simple questions about life as an airline piot

[JulieFlyGal]

hi I've just started flying and have just recently got my CPL. so i'm new to the industry. just want to know a bit about life as an airline pilot. these are 'practical' hands on type questions that i've always wondered about but never could find an airline pilot to ask. i just want to get a picture of the daily runnings of an airline pilot. Hope someome can help.

ok, here it goes;

1. when you arrive for work at the airport do you have to "check in" at the "office" so to speak and clock on? I'm thinking about how the company keeps track of your flight duty times.

2. when you arrive for work at the airport, how do you know which aircraft is the one you fly and where it's parked on the apron? Do you look up for the flight number and departure gate on the TV screens like the pax do?

3. after take-off and in the cruise, do you choose when you have your meal or do you eat when all the pax are being served their food as well?

4. whilst on the topic of food, are you allowed to bring your own on board if you can't stand the stuff they dish out to pax?

5. who's task is it to do the pre-flight walkaround? is it the captain all the time? or the f/o all the time? or if you carry a s/o, are they delegated this task?

5. what exactly does an s/o do inflight? I imagine they don't get too much hands-on flying, so do they get a decent anount of time in the sim flying rhs?

Thanks .. that's all there is for now.

[Rainboe]

Welcome aboard! Just keep a thick skin and don't take offence like so many prima donnas here! Well done- a big hurdle. Enjoy the industry- you will love the job.
Each airline has dedicated check-in facilities for crew (crew room)- usually a place to catch up with a few old friends and exchange gossip! Check-in usually carried out yourself on a computer and paperwork for flight either computer selected or sent over to a printer for you. Facilities to check latest notices and official notes printed up (like 'stop being rude to security morons'). You sometimes find out where aircraft parked. I don't bother- just go out to transport and get taken- You are usually always driven to the aircraft because it may be on a remote stand. Only once have I ever got on an aeroplane and started doing checks before it was noticed that it wasn't quite the right one!

Cabin crew are fully committed to meal service, so there is a pause in looking after you. You normally have to wait until their service is completed until crew meals can be cooked. Sometimes it is possible to have leftover passenger meals. Some airlines allow special crew meal ordering (veggie etc).

I often used to take my own food ex-base, but since Security has been given free reign to rule our lives, they like doing things such as confiscating it now (no liquids). Sarnies OK, but full meals may be a problem. Special diets (veggie, low fat) usually catered for in crew meal selection.

Walkaround done by handling pilot. On long range 3 crew, usually the 'heavy' or spare pilot takes this task. P2 and P3 (when carried) usually swap seats during flights, used for inflight relief on long range. All airlines now only use 2 pilots unless hours extension is required. On complete trips P2 and P3 changeabout to allow practice. Sims are not used for recency training- they are too expensive- only for recurrent Sim training and checks.

[Capt Claret]

G'day JulieFlyGal and welcome to the wonderful, frustrating, exciting, exasperating world of aviation, particularly in Australia. I suspect the answers to your questions will vary significantly from company to company. For the mob I work for, read on.

1. when you arrive for work at the airport do you have to "check in" at the "office" so to speak and clock on? I'm thinking about how the company keeps track of your flight duty times.

We have to log onto a computer, then sign on. We're given 45 minutes prior to departure if the aircraft we're crewing has flown that day (called a hot ship), and 1 hour prior to departure if the flight will be the aircraft's first for the day (called a cold ship). The computer system automatically signs us off from duty, 15 minutes after the aircraft is parked on blocks at the end of the duty period.

2. when you arrive for work at the airport, how do you know which aircraft is the one you fly and where it's parked on the apron? Do you look up for the flight number and departure gate on the TV screens like the pax do?

When signing on, we obtain a Crew Briefing sheet from the PC. This has details of the route/s to be flown, departure and arrival schedule, aircraft reg, etc. Some crew rooms have a monitor which displays arrival and departure details. This is usually only used to determine when the aircraft is due from the previous service and what bay it will be parked on.

3. after take-off and in the cruise, do you choose when you have your meal or do you eat when all the pax are being served their food as well?

Mostly eat when it's convenient for the cabin crew. Mostly they'll do a drink service, feed the 1st tech crew, then feed the pax, then feed the 2nd tech crew.

4. whilst on the topic of food, are you allowed to bring your own on board if you can't stand the stuff they dish out to pax?

I'm not aware of any regs in Australia re not taking food on board. On my regular three day trips, I take lunch (bread roll) and two plastic containers with cereal and two UHT milk serves. As soon as DOTARs gestapo start to confiscate this, I'll go back to buying food. Many of the cabin crew I work with take their evening meals with them. I only fly domestically so the 100ml of fluids in a ziplock bag doesn't apply ........ yet. :ugh:

5. who's task is it to do the pre-flight walkaround? is it the captain all the time? or the f/o all the time? or if you carry a s/o, are they delegated this task?

This seems to vary from captain to captain. My own procedure is that the person flying the sector does the walk around. This gets varied on the odd occasion if needs be, e.g. one of us wants to go to the terminal to see a friend during turn around.

6. what exactly does an s/o do inflight? I imagine they don't get too much hands-on flying, so do they get a decent anount of time in the sim flying rhs?

Haven't flow as or with an SO, so can't comment.

[Clandestino]

Hello from zee Old continent! The way my company does things is:

1. Computerized check-in and check-out at the "office", just to assure crew control that we have really there for work. Duty times are automatically timed anyway - one hour prior scheduled departure and 15 minutes after actual on-block time.

2. At home base we tell the bus driver to take us to the plane that has registration matching the one in our NavLogs. At really big airports (like FRA) we get informed by our representatives where our plane is and at some outstations our plane is usually the only one on the tarmac.

3. Arranged with flight attendants - depends of whether we're really hungry and what's more convenient for them. If we get 1HR turnaround (gets rearer) then it's common to eat while parked.

4. Own food - no problem but I never bring it along nor many people around me do. Methinks we're fed well enough (better fed than pax anyway) but then I served a year in a standing army as a common infantryman and that qualifies me to eat almost anything and be quite happy with it. Also some smaller airports' catering will happily take timely order.

5. F/Os program FMGS on ground per SOP so on the short turnarounds, capt. will do the walkround while F/O prepares the route. If there's time enough (35+ mins) F/O can also go round the plane and if it rains... capts know how to set-up FMGS too.

6. Our average flight time is about 80 mins and the longest sector is a bit shy of 4 hours so we don't have S/Os. Once I contemplated applying for S/O position with Cathay Pacific but the pay was too low for my liking. Therefore I missed my opportunity to find out what S/O really means.

Blue skies and many happy landings!

[Lemper]

Hello Julie, and all you nice guys/gals of the line,
These questions were so naïvely candid, though to the point, and the answers so refreshing, that I can't help adding my pepper spoon to the broth. (Sorry, native language idiom).
I am an old fart flying an Old Lady who carries only silent, motionless payload, on long, long, long, loooooong haul flight.
1 - Duty time is automatically computed as starting one and an half hour before schedule departure time; it is verified and logged on by clicking my staff number (with the corresponding password) in the appropriate computer agressively staring at me when I enter the crew room. If I am going to be a bit late, Mr. Effo or Mr. Dispatcher will have done this for me if I phone them in due time (with my pasword). Effos, Essos don't come late.
2 - There are very few aircraft of the type I fly in my airline, so the one I will operate when I report is the only one on the pave, the other ones being scattered around the globe. It has such a bright colour scheme that missing it would be a sure sign I would fail my next medical. Also, Mr.Effo knows it all (really, he does!) and will lead the way to the right gate/door/crew bus.
3 - YES, you bet! No pax to feed hence no flight attendant to attend anybody; complete, genuine, unabashed and unshared freedom. We have to be checked out on the oven and galley equipment usage and handling though, but you have no idea how swiftly one can learn that.
4 - YES. However, I do not see the point, as the catering stored in OUR galleys is of prime quality, abundant, varried and outrageously addictive (some of it goes straight from the wrapping down to the guys' tummies and ladies' hips).
5a - Pilot Non Flying (Monitoring, Non Handling…) will do the walk around; however, some Sirs do not trust anyone and would rather go for a long stroll around the lady, leaving the punching to the young chaps, even when sirs do the take off and landing. When Mr. Esso (Coco, Cruise jockey, relief pilot - what a degrading denomination! - ) is joining the team, he will (is expected to) courteously propose to go and do the marathon walk prior to prepare the paper work, the coffee and heat up the boilers and ovens.
5b - Part of its job description is in 5a. After take off, he will usually start the flight by vanishing in the bunk for a deep dreaming sleep lasting one third of the cruise time. Then he will come and sit alternatively in Sir's and Mr. Effo's seats to keep them warm (the seats!), complete the paper work, sort out the Jepps, talk with ATC, occasionally learning to say "Hello, good bye, thank you" in twenty five different languages including American English and Gaëlic. Sometimes, he gets to take off and land the Lady, in which case Mr. Effo will show him how to perform those previously described tasks the right way. For the record, NO amount of time in the flight sim has ever been decent: it is always too little for the IPs and Checkers, and way too much for the students/checkees and the CEO/CFO.
You are welcome, and that is all for now too.

All the best in your career.

[JulieFlyGal]

Thank you kindly to all for taking the time to respond to my questions. It has indeed fulfill my curiosity as to what goes on behind the scenes in your (our?) professions.

To be an airline pilot still seems a long distant dream for me. In Australia the airlines ask for the near impossible (500 hours multiengine command time before you can apply!!!) *sigh*. I'm sure this is not the case in other parts of the world.

Thank you again.

[Aussie]

You can Smile Julie, as youll find that is no longer the case. You can get into a Regional airlne with half that time now :E:ok:

Aussie

[Dan Winterland]

S/Os: SO is a rank, my company has S/Os but they are co-pilots in their own right and log P1 time as any F/O would. I take it you mean relief pilots as Qantas has.

If so, they don't handle the aircraft below 20,000' - depending on national regs of course. They tend to do twice as amny sims as other pilots (checks every 3 months) and some companys give them extra training as well.

It's a soul destroying job (according to my mates who have done it). Best chose an airline that doesn't have them if you enjoy flying.

[DooblerChina]

To add to the S/O debate, in my airline, S/O is someone with less than 1500 hours, he/she then qualifies as an F/O. They both handle the aircraft in the right hand seat. 90% of our flying is two crew however we do some long haul sectors which warrant a third crew member and this can be a Captain and 2 F/O, 2 S/O etc...

I know Qantas and ANZ have S/O which is a job position rather than a rank and they only sit at the controls in the cruise.

[JulieFlyGal]

Hi .. just another quick question.

Do you supply your own Jepps on your flights or is this supplied by the company and kept on board the aircraft?

How about headsets? Do you supply your own or are these fitted permamentlt in the aircraft?

Thanks again and apologies if these questions appear naive.

[ABX]

Hi Jules, nice thread, thank you for starting it, I have often wondered about these things yet did not start a thread to ask - I'm very glad that you did.:ok:

Thanks to all who took the time to give answers.

Cheers,

ABX

[Capt Claret]

Do you supply your own Jepps on your flights or is this supplied by the company and kept on board the aircraft?
This depends on the operator. In 20+ years I haven't worked for an operator that supplied Jepps (or equivalent), though I believe QF mainline does.
How about headsets? Do you supply your own or are these fitted permamently in the aircraft?
Again it depende on the operator. My current employer provides headsets, which I find poor quality. I was using a Bose but because of security hassles and the flight deck not having a hot mic have swapped to a Plantronics MS250.
... and apologies if these questions appear naive.
At the ripe old age of 18 no questions are naive.

[Dashtrash]

It's so refreshing to see this site used for something productive rather than bitter and twisted nastiness.

Airlines i have worked for supply Jepps. Sometimes they issue the individual pilots with their own complete sets and the amendment packages arrive in your company mailbox and it's up to you to keep them up to date. On long haul operations the aircraft will have a flight library with a complete(sometimes worldwide) set of jepps but the crew will be given a trip book covering the days operation.

On the headset front, the aircraft usually have them installed for the crew and you give it a wipe with a little disinfectant pack to keep it relatively clean. Some crews do bring their own but getting it through security may start to become a problem. Rules vary but headsets are rarely worn i the cruise.

Don't worry too much about the hour requirements. You'll learn so much and have experiences that will stay with you forever, meet unique people, foster lifelong friendships around the world while your building your hours.

Ask all the questions you can think of, even if you think it's silly. Nobody ever died of embarresment.

Enjoy.
dt