Airline pilots, what do you do when you are not flying around.
Posted by Old-Shock2307@reddit | aviation | View on Reddit | 11 comments
From what i have gathered looking on the interwebs and such, pilots only fly for 2 weeks out of 4 in the month? So what sort of activities are you doing when you are working from home or at the office or something.
spacecadet2399@reddit
If by "2 weeks" you mean 17 or 18 days. Those 17 or 18 days are usually split into 3 or 4 trips, so if you commute, you might have to add a day on either end of the trip. So it's really like 20-23 days away from home in that case. Then you're flying all around in different time zones, working days and nights, whatever the airline can legally get away with, so that first day home is often basically a recovery day where you're sleeping most of it.
Typical trip for me is commuting the day of a trip because I usually start at night, so at least I don't have to add a day for that. Then I'll do redeyes and night flights for 4 or 5 days, getting a little earlier every day so the airline can maximize my schedule. It's always basically minimum rest. On the last day, I'll usually be a late morning or early afternoon flight back, but by the time we land there are no more flights to get me home. So my options then are either pay for a hotel on my own and fly out the next day, or just wait until morning at the airport. Usually I will just wait at the airport until the 5:30AM flight, actually getting home at about noon.
At that point I now have added a day to my work schedule and I've been up all night and been working nights for 4 or 5 days, so I'm totally wiped for that day once I get home. I may not even get up until 5 or 6PM, then I'll be back in bed at 10PM because I'll still be pretty wrecked, and also to get a normal start to the next day. So I've lost basically that whole day.
That's all typical for a junior level pilot (though one who can hold a line, so not the *most* junior), but at some airlines the "senior" pilots are the ones who have been there for 20 years, so it's gonna be a while. It's great if you can live in base and avoid the commute, but bases change - I was displaced from one base to another a while back, and that can happen at basically any time. So there are pros and cons to trying to live in base when you're junior.
Sometimes you can be both lucky and smart with your schedule bids and end up getting the schedule you actually want, which may not require you to lose any days on either end of the trip and maybe even has you working one fewer day than normal. And sometimes the days off can get bunched together so you have a block of 7 or 8 days off and can actually do something during that time.
More often, though, you're stuck with what the machine gives you and given the extra commuting time and the spacing of the trips, your days off pretty much just feel like normal weekends feel in other industries. (I worked office jobs for many years before becoming a pilot; being a pilot is way more tiring.)
mfsp2025@reddit
So much depends on seniority, airline, contract, base, seat. We don’t all have 2/4 weeks off. My contractual minimum at my airline is 12 days off a week. So that’s 3 day weekends every now and then.
Doesn’t even feel like much because we don’t get to sleep in our own bed the rest of the month. Being home is when I finally get to catch up on chores, run errands, eat food that isn’t airport food, and relax. The last day off is when I have to start prepping for work again (laundry, packing, meal prep, figuring out my commute).
We work 100 hours of flight time in 28 days. But we’re full time workers on the road. I’ve had 12 hour duty days where I flew 4 hours just due to delays and sits.
anonymous4071@reddit
What do you mean working from home? What office?
Our office is the plane and that’s it. We only work when we fly, unless you’re on reserve (on call). Those other two weeks are just flat out time off.
Old-Shock2307@reddit (OP)
so techincally your onle really working for 6 months per year on a salary?
Valuable_Strike7462@reddit
Correct. a lot of jobs in the airline industry get significant time off, even those on the ground.
Old-Shock2307@reddit (OP)
does it make up for the time off with the intensity of the work during those 100 hours per 28 days?
anonymous4071@reddit
Not sure where you’re getting the 100hr/28 days, but the beauty is our time off is time off. If i don’t wasn’t to work on my off days, i don’t have to l, and i don’t have to monitor my phone or company email. I just show up or be available for my next stretch of work and do whatever i want in between.
Valuable_Strike7462@reddit
Not necessarily..I work in dispatch / operations. Most days the job is pretty laid back
Old-Shock2307@reddit (OP)
soooooo........fun easy job?
anonymous4071@reddit
It depends.
There two schedules at most airlines. Reserve and line holder.
A reserve pilot is on call for a given number of days each month (typically 16-18). For those days you must be available to fly, but you may not be called every single day. So since we are paid by flight hour, a reserve pilot has a minimum guarantee.
A line holder will fly an awarded schedule. These pilots typically have a bit more flexibility. You may only work 12 days in a given month, or you could work 24 if you wanted to. You will be paid for flight hours but there is generally no guarantee. If you elect to drop a trip, you lose that pay. If you pick up additional flying, you get paid for that.
So in a practical sense, yes you could work half the year, but not for a salary, you’re going to get paid the greater of a minimum guarantee or whatever you work.
nkawtgpilot@reddit
All the things other people do when they aren’t at work, kid’s sporting events, parent teacher’s conferences, mow the lawn, whatever needs doing that day…