What is a sector?

[airbusito]

Hi! Well, finally I´ve been hired by an european airline that has A320´s. In the conditions it says that I´ll fly about 45 sectors a month and 400 a year minimun, but I dont have any idea of what is a sector. At first I thought that it was like a flight hour buy but I think Im wrong.

Do anyone know it??

[josesilvajs]

Well, I don't have any idea of what a "sector" means, but in the terms that you said i sounds like "legs", you know?

Let's say, a flight from LAX with a stop in ORD and final landing in MIA has 2 legs (1st leg - LAX/ORD, 2nd leg - ORD/MIA).

I'm just guessing...

[Blacksheep]

In our useage its a flight from airport A to airport B, so an outbound flight to B and return flight to A would be two sectors.

[sudden Winds]

yeah, like round trips...that ´d be my guess too...instead of telling you "you´re gonna be doing so many flights a month" they just say sectors....
In our company we only use that term during training. A pilot is required to fly a sector at least once with an instructor, then once he´s been to a certain place and has acquired so many hours he/she can go without an IP.
Regards,
SW.

[On GS]

Sector

It's JAA (EASA) language for "flight:

JAR FCL 1.001:
Route sector.
A flight comprising take-off, departure, cruise of not less than 15 minutes, arrival, approach and landing phases.

[barit1]

So - would LGW-LHR constitute a "sector" if less than 15 minutes in cruise?

[Anti-ice]

In effect at our company 1 sector=1 flight.

[MrBernoulli]

The JAR FCL definition given by On GS above is actually given with regard to Multi Crew Co-operation (MCC) status. The sectors leading to the award of an MCC certificate (as opposed to an MCC gained as part of an integrated course) need to have a cruise sector of not less than 15 minutes.

[wiggy]

Ohh, that a few BAH-DOHs gone from the logbook.....

[A Very Civil Pilot]

I think the sector referred to as 15 minutes is for revalidation/licensing purposes:

From LASORS:

Sector: A flight comprising take-off, departure, cruise of not less than 15 minutes, arrival, approach and landing phases

To renew a ME rating requires a 'sector', but I guess a 3 minute sector wouldn't really be of much use, hence the 15 minute bit.

I used to fly JER - SOU in TPs, and the cruise was often only 5 mins by the time we'd got to FL180 (on a 40 min flight), but it was still a sector.

In normal day to day stuff, a 'sector' is a flight. LGW - PMI is a sector. So is LGW - LGW (return for tech problem). If you are paid per sector, its the bit between each T/O and landing.

[KIAS]

Well, since nobody has mentionned it so far... congrats on getting hired man!