Helena asked:
I spoke to an airline pilot a few weeks ago, and he said that he was going to be away for 4 days and 4 nights, and then he got three weeks off. Is this a normal work pattern, or was this just because he was taking holiday off?
This was a British Airways pilot BTW.
No, this is a very typical schedule for a commerical pilot, especially an experienced one that has been flying for many years.
In ALL airlines, pilots are ‘ranked’ based on senority, that is, how long they’ve been working with the company (NOT necessarily how old they are).
The higher ranked pilots usually have the least amount of hours to fly per month (yet make the most money, go figure).
But nonetheless, ANY pilot working for an airline will usually fly for 2 weeks, and then get 2 weeks off, or something similar to that pattern. That’s just how it is.
Also, there are a few rules they need to follow (these are based on US FAA laws, so I’m not sure how they may differe from other countries):
No more then 100 hours flight time in a month
No more then 1000 hours flight time in a year
There are all different levels of commercial pilots. You’ve got the crews that fly the regional aircraft, the smaller ones on short trips several times a day all the way up to the guys (and gals) who fly the international routes. They might fly from New York to Hong Kong, take a day or two off to recover and then fly the flight back after which they might have the rest of the month off.
Three weeks off? That is a lot but that may be how BA schedules work- esp if he was international crossing many time zones. Widebody international pilots often work only 2 or 3 trip sequences a month.
If he were domestic, it may be totally different. The employing airline and the kind of flying they do affects the pilot schedules quite a bit.
Two weeks on with two off is NOT the norm for the vast majority of airline pilots.
I fly domestic and am usually away for 4 days/3 nights, followed by 3 days off, then another 4 days flying. I generally fly 85 hours per month. Total time away from my base each month is about 300 hours. I generally have 13 days off per month.
Here is an example of a typical domestic major pilot schedule-
Here is an example of a typical domestic regional pilot schedule-
going on holiday would be my guess.
Too much jetlag for him maybe?
It’s defineatly normal, specially if he has a high seniority with the airline that he may be working for.
It all depends, as beforementioned on seniority (placing bids on a roster) and what kind of commercial pilot the pilot is. But I would agree that the BA pilot was probably taking leave after his trip
My father is a Senior Captain for a National Carrier, on the long-haul fleet. He would get like a 5-day Hong Kong trip, where all days away from home, including the day he leaves and gets back is 5 days. Then he would be home for around 3 or 4 days then go on another trip. It all depends how the roster turned out. He also gets leave every now and again, usually for two-three weeks or so.
Then other commercial charter pilots, sush as myself, work a bit differently. It depends when the work comes into the company, and when you are required to fly. I fly away from home on a contractual basis, and work 6 weeks on, 2 weeks off. Usually flying all day, everyday, obviously keeping within crew and duty periods.
