Hello everyone. Currently I am attending UND with the hopes of becoming a airline pilot. I was just wondering what the life of an airline pilot is like? How long until you start getting some seniority? In the beginning, how long are trips? How many days do you spend away from home? How many off days do you get? How long are your days? Thanks everyone.

 

Very open ended question. It mainly depends on the company you work for, are you commuting or living in base, what can you bid for/hold. The only real constant is that wherever you start, you'll probably be on reserve for at least a little bit...and that sucks. On the plus side, your days will never be longer than 16 hours with 8 hours of flying! (or 14 hours if that's how your contract rolls...) Find a company your interested in and then repeat. (Xjt, RAH, SKW are good starting points)

 

Well the airline I really want to work for is Sky West. I have heard a lot of great things about them and they have a hub in Chicago, which is where I am originally from and hope to return someday. I hope to fly the CRJ-200 and stay on that until being promoted to captain.

 

I assume your single so the life isn't so bad in that regard. If you are married with kids its pretty much the death nell. Seniority can come fast at places with quick upgrades but prepare to stay in the suck for a while. Trips are usually 2-3-4 days (hardlines) with 8 days off a month on reserve and 10+ off if you can hold a line. Being on reserve (which you WILL be in the beginning) just plain s*cks. If you are lucky enough to live in your domicile it can be somewhat tolerable. Regular reserve is usually a 90 minute call-out. If you live close to the airport you can do your reserve shift at home. Ready reserve is usually a 45 minute call-out.

Max flying for a day is 8 hours and the duty time max is 16 hours. Airlines have figured out ways around this slightly so be prepared for some days where your flying is actually a little over 8 hours and oh yeah.....my favorite is having a maintenance problem at an out station, the revenue flight is cancelled so they want you to ferry the aircraft back to the maintenance base past your 16 hour duty day. Since the ferry is Part 91 its legal and you are DEAD tired.

Otherwise its all a pretty chill job.

 

As a Chicago person you are in good shape...plenty of airlines there, and most pilots don't actually want to live there, so it is somewhat junior.

Skywest specifics:

Reserve: 4-6 days on, 2-3 days off, 10 days off per month. Depending on domicile and season, you might have to work every day, or they might not call you during an entire week. 90 minute call out, but SKW rarely uses that, they normally know early enough to give you more warning (typically the day before). You will probably also sit ready reserve at some point... this is where you hang out at the airport with a 20 minute call out.

Line Holder: 2-5 days on, 2-8 days off, minimum 10 days off per month but you can expect 14-16 realistically. The quality of the line varies with seniority, but in ORD most pilots will use their seniority to build commutable lines...but you don't care about that so you should be able to get a good QOL immediately.

Time on reserve...right now it would be 1 month or less due to expansion. Normally expect 3-12 months.

 

JUST SAY NO! Your medical's validity is contingent on your own analysis that you are SAFE to fly! If you are dead tired, you're NOT safe to fly. There will be no excuses tolerated at your trial later, rest assured. I have accepted those assignments in the past, but NO MORE. I will call in 'fatigued' if need be, and have no trouble explaining my actions to the CP if he so desires.

Sorry, I'm not trying to be preachy, but I feel we all need to take a stand against that kind of stuff.

 

Honest question here for someone who just got hired at a regional: Can a pilot get fired for doing this? If so, will the union offer any protection against this?

Sorry, didn't mean to hijack your thread....

 

Theoretically yes, but I suspect it is extremely rare becaues the company would have trouble making their case in court, especially if your duty history gave you good reason to be tired. Schedulers might try to twist your arm, but a quick call to the CP should take care of things.

I'm sure the union would get your job back under these circumstances.

Where you might get in trouble is if you are on reserve and say you duty on at 0400...but probably don't get out of bed until 0900 or 1000, they call you that afternoon and want you to show up at 1900 to do a part 91 repo or mx flight that goes to 2100. That's technically a 17 hour duty day, but it's really only a 2 hour work day. I probably wouldn't fight that one (if they asked me nicely).

 

Hopefully after talking with a few people in the business and frequenting sites such as these you'll come to realize that there is more out there than just airline flying and that airline flying is nor necessarily the best job. Unfortunately the only way to make it to the better jobs out there in the U.S, you have to go through the regionals to gain some turbine experience. You can also try Pt135 cargo but that's not for everyone. Regionals generally suck and life will be what you make of it. Some actually leave/quit flying all together because they are disgusted with regional companies. Best thing to do is get the experience and contacts and move on as soon as possible.

 

The Airlines are fun! Wow someone said it! It's a hustle that's for sure but overall I like going to work. Many people become pilot's for the airplanes and don't know what the airline lifestyle is like. They get here and complain all the time.

Best advice is to really do some research on lifestyle. Then you won't be disappointed.
Cargo, part135, corprate and regional flying all have their own lifestyle. Enjoy every step, even if you have to remind yourself to enjoy it. Look at these posts and you'll find angry mainline pilots. You would think a 6 figure paycheck would make them happy but it doesn't. They look for QOL.
So good question, more people should ask this question early on in their training!!!

Happy Flying!!!