I would definitely get a private pilot license (PPL) first before making any irrevocable commitments to career flight training. See how you like that.

There are a variety of aviation sectors, with vastly different schedules and work rules. To keep this on one page I'm going to talk about passenger airlines only.

Days off depends on airline, type aircraft, possibly your domicile, and definitely your relative seniority in your base, seat, and aircraft. It also depends on your personal priority, ie days off or money. If you're senior you can do a lot of trading between those priorities. If you're junior, not so much.

You also have a choice whether to take every opportunity as soon as your seniority allows (bigger airplanes, captain upgrade) or hang out and enjoy your relative seniority. You really want to be aggressive until you get to your career-destination airline job.

You'll start at a regional airline. Days off may be as low at 10-12/month at first, but should settle out around 14-15.

Once at a major flying domestic operations, 16-18 is probably a good ballpark but you'll have more flexibility than at the regionals and better workrules.

If you bid into international widebody flying, you can have 20+ days off each month.

Yes, per hour. How many hours you credit is complicated. Could be as low as 75/month as a new pilot.

But there are also bonuses, 401k, and "soft pay" which is pay for being on duty but not flying. Majors will be better in that regard... a rough ballpark would be to multiple major airline hourly rate by 1250.

For regionals maybe 1000 multiplier worst case, but your priority at a regional is to get experience and then GTFO... not make money or time off. If you get some, great but don't fixate on that.

Widely variable, some folks like a weekly rhythm, others do things like cram all of their flying into two weeks and then go home for 2-3 weeks. That's how some folks fly in the US but live in Europe, etc.

Typical regional week:
Four day trip:
Day 1: 6-12 hours duty, 2-3 legs
Day 2&3: 8-14 hours duty, 2-5 legs
Day 4: 6-12 hours duty, 2-3 legs
Layovers 10-16 hours

Typical major domestic week:
Three day trip:
Day 1: 6-8 hours duty, 1-2 legs
Day 2&3: 8-12 hours duty, 1-3 legs
Layovers 12-24 hours

Typical major international week:
Three day trip:
Day 1: 12-18 hours duty, 1 legs
Day 2: Layover 24-48 hours
Day 3: 12-18 hours duty, 1 legs

*** These are VERY rough, ballpark examples. Again lots of variability in this industry, and a lot of that is your choice.




4. What does your average work day look like at a regional/major. [/QUOTE]

Regionals: Typical day is either am or pm. Am starts very early, ends mid-late afternoon. Pm starts mid-day, ends close to midnight. Typically 2-5 legs, with 8-14 hours duty. More legs is bad because you don't get paid directly, or get paid less, for time between flights and pre-flight setup.

Major domestic: Typical day is either am or pm. Am starts very early, ends mid-late afternoon. Pm starts mid-day, ends close to midnight. Typically 1-2 legs, with 6-12 hours duty. Longer flights, so more productive per hours on duty.

Major International: Start and end at any time day or night. One leg per day, but it's long. Long layover, but you'll probably be in a vastly different time zone, so jet lag may impact enjoyment of the destination. Very efficient productivity because you get full flight pay even when resting on long-haul flights. It might take a regional pilot 3-4 days to block 14 hours but a long-haul pilot can do that in one 14 hour leg.