The Mail & Duty Hours
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The Mail & Duty Hours
Surprised no one has commented on the Daily Mails article in yesterday’s edition re BA strike.
Again telling the public that airline pilots only do 171/2 hours a week max. (900 hrs per year) The article even said that this was from the time crews reported for duty.
I hope BALPA get a correction printed & an apology for lousy research.
For those not professional pilots on this site. 900 hrs per annum is from the time the aircraft pushes back till it stops on chocks after each sector. (Easy explanation).
This does not include pre flight & post flight duties nor turn around times when you are still on duty getting the aircraft prepared for the next sector.
I have been retired for a couple of years, but when working I was usually rostered for a 55 hr week. This often increased to 65 during the roster period. Certainly this included standbys where I often got called out in advance. Also crew are not included in the working time directive, so no rest breaks etc.
When discussing this down the pub The question to normal office types of when you go to the loo at work are you still at working & being paid. Of course is the answer, so what pray tell is the difference with aircrew.
Wonder how many of the daily mail readers could do a 60 hour week including time changes (jet lag) on a regular basis.
(Note I am not saying others do not do long hours but so do crew)
Rant over
Again telling the public that airline pilots only do 171/2 hours a week max. (900 hrs per year) The article even said that this was from the time crews reported for duty.
I hope BALPA get a correction printed & an apology for lousy research.
For those not professional pilots on this site. 900 hrs per annum is from the time the aircraft pushes back till it stops on chocks after each sector. (Easy explanation).
This does not include pre flight & post flight duties nor turn around times when you are still on duty getting the aircraft prepared for the next sector.
I have been retired for a couple of years, but when working I was usually rostered for a 55 hr week. This often increased to 65 during the roster period. Certainly this included standbys where I often got called out in advance. Also crew are not included in the working time directive, so no rest breaks etc.
When discussing this down the pub The question to normal office types of when you go to the loo at work are you still at working & being paid. Of course is the answer, so what pray tell is the difference with aircrew.
Wonder how many of the daily mail readers could do a 60 hour week including time changes (jet lag) on a regular basis.
(Note I am not saying others do not do long hours but so do crew)
Rant over
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It’s the mail, it’s not worthy of worrying about. I’m sure if they said chemtrails exist most of the readership would agree.
Didn’t they also say the basic pay was £150k for a Ba pilot.
I’m absolutely certain if I ever ended up in the rag , the first thing they’d do is go on zoopla and see how much my house is worth .
Didn’t they also say the basic pay was £150k for a Ba pilot.
I’m absolutely certain if I ever ended up in the rag , the first thing they’d do is go on zoopla and see how much my house is worth .
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Over here in France we get thrashed in the press every few months for this exact same reason. Nothing to do about except ignore. 850 hours last year, in line with just about any outfit, but not enough for the gutter press.
I personnally don’t read aviation articles in the press anymore.
I personnally don’t read aviation articles in the press anymore.
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I actually thought the writer was very well researched, and had deliberately written the article with maximum spin in order to paint BA pilots in the worst possible light whilst almost remaining completely factual throughout. The Mail loves to make its readers as angry with the world as possible.
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Aviation Journalism? Fake News!!
I actually thought the writer was very well researched, and had deliberately written the article with maximum spin in order to paint BA pilots in the worst possible light whilst almost remaining completely factual throughout. The Mail loves to make its readers as angry with the world as possible.
"Mildly" Eccentric Stardriver
Rough figures, and I'm long retired, so bear with me. Short-haul in Europe. Four sectors @ 2hr each = 8 hr. Add 1 hr report, 3 x 40 min turnround (not you-know-who) plus 30 min post-flight = 11.5 hour day. Early start used to be 9 hr max. 47 weeks @ 5 days per week = 235 working days. If half are earlies, the figure comes to 2402 hours per year, the equivalent for a "wage-slave" who only gets two weeks leave a year, a 48 hour week
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I actually thought the writer was very well researched, and had deliberately written the article with maximum spin in order to paint BA pilots in the worst possible light whilst almost remaining completely factual throughout. The Mail loves to make its readers as angry with the world as possible.
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I fell for it, complaint made to IPSO, independent press standards organisation.
They can get away with most of the article but to say a pilot only works 17.5 hours per week, it currently being summer season, pissed me right off.
They can get away with most of the article but to say a pilot only works 17.5 hours per week, it currently being summer season, pissed me right off.
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Happy to chat with anyone right or left wing, but if they say they read the mail... No point. I've found them to have such a narrow-minded, poisoned, view of the world
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I think we all agree that it should be duty hours and not flying hours that should be used in this discussion. The point I was trying to make is that having worked out those hours they should then be divided by 46 to 48 (depending on your T&C's) to reach an accurate weekly hour worked figure.
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Shame about the DM. They used to be aviation mad - sponsored air races - gave prizes (including the North Atlantic to A and B)
These days you can’t whip up too much enthusiasm or informed comment from them.
Having said that there are some helpful people there who have assisted me with the odd archive item.
These days you can’t whip up too much enthusiasm or informed comment from them.
Having said that there are some helpful people there who have assisted me with the odd archive item.
The same happened a few years ago with the talking-head 'aviation expert' Simon Calder in the Independent, who bought O'Leary's claim that pilots 'only worked 900 hrs per year', without fact-checking.
He got several thousand responses for that, including mine.
He got several thousand responses for that, including mine.
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I was one of the thousands. In fairness to Mr Calder, he apologised by return and subsequently printed a correction.
