Best office view in the world

Well, just like the memes say adulting isn’t what it was cracked up to be. Yes, there’s a lot to be said for an airline career—there are uniforms and there is respect and you command a mighty steed from CRJ to 777 (no small feat), but exotic lands can often be Dayton or Detroit and there’s a lot of time spent away from loved ones. What’s a typical day in the life of an airline pilot?

First, though, let’s talk about the commute. Unlike typical occupations—where one takes a job within a reasonable driving distance from where they live—pilots can accept positions with airlines at a hub hundreds if not thousands of miles away from their home. For example, an airline pilot can live in Ohio but base operations from New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport. It is his or her responsibility to get to the flight’s origin airport within an hour of its departure time. How the pilot does that is not really important to the airline, although the pilot should be fit and rested for the flight.

One pilot answered the why-commute question succinctly by saying, “because we can.” However, the answer is more complex—pilots may changes bases often and the stress of continually moving a family from one city to another is high and often not desirable. Not only that, but the pilot in Ohio has a lower cost of living if he or she stays put, and doesn’t try to navigate the expensive housing around New York City. Pilots often have crash pads, a shared apartment or home rented with other pilots and flight crews who fly from a busy base such as JFK.

“A large number of us commute from our homes to our base, not just because we can, but because changing bases occurs fairly often and it is cheaper and more stable for your family if you can set roots down and put up with commuting,” said a pilot for a domestic carrier. “For the commuting pilots, part of the day may be figuring out how to get to work, while for the locals, the drive to the airport may be all the commuting there is. Commuters need to take into account the need to arrive properly rested and fit for duty.”

Pilots can fly in a jump seat on any airline for free (registered with Cockpit Access Security System [CASS]), and often in the back of an aircraft if there are vacant seats. You might see a uniformed pilot lingering around the customer service desk. She’s looking for a seat and did her homework earlier, knowing that the airplane wasn’t full, but if weather changes schedules she’s hoping no other, more senior commuting pilot arrives—he gets first dibs. If a pilot chooses to travel early and stay in a hotel the night before their scheduled flight, the cost is usually to the pilot (although the demand for regional pilots has seen that become a perk). However, a pilot does not get paid until his or her flight pushes off.

Airlines cannot allow pilots to work more than 1,000 hours per year, which translates to about 83 hours per month (I’ll do the math for you—there are 720 hours in a 30-day month) so it doesn’t appear that pilots “work” a lot of time. But that’s a misleading interpretation.

“A working day may be as short as three hours and as long as 17 or more on a wide-body. When it’s all done, we either head home, or sleep in yet another strange bed, catch some z’s and get ready to do it again the next day. There’s nothing else like it,” said the domestic carrier pilot.

It’ll come as no surprise that a typical day for an airline pilot begins with a check of the weather. Commuter or not, the weather is going to have the biggest impact.

“Because of the transcontinental range of even smaller narrow-body aircraft, we can deal with the whole gamut of weather in a single day: I’ve left Florida while dodging thunderstorms on my way to some destination north where we need to plan a landing that will take place in a snowstorm. Other obstacles can include mountain waves and moderate to severe turbulence that wasn’t forecast. All in a day’s work, as they say.”

Next, one pilot referred to getting into the aircraft and beginning his shift as “building our nest.” That means he has met his flight crew (often pilots do not know the first officers or cabin crews of any given flight, and they can change on different legs of a trip); reviewed the flight plan and Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS); and checked weight and balance calculations, takeoff data, the en route winds, and verified the active runway.

“For me, the enjoyment typically starts once the main cabin door is closed and the drama of boarding subsides. [Only] once the parking brake is released for push do pilots and flight attendants start getting paid. Nuts, IMO,” said another pilot. “There’s also the challenge of completing the smoothest, [most] mistake-free flight possible. Such flights are very elusive, but many pilots strive for such a flight, every leg.”

Between flights, pilots will rest, catch up on phone calls, eat, or work out. If it’s a new town, they’ll tour and find cool sites and restaurants, just as the rest of us would do in a new place.

“Breaks are between flights if you have more than one leg a day. Or your breaks are layovers ranging from as few as 10 hours up to about 24 hours. Some could be in Maui, others in Rochester. Longer layovers give you a chance to kick back with a drink or two, explore towns, go for a workout, eat. Loneliness can be an issue as pilots spend many days a month on the road away from family and friends. The problem with breaks is that you’re not getting paid. We are paid by the hour from block out to block in,” said one pilot.

“But it is still the best office view in the world and I’m often rewarded with some of the most stunning views Mother Nature can provide. It never ceases to amaze me how huge and unpopulated so much of this world is. It’s awe-inspiring.”

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