my haste forgot to put my hi viz jacket on. Despatcher finally appears informs us that we have 60 passengers for the return, we start boarding straight away as our 25 min turnarounds don't allow for a lot of down time. 20 minutes later despatcher returns to inform us 3 pax are missing, we are now 15 minutes late and the schedule is out the window for the morning, no chance to catch up now. Finally underway and arrive back home on time because ATC are kind with the shortcuts this morning. Now we just need to do it all again before goind home at 13.30.

Overall the job is fantastic, being paid to fly is brilliant, it is all the stuff on the ground during turnarounds that makes you realise that nothing in life comes without a price.:)

[JamesTigris]

Big thanks to everyone who's posted. Sounds like with all dream jobs, its a nightmare half the time!

Few for the Airline guys, how does the flying day vary between carriers (from BA/Virgin to the low cost carriers)? How many flights does a pilot usually do in one day? I've heard the term 'sectors' banded around alot, what does that mean exactly?

I've heard of Bush Flying before but what is it exactly? Any type of flying in the outback? Are there any bush pilots there who could say how they got into it?

[redsnail]

Bush flying is pretty much stuff done in remote areas. Areas like Canada, Alaska, Africa, parts of the USA, parts of Australia. It can comprise of scenics and or charter flying.
The charter flying could be govt workers, utility workers (eg water, electricity, telecommunications), teachers, nurses, the local indigenous folks, freight and of course, tourists as well. Fire spotting and fish spotting is also included.

Aircraft usually include the Cessna 206/7/10, Cherokee 6, Partenavia, Shrike Aerocommander, Chieftain, C208, Shorts 330-360, King Air and Twin Otter.

I haven't included agricultural flying or mustering as they usually require specific endorsements. Nor have I included Aero Ambulance because they require a substantial amount of experience. eg Australia's RFDS (Royal Flying Doctor Service)

You usually have minimal support when away from base, HF is your friend. GPS is useful. :) You're expected to do more than "just fly the aircraft". You'll be responsible for a fair bit of the pilot approved maintenance as well as assisting in the hangars. You'll be the ticket seller, phone answerer, bus driver, tour guide, loady as well as pilot.

How do you get into it? Go to the places where such flying exists. You'll rarely find job advertised. If you're not familiar with where bush flying happens, wander into a tourist office and ask about "scenic flights" in eg Africa. That'll give you a starting point.

So far the bush flying I have done has been the most fun and interesting flying I have ever done.

[Jodiekeyz]

Great post Airbus girl....:=

[atyourcervix73]

My Life......

1991......learn to fly..172's
1992......learn to tow gliders
1993......towing gliders/meatbombing..172/206's
1994......still meat bombs
1995......Multi/IR...flyin a bandit:} ...opps company went broke
1996......learnt to help wifey at home:8
1997......back in the big time woohoo B200
1998......B200 not big enough now
1999......B200 broken..company broken
2000......The promised land of JAR, and sales and marketing!
2001......C208 and meat bombs again!
2002-2005...Big time! B757....now all I want from santa is a 777 job!

Redsnail, airbus-girl, ATPL-Al...yep been there bought the T-shirt...and even flown into some of the odd places Redsnail has!

Today its......my day off!..so up at 11am....look outside....go back to sleep:zzz:

[hingey]

Any pros here who think:

"I hate this job! Dont be a pilot!"

If so, why? (I have yet to be discouraged)

[COP]

For those who know what a regional jet operation is like, I have done that. A CRJ 200 around the traps having lots of fun and getting pretty good money for it. Lots of overnights and great crew to fly with. Now for what I do now.
Wake up after getting home at 12.30 or 0100 from the previous day. Mope around the house for a while and pick at a bit of food here and there. See the dog who is overjoyed that I am up am mobile. Give him a pat and mutter the words walk under my breath. Forgetting that his ears are supped up he bolts off down the hallway to the door scrathing the timber floors as he goes. I walk the dog getting strange looks from all those around me as I look like I have done 3 long haul trips back to back. I come home and have some breakfast and then do normal things. At 13.30 I drive to work in the west of Melbourne, park the car and walk through some slack security to go into the office. I spend the next hour in the work gym before having a shower and putting my uniform on. I have a shave and all the rest of it and walk down stairs at about 14.40 for a 1500 start. I see what exactly I am doing for the 8 hour shift. It seems that today I am on the van. That is the police van driving around the district and attending criminal matters. I then go to my locker where all my paperwork is kept and get my equipment belt out which holds all the goodies. I go to the watchouse and someone hands me out all my equpment. That is my 38 calibre revolver with 6 rounds and six spare, my asp batton (extendable) my capsicum spray and a portable radio. I also get a melways and other items that all police carry. I say hi to anyone I am working with and then decide who will drive and who will do the running sheet. That is the person not driving will keep documented evidence of everything that we do, everybody we speak to, every car we intercept and so on. This running sheet can be many pages long, depending on what you have on for the day. This written evidence is a vital part of your experiences during the day and sometimes they are called as evidence to go to court. Today I am driving. We drive out of the station and on to general patrol duties. We communicate with police operations via radio and now a computer in the car. When there is nothing specific to do we drive around and check on local crime hot spots, intercept cars for a large manner of reasons, execute warrants that we may have (arresting people and bringing them to the station to interview them for a crime that we could not arrest them for at the time). However it is not long before police communications give us jobs to do. That is members of the public have called 000 and requested police assistance. This could range from car accidents, domestics, violence of all types, drug use and dealing, murders, suicides, fires etc........... I have seen them all and although the specialist units may come to some of these things (homicide squad), often the divvy van is the first police on the scene. I see a whole number of things. One which stands out in my mind was a tripple fatality rail accident V's car. You can only imagine......Throughout the day my partner is frantically writing all the things we do and just about everything else. We do a lot of paperwork during the day and often finish a shift with a mountain of reports and other things. Everything in this job is recordable and must be kept for a certain period of time. It is now 22.45 and we start to head back to the station, but only if we are not doing any jobs at the time. The knock off time is 23.00, but this is never attainable. You may get back to the station at 23.00, but probably not. You could get called to an urgent job at 22.55 and you are obliged to go. This could leave you finishing the shift anywhere up to 8 hours later, depending on what the job was. You might need to arrest people and then interview them. There is an enourmas amopunt of things that may need to be done. The days can be exhausting, but sometimes you have a good day and may get home before 00.00.
You get into the station and remove all your equipment and hand it back in. You then will make sure all your paperwork is done and if not you do it. This can take a long time, especially if you were not able to do it during the shift as you went from job to job, always in a hurry. You hand in the running sheet and all the paperwork (reports) to the sergeant and over the course of the night he/she will check it. If it is all ok it will go to the snr sgt to sign off, if not it will come back to you to amend. Eventually you leave driving home you see no crime and no cars, but I guess you are not looking for them. You get home at 00.00 and you may start again at 0700 doing the same thing. It happens a lot...

[scroggs]

Hingey, read this (http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=120500) and this (http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=97964). All available within this thread (http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=131649). Which you have read, of course!

Scroggs

[Danny]

Been flying professionally now for 11 years. Started on the EMB110 (Bandit) then the HS748 (Budgie) followed by a succession of Boeings, B757/767, B737-300/700 and now just starting out on the B747-400. (Jeez it's big!)

Done the whole gamut including night freight and regional pax work on the turboprops and short, medium and long haul (Inclusive Tour) work on the Boeings. Now doing permanent long haul on the Big Boeing. (Jeez it's big!) Mind you, I've only just started line training on the B747 and I have an awful lot still to learn. Biggest difference is the size and energy of the beast. Whilst practicing to carve my initials in the thresholds of the various destinations I am still surprised when I find we have 'landed' (I use the term sparingly and only if the aircraft is reusable) that my eye height is still at around 50 feet, which is where I used to only just start thinking about starting the flare, and the 16 wheels of the landing gear are making all sorts of tortured sounds and rumbles nearly 100 feet behind me. :\

Because we get to taxy the a/c from both seats it is a real challenge to keep on the centreline of the taxiways. Not a lot of clearance for the gear or the wingtips at some locations. Sitting about three stories up gives new meaning to 'perspective' when you are trying to manoeuvre 320+ tons of Boeing, fuel and SLF whilst still on the ground. With the main body gear steering the B747-400 can make quite tight turns but you still have a 'sense' of 'acreage' behind you. (Jeez it's big!)

Got five trips rostered this month (Barbados, Orlando, Newark, JFK and Los Angeles) but expect to average four. Once line training is completed will be able to bid for trips. Hoping to do some out of Manchester as it would save me commuting.

Arrive at work, check in and sign sheet. Collect paperwork which is all prepared for us by other mortals ;) and aim to get to a/c about one hour before ETD. PNF does the walk round (Jeez it's big!) whilst PF enters route and sets up departure. Wait for final ZFW and then pass final fuel to fueler. Lots of automatic goodies such as Pre-departure clearances via ACARS and other snazzy stuff but I'm far too inexperienced to go into detail. :bored: Makes crossing the Atlantic much more pleasurable without having to fight to get a word in edgeways on HF with CPDLC and ADS. Also, getting the latest weather for en-route alternates is a cinch. Non of that remembering to tune into the half hourly HF Volmet.

Being able to take crew rest when there's three or more of you on the flight deck is also a huge bonus. Makes a big difference to how you feel after nine or more hours cooped up when you have to get your wits together for the approach and landing. The beds aren't luxurious but you can lie down fully stretched out with pillows, sheets and duvets. I have since found that the post-prandial nap is the best slot to go for.

Food... must learn self control. Nothing happens on-board until the pre-flight sandwiches, fruit, chocolate and crisps has been delivered. Hot drinks served in proper chinaware as are all meals. Proper cloth napkins and a menu based on the Upper Class meals. Weight control will be my bug-bear if I'm not going to have others say ("Jeez he's big!")

Best of all is the friendly crews, both flight and cabin, I get to work with. There is usually at least 18 or more of us. Never a shortage of familiar faces to meet up with once we settle into our hotel downroute. So far I've only been to Orlando and Barbados, destinations I was already familiar with from my time on the B767 so I'm looking forward to the east coast US and New York destinations as well as South Africa and the rest of the Caribbean.

I've found that the bigger and heavier the metal, the amount of paperwork increases exponentially. Lots of it and possibly one of the more difficult things to learn about the job. On the other hand, I've found the opposite is true when it comes to the size of the manuals. The B747 is truly a wonderful aircraft and now that I've got four as opposed to two engines to deal with there is a huge amount of redundancy available. Shut down an engine on this and apart from a slight performance penalty you lose no other important system which means that you are still fully CATIIIb capable with all four hydraulic systems. In fact, it is the loss of a hydraulic system that is probably the most restricting system on the a/c.

Overall, as Scroggs has already mentioned, now that we are long haul gods ;) working for probably the best UK airline, there is no higher mountain to climb and I shall certainly look forward to settling down to finish my career flying the flag. It's a lifestyle issue and I certainly look forward to only having to report to work about four times a month with ample opportunity to top up a tan, buy goods with very favourable exchange rates and take my family in style to good destinations with one of the best staff travel agreements.

Each time I get on the B744 (Jeez it's big!) I can't help smile and remember the number of times I have said to myself that I will fly one of those one day. Now that I do get to fly it, I must remember to wipe the smile off my face. :O

[woof]

I like it.

There's so many negative stories flying around (no pun intended) that reading this is a real joy.

Danny - really pleased for you. Really like it when I hear positive things like that.

Way way way down to pecking order and looking forward to the future. Thanks for the boost.

[Vee One...Rotate]

Nice post Danny :)

They've all been interesting to read...

V1R :ok:

[adwjenk]

Danny

amazing post, Big thanks :ok:
im about to enter the industry and hearing storys like that fills me with the extra bit of determination to get there!!!!

Thanks to everyone whos posted there all top notch.

Keep em coming.

Thanks

[scroggs]

Hey, Danny, one day we might let you fly an even bigger (well, longer) aeroplane - the A340-600. You'll have to if you want to get near the A380. Now that's BIG! ;) :p

Scroggs

[haughtney1]

Sheeeesssh Danny...and Im just learning how to get used to the 757!!!.......by the way how was the first trip?...did you improve your tan?

The PPrune fellows are out on the lash tommorrow night...aptly enough we are starting in a walkabout.....no doubt Mr B..will give you a full report!.....I fully expect to see him fall over before I do!


Cheers H

[Riker]

Wow - great post Danny. Did they offer you a choice between the 400 and the A340 or did they just have training slots for the 400 at the time? Great job!

Look forward to reading further job descriptions.

[fonawah]

These are very informative threads. Many thanks to all of you. Any input from you freight dogs would be much appreciated too

[zapata]

Wow, that’s really inspiring Danny…thanks for such a wonderful post…:ok: :ok: :ok:

[Danny]

Scroggs, as you well know, what with you being an ex Boeing man, those of us fortunate enough to be blessed with currency on a proper type wouldn't admit to any desire to fly a Tupperware Jet. :} Besides, we aren't known as the 'Beach Fleet' for nothing. :cool:

I'm sure there will an amount of kudos when the A380 finally gets airborne and on line but you still won't be sitting 3 stories up when you are taxying. Besides, I think the route structure for the A380 may be a bit limiting for my tastes. Oh, and it's definitely an ugly aircraft. The A340-600, now that's very pretty but it's still only a Tupperware jet and I don't think I trust those Airbus software designers enough, at least not yet. Their track record isn't so hot at the moment, especially when it comes to fuel control computers! :ooh:

Of course, being a member of the Sumo Brigade I'm not svelte enough to strap on such a sleek machine as the 346 and the 744 matches my 'style' much more aptly. Of course, Scroggs in your Lycra bike suit will no doubt feel very much at home on your fleet! :p

I was not offered any particular fleet but out of 8 of us who were interviewed and were accepted, 4 were already Airbus rated and 4 were current on various Boeings and the Boeing guys went on to the 744 and the Airbus people went on to the Airbus. I think the Airbus pilots just did a CCQ course and we Boeing people did a ZFT conversion. Conversion training, including ground school and simulator took two months and you can expect line training to take about the same amount of time.

On a separate note, I would like you all to know that Scroggs and my reference to his 'Lycra' bike suit, whilst in jest, has a more noteworthy reason for being mentioned. Those of you who have attended a PPRuNe bash may remember Scroggs and the thought of him in Lycra could lead to the necessity to have some serious counselling. Of course, he doesn't wear this type of clothing for fun and it is only fair to let you know that he is currently in training for a bike ride from London to Paris some time during September.

Scroggs being an ex-Air Force type will be looking for sponsorship for this marathon bike ride as it is in aid of The British Legion Poppy Appeal. A most noteworthy cause and it gives him a chance to indulge in his Lycra fetish at the same time. :eek:

Anyone reading this who would like to help Scroggs raise some much needed funding for this appeal can do so by clicking here (https://www.bmycharity.com/timcollins). A crack team of PPRuNe photographers will be on hand in Paris to gather evidence of this classic combination of charitable fetish fund raising when he duly arrives there. The results will be published and we strongly advise you to keep young children and those of a sensitive disposition away from these bulletin boards during that period. :E

So, good luck Tim and you can admit that the real reason for your current fitness training regime is that you have to be small enough to fit into those designer Tupperware Jet seats. Us Big Boys flying the girder reinforced macho jets are quite happy being so well ballasted! :ok:


Support Tim Collins aka Scroggs raise money for The British Legion Poppy Appeal by sponsoring him on a London to Paris bike ride this September. CLICK HERE (https://www.bmycharity.com/timcollins) for more information.

[RowleyUK]

sorry, just to get another dig in..........

Who possibly would want to fly such a long A/C with 2 APU's on each wing??????????:confused:

[scroggs]

Ouch, Rowley - unfair! My Trent 500s are far from being hairdryers - we're not talking about the A340-300 here! In fact, the total power of the A346 is very similar to the B744, as are the weights.

Danny, you promised not to mention the fetish angle. Now I might have to shave my legs! :O But thanks for the promo - I have one donation from a Wannabe already (thanks Fonawah!!).

I can see this banter between Virgin fleets could get out of hand...:p

Scroggs

[Airbus Girl]

James asked about sectors a few posts ago.
Sectors are "legs" which varies between type of flying.
For the long haul guys it might be Heathrow to New York would be one sector.
For the charter operators it might be Gatwick to Tenerife is one sector.
On long haul they usually do one leg, have time off, then do the return leg. But they might also do a short hop sector.
On charter for instance, if we fly Gatwick to Skiathos then we can't take off from Skiathos with enough fuel to get home plus passengers and bags, so we'll put a bit of fuel on and go home via somewhere else.
So Gatwick to Skiathos is one sector.
Skiathos to Thessaloniki is one sector.
Thessaloniki to Gatwick is one sector.

But usually for charters you do 2 sector days - out and back.
Sometimes though you might have to position an aircraft afterwards, say Gatwick to Manchester. That is another sector.

The total hours you are allowed to work depends on how many sectors you do - if you are doing loads of sectors then the total time on duty will have to be less than if you are doing, say, Gatwick to Paphos and back, which is max duty time 2 sectors.

Charter flights for the big holiday airlines is more like scheduled really. We tend to do a complete mix of earlies, lates and nights on our rosters. So you might do Faro and back one day, Minorca and back the next, then Tenerife and back, Fuerteventura and back, a night Ibiza and then a night Paphos.

Except they wouldn't be in that order cos most UK airlines go to certain airports on certain days, eg:-

Mon - Las Palmas (Gran Canaria) or Minorca or Dalaman
Tues - Tenerife
Wed - Fuerteventura or Paphos
Thurs - Lanzarote
Fri - Tenerife
Sat - Ibiza or Majorca
Sun - Malaga and Bodrum

The shorter flights do vary on days now - things like Faros, Majorca and Malagas...

[Riker]

Airbus Girl,

Great post - very informative. Are there pilots at your airline who are cross-qualified on the A320 and the A330 (not sure which airline you fly for) or the 757/767? I know that the 757 and 767 are the same rating.

If so, how does that impact their schedules - will they do a mix of short-haul and long-haul in one month or just short haul for one month and then just long-haul for the next month?

Do pilots tend to prefer a mix or just one type of flying?

Cheers

[Airbus Girl]

Riker
We have 2 fleets - Airbus and Boeing.
We've not got A330s so Airbus pilots do purely short haul ( if you can call Paphos or Tel Aviv short haul!!). They fly both A320 and A321, although I understand that the "conversion" to A330 is only a couple of days (I could be wrong here) and that some airlines have got "cross qualified" pilots for A330/ A320 series.
The Boeing pilots fly a mix of long and short haul, and as you quite rightly point out, are qualified to fly the B757 and B767. Generally there is a complete mix of flights, one or two long haul trips a month surrounded by lots of short ones, but it depends on the trips because some of the long haul trips are bullets and some are much longer. There is no preference system at the airline so if you hate long haul you are stuck with it unless you change fleet and if you hate short haul then tough luck.
The airline is increasing its long haul so it is quite likely that in future the long haul fleet will be seperate.

[redsnail]

After successfully completing my first tour I can honestly say that was fun. I can't see myself heading to the airlines or airline type operation again.
:D