Typical Pilots Day
Join Date: Mar 2001
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Ah the joys of turboprops...
Hi,
I am a turboprop co-pilot in a UK regional. Have been for nearly three years. I now fly arguably the most advanced turboprop and it's great fun. We cruise nearly as fast as our colleagues on the 146 and can beat em on most of our short sectors (if we try!). We carry 78pax max and with an MTOW in the late 20s and way too much HP (even on one!) the flying couldnt be better really. We are starting to get a few more interesting routes too. Company rostering and the resulting lifestyle is fairly much as desribed in the earlier posts - up at 0400 etc etc (I have done nearly 2 months straight of earlies - i presume someone is operating the afternoon schedule!) (see post by exeng right at the top!) We seem to do average of two overnights per week at the moment but that varies enormously. The other crews are on the whole great - always find something to have a smile about!
However there is a down side... there always is!
The pay SUX!
I dont want to get into one of the old TP vs JET arguments...but...
We fly more pax than they do (for some fleets) into the same airports on the same rosters with *almost* the same sector times but barely get paid enuf to live on. (And we got two more levers than they do!) My admiration to the guys with the two stripes who manage to suport families...
There are two other small downsides to flying a TP - respect from your peers and the industry and pax perception. Comments like "Havent you got a jet job yet" from other pilots and "Are you working towards your commercial licence then" from pax get on your nerves after a while.
I would also really love to be able to organise one evening off per week so that I could do a language course or join in a community activity...but i think that's out of the question!
All that said - it still beats working for a living!!
As someone once said on this forum about 3 years ago...
"remember life before nice office job!"
Good luck with your training - it's worth it!
I am a turboprop co-pilot in a UK regional. Have been for nearly three years. I now fly arguably the most advanced turboprop and it's great fun. We cruise nearly as fast as our colleagues on the 146 and can beat em on most of our short sectors (if we try!). We carry 78pax max and with an MTOW in the late 20s and way too much HP (even on one!) the flying couldnt be better really. We are starting to get a few more interesting routes too. Company rostering and the resulting lifestyle is fairly much as desribed in the earlier posts - up at 0400 etc etc (I have done nearly 2 months straight of earlies - i presume someone is operating the afternoon schedule!) (see post by exeng right at the top!) We seem to do average of two overnights per week at the moment but that varies enormously. The other crews are on the whole great - always find something to have a smile about!
However there is a down side... there always is!
The pay SUX!
I dont want to get into one of the old TP vs JET arguments...but...
We fly more pax than they do (for some fleets) into the same airports on the same rosters with *almost* the same sector times but barely get paid enuf to live on. (And we got two more levers than they do!) My admiration to the guys with the two stripes who manage to suport families...
There are two other small downsides to flying a TP - respect from your peers and the industry and pax perception. Comments like "Havent you got a jet job yet" from other pilots and "Are you working towards your commercial licence then" from pax get on your nerves after a while.
I would also really love to be able to organise one evening off per week so that I could do a language course or join in a community activity...but i think that's out of the question!
All that said - it still beats working for a living!!
As someone once said on this forum about 3 years ago...
"remember life before nice office job!"
Good luck with your training - it's worth it!
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Join Date: Feb 2002
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Stopover
Thanks again for all the replies. This has made for very interesting reading, can't wait to join you lot up there. Another question, what are the longest stopovers you are likely to get (especially long haul), do you normally find you have much time to do your own thing, or is it mainly catching up on sleep. What would you do on a typical stopover? In general, are you paid for the stopover and if so how much?
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Hmmm, off to do your ATPL in the near future?
Well, sorry to say it but you may need to prepare yourself for the glamorous world of the typical day for the unemployed commercial pilot;
Get up at 7am, drive to temporary job in low paid servitude, go home at 7pm, search for any sign of jobs in aviation, go to bed depressed.
Day off, get up at 8am, search for any sign of job in aviation, dream of earning enough money to keep IR current, go to bed depressed.
Most look forward to job in aviation (even low paid servitude).
Sad to say that despite tongue firmly in cheek, the above situation will ring familiar with many pilots qualifying in recent months. Just hope it picks up.
Well, sorry to say it but you may need to prepare yourself for the glamorous world of the typical day for the unemployed commercial pilot;
Get up at 7am, drive to temporary job in low paid servitude, go home at 7pm, search for any sign of jobs in aviation, go to bed depressed.
Day off, get up at 8am, search for any sign of job in aviation, dream of earning enough money to keep IR current, go to bed depressed.
Most look forward to job in aviation (even low paid servitude).
Sad to say that despite tongue firmly in cheek, the above situation will ring familiar with many pilots qualifying in recent months. Just hope it picks up.
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edd
You asked about stopovers: in Virgin, the longest stopovers we have are 5 nights (though there may be some longer ones for the Caribbean 742 crews). Most are one or two nights. What you do depends on where you are. In New York, shopping, eating and drinking, with perhaps the odd show thrown in (if you can get tickets and you have the money!) are the main activities. In Barbados, it's beach, bar/nightclub, bed. In Lagos, you are restricted to the hotel so a lot of reading is probably the highlight!
On the more common single nightstop, the local time of arrival will dictate the activities but, as you suggest, sleep is the major priority.
Basically, it's up to you what you do commensurate with being fit and ready to operate when call time comes.
You asked about stopovers: in Virgin, the longest stopovers we have are 5 nights (though there may be some longer ones for the Caribbean 742 crews). Most are one or two nights. What you do depends on where you are. In New York, shopping, eating and drinking, with perhaps the odd show thrown in (if you can get tickets and you have the money!) are the main activities. In Barbados, it's beach, bar/nightclub, bed. In Lagos, you are restricted to the hotel so a lot of reading is probably the highlight!
On the more common single nightstop, the local time of arrival will dictate the activities but, as you suggest, sleep is the major priority.
Basically, it's up to you what you do commensurate with being fit and ready to operate when call time comes.
Join Date: Jul 2002
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Edd,
You will get paid a certain amount of 'Allowances' when you're downroute, but they vary wildly, depending who you work for, and whether you are longhaul or shorthaul, and which destination you visit.
E.g. In our company, you could go to Harare on a 5 day trip and get paid £375 for it, or do a 3 day Denver and get paid about £40 more for it!
Some airlines will pay an hourly rate for every hour away from base.
As you can see, there a lot of variables, so have a look at what the different airlines offer.
Hope this helps.
You will get paid a certain amount of 'Allowances' when you're downroute, but they vary wildly, depending who you work for, and whether you are longhaul or shorthaul, and which destination you visit.
E.g. In our company, you could go to Harare on a 5 day trip and get paid £375 for it, or do a 3 day Denver and get paid about £40 more for it!
Some airlines will pay an hourly rate for every hour away from base.
As you can see, there a lot of variables, so have a look at what the different airlines offer.
Hope this helps.
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At my airline (flying freight worldwide), we are paid a minimum guarantee of 65 block hours a month. In addition, for every hour of duty (the beginning of a trip to the end of a trip) we are paid US$1.50 if flying domestically in the US (very rare) or $2.50 if International. So on a 5 day layover in Dakar, for example I would make $300 in addition to my flight pay.
Our typical work schedule is 15 days on followed by 15 days off. The flying is very interesting if you like to see the world, however 15 day trips get pretty tiring after a while. Our layovers range from a minimum of 12 hours to up to 5 days, depending on the city and the frequency of service. We spend a lot of time commercialing around the world at the start or end of a trip. This is considered duty time and we are guaranteed Business Class or better flying internationally.
Our typical work schedule is 15 days on followed by 15 days off. The flying is very interesting if you like to see the world, however 15 day trips get pretty tiring after a while. Our layovers range from a minimum of 12 hours to up to 5 days, depending on the city and the frequency of service. We spend a lot of time commercialing around the world at the start or end of a trip. This is considered duty time and we are guaranteed Business Class or better flying internationally.
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Join Date: Feb 2002
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Cheers again for the replies. Sounds better and better all the time. I know alot of people have been complaining about conditions on various forums, but it'll be a dream come true for me to be a pilot.
