Life as a Pilot

[MFB]

Hi folks

Hope this is the right forum to ask current airline pilots some questions:


1. Does the job of flying from A to B ever get boring?

2. How many pilots operate on a long haul flight and what are the shift patterns onboard?

3. How much time do you get off per month as a short haul pilot and as a long haul pilot? Is this time off in addition to annual leave?

4. If flying longhaul, potentially how long may you be away from home?

5. Can you give any examples of what routine you may have on a long haul flight?

6. What is a typical day for a short haul pilot?

7. Do you miss customer contact sitting in front of a large locked door?


Many thanks in advance. I'm just trying to get an idea of what life really is like as an airline pilot.

[Irish_Avro_Driver]

You might want to use the search function at the top and take a look in the "terms and endearment" section where there are many threads about the pros and cons of L/H vs S/H.
Here is one for starters....
http://www.pprune.org/terms-endearment/463678-family-vs-long-haul.html


In answer to Q1 - yes, like any job and 2, personally no, but I have never had it any other way.

[Paolo]

1) The flights are never really the same, so there is always variety...weather, crew, ATC make us fly slightly differently etc. The flights are never boring (short haul that is)

2) there are usually 2 pilots on board with a relief first officer. I do not fly long haul, hopefully someone else can help you there.

3) usually 11-14 days off per month. 3 or 4 or 5 days on, then 2-3-4 off. Destinations for my roster this month are Sofia, Heraklion, Sharm el Sheik, Glasgow, Faro, Malaga etc.

4) again, according to what I know from friends min of 1 night away to 2-3 weeks!

5) someone else can help you here!

6) Alarm clock went at 345 am, got ready, in car on the M25 and met the crew for a flight to Greece. Reported at 0515, took off an hour later and arrived at destination 3 and a bit hours later. An hour on the ground, flew back to London and checked out at 245pm. In the car on the way home, no traffic and listened to the radio for footie scores! Now in the lounge, feet up ready for bed after X factor to get up for a similar flight and repeat the process!

7) No, we still get some customer contact. A mum and her two boys visited the flight deck prior to us departing (made their day!) and then on the way back got talking to a passenger as he was waiting to use the toilet ( I was waiting too!) and I asked if he wanted to see us as he disembarked. He did and he was very pleased to see the flightdeck.

Hope this helps

[fiveo]

I've been to London Gatwick 8 times this week :D

[InSeat19c]

@Paolo

Regarding your point 7, I thought that passengers couldn't visit the flight deck post-9/11 ?

Or is it ok if you are still on the ground ?

Very interesting readling by the way to hear what sort of days you have.

Your body-clock must be all over the place having to get up at 3.45am :zzz:

[corporate-pilot]

Although you mentioned airlines, I hope you don't mind if I come at it from a corporate pilot point of view.

1. Does the job of flying from A to B ever get boring?

We fly some regular routes and to date I'm far from bored when doing those "regular" routes. As has already been stated there are always differences thrown into the mix. Having said that I've only been doing it a couple of years. In some respects it's quite nice doing the same A to B, I get to work on the finesse.


2. How many pilots operate on a long haul flight and what are the shift patterns onboard?

I'll leave this to those in the know.


3. How much time do you get off per month as a short haul pilot and as a long haul pilot? Is this time off in addition to annual leave?

I get about 10 days off per month (rostered days off, not part of my leave), which in our operation are normally at weekends. This suits my lifestyle quite nicely as I get to play sport with my friends etc. As I'm new to the company my annual leave allowance is 25 days, having said that I'm unlikely to take all of those. I love my job and only really take time off for fun holidays.


6. What is a typical day for a short haul pilot?

Today is quite a common routine for me. Up at 4:30am, report at 6am, finished mid morning, repeat tomorrow.


7. Do you miss customer contact sitting in front of a large locked door?

As I'm sure you can appreciate we get lots of customer contact, one of the skills required in corporate is being able to interact with the passengers. We're lucky, 99.9% of our passengers are a pleasure to have on board.

[MFB]

Many thanks for the responses guys, much appreciated. Always good to get an authentic insight into the job itself!

[mr ripley]

Here is my go as a long haul pilot:


1. Does the job of flying from A to B ever get boring?

Not for me, but you do get good at filling time. However the views can be awesome and in that respect we are privileged.

2. How many pilots operate on a long haul flight and what are the shift patterns onboard?

2, 3 or 4 depending on the length of flight. Simply, during the cruise two pilots fly the aircraft whilst he others rest. The cruise portion is generally divided by the number of pilots.

3. How much time do you get off per month as a short haul pilot and as a long haul pilot? Is this time off in addition to annual leave?

About 15 at present on long haul and yes this is in addition to leave.

4. If flying longhaul, potentially how long may you be away from home?


In my company generally 3, 4, or 5 days with at the extremes 2 or 9 days. 3 days is 2 nights away and 4 days is 3 nights away etc.

5. Can you give any examples of what routine you may have on a long haul flight?

You fly somewhere and get off and fresh pilots fly the aircraft home. A few days later you fly home as the fresh pilots. Sometimes you get to do short sectors whilst away which can be as little as 15 minutes.

6. What is a typical day for a short haul pilot?

As others have said.

7. Do you miss customer contact sitting in front of a large locked door?

No. There any many other opportunities for customer contact.