Monthly Hours Breakdown

[Bob Viking]

Fellow PPruners,
I have been wondering for a while how hours compare between different fleets.
Let me state from the offset that I am not attempting to cast aspersions or judge in any way but I have long been curious to know how us FJ guys compare to people on other fleets. I am guessing that we log less hours but more sorties.
For instance my average month is about 20-25 hours and that works out as about 17-22 sorties (Hawk T1 sorties tend to be about an hour - longer if you fly one with a centre line tank, ie 115/128 etc).
I am presuming that a multi engine pilot will fly substantially more hours but how does that work out in sortie numbers? I have absolutely no idea how it works for rotary guys.
I look forward to your replies but will happily request the thread be locked if it turns in to a willy waving contest!
BV:ok:

[Lima Juliet]

BV

My FJ average used to vary between 15-20hrs per month with about 10-12 AD sorties per month (depending if we were doing ACT or Affil sorties). Once on a large ISTAR type it went up to 20-25hrs per month but only 3-4 sorties a month. The ISTAR sorties were normally plan one day and fly the next, whereas the FJ was a plan fly and would take less than 1/2 a day inlcuding the debrief.

Horses for courses...:hmm:

LJ

[VinRouge]

Worst month on the multis fleet, 123 hours 50 minutes in 30 days, 143 sectors flown.

Not a good month all in.

[TheChitterneFlyer]

I compile our multi-type flying-hours for all of our pilots on 206(R) Sqn at Boscombe Down and I've learned that statistical analysis for groups of pilots will change (enormously) dependant upon whether you include (or not) those pilots who have been posted, or, that you include those who have recently arrived (and that I've updated my database for the previous twelve months flying-hours of those pilot's who have recently arrived). Statistical figures are very helpful; except that there is NO substitute for anything other than the "actual" figures for each pilot. Averages, minimums, and maximums, don't reveal the true nature of any individual's flying activity without going into specific detail for each pilot.

The bottom line is... you can prove anything with statistical analysis; just as long as you understand the baseline of those numbers!

TCF

[Bob Viking]

Pardon my ignorance. What exactly do you mean by a sector?
123 hours was your WORST month?! Holy cr@p!
BV:eek:

[ExAscoteer]

A sector = Departure to Destination.

Eg:

Lyneham - Akrotiri
Akrotiri - Dharan

etc

[TheChitterneFlyer]

A sector = Departure to Destination.

Eg:

Lyneham -
Akrotiri
Akrotiri - Dharan


I think you meant Dhahran... or have we been sending troops to Nepal?

[ExAscoteer]

No, I just can't spell. ;)

[VinRouge]

Worst as in it took 3 weeks to recover with a spell off work with chronic fatigue. A sector is a leg, ie fly from a to b.

On my best months, I fly 4 sectors, about 20 hours and the garden looks awesome.

[Duncan D'Sorderlee]

On my best months, a fly 3 times a day; 5 days a week.

On my worst months, I sit behind a desk reading PPRuNe.

Mrs D'Sorderlee looks after the garden.

Duncs:ok:

[TorqueOfTheDevil]

how it works for rotary guys


The SAR Force is lucky in that there have always been plenty of hours to be had at a steady rate. There can be lean periods (especially in the Falklands where spares take a long time to arrive!) but 30-40 hours a month is typical for an individual who is available to work for the whole month (ie no leave etc). My personal best month so far was 53:20. Sorties can be anything from 5 minutes (certain airtests, or going u/s soon after take-off!) to 7-8 hours (assuming a rotors-running refuel is available at some point). No doubt some have logged longer sorties.

I have no direct experience of how the SH guys fare; what I hear is that people log a great many hours on dets but it's slim pickings during the time at home in between.

[SteveTonks]

Busiest month was 138 sectors totalling 162:45. Special Auth was required to overfly our hours. This month however is looking only slightly more manageable, 70 hrs from 15 sectors.

[CoffmanStarter]

Forgive me ... but it's a long time since I logged military time. Then it was from Wheels Off to Wheels On not Brakes Off to Brakes On ?

I seem to recall that the WOff/WOn policy was introduced during the mid 70's fuel crisis to reduce "visible" flying hours :uhoh:

[Wensleydale]

The difference in flying hours is somewhat marked when your aircraft is either involved on ops or just in training. My maximum hours flown was 196 in just under 6 weeks when on ops (800 hours total in that year), but my minimum was only 85 hours in a year when the aim was just to maintain currency.

What is most noticeable is that although one may fly for currency, if that minimum rate is maintained over a significant period then competency certainly raises its head above the parapet!

[Jayand]

139 hours 10 mins in 28 days. Grim!!!

[Courtney Mil]

Ah, the days at the top secret air defence base in Fife when on 43 Squadron we were required to buy a barrel for flying 43 hours or more in a month. We had a few barrels too. I forget the number of the other squadron there at the time, but I do recall they didn't buy many flying hours barrels.

[Biggus]

The beer must have been flowing continuously on 1 Sqn....!!! :ok::ok:

[Biggus]

.....whereas poor old 617!! :{

[Rosevidney1]

Have we left the 'Stats Periods' then? (I retired in 1980 when the 28 day lunacy was still in full swing) due, it was said to the confused computers of MoD. :ooh:

[Courtney Mil]

I had the honour of collecting squadrons' stats for the AOC whilst in HQ 1 Gp in the noughties. There was no computer involved until I wrote my own software to help me. Prob was, only I could work it so it all fell apart when I left.

[Onceapilot]

Hours have little relevance. I could easily do 30 heavy-jet hours in four days and be fine. However, do it with time-zone buggeration and you are knackered. IMO, the real issue was fleet workload. Some fleets would get completely overworked while others went gardening. No GASO's broken!

[Easy Street]

43 hours per month? Whether in a Phantom or a F3, that must have involved a fair few of the around-the-entire-UK-with-big-tanks TACAN crawls which it was rumoured the AD fleet periodically undertook in order to balance out the 30-minute ACT trips...