Is being a professional pilot a boring job?

workaccount

I heard before that flying is meant to be fairly boring. Can somebody correct me on this if it's wrong and tell me what a pilot's day involves?

What do they do when they get that plane up to x000ft and stick it on autopilot?

Steyr

workaccount wrote: »

I heard before that flying is meant to be fairly boring. Can somebody correct me on this if it's wrong and tell me what a pilot's day involves?

What do they do when they get that plane up to x000ft and stick it on autopilot?

Commercial flying is said to be very boring indeed, a normal day for some accodring to a programme once seen on Disc Wings showed that it would be check in, get weather reports etc, final checks, walk around of Aircraft, visual inspections etc checkboards etc, also when the AC had hit its assigned cruising altitude the crew just kept monitoing the engines,instruments,ATC,and did frequent weather checks with the odd move to avoid certain types of "bad" weather, hope this helps.

workaccount

Steyr wrote: »

Commercial flying is said to be very boring indeed, a normal day for some accodring to a programme once seen on Disc Wings showed that it would be check in, get weather reports etc, final checks, walk around of Aircraft, visual inspections etc checkboards etc, also when the AC had hit its assigned cruising altitude the crew just kept monitoing the engines,instruments,ATC,and did frequent weather checks with the odd move to avoid certain types of "bad" weather, hope this helps.

Yeah very helpful thanks. I suppose a helicopter would be much more fun though and not as much time hanging around doing nothing much.

Run_to_da_hills

workaccount wrote: »

I heard before that flying is meant to be fairly boring. Can somebody correct me on this if it's wrong and tell me what a pilot's day involves?

What do they do when they get that plane up to x000ft and stick it on autopilot?

Install and set up a copy of Microsoft Flight Simulator and sit in front of your PC for 7 hours. I think you will find it rather boaring.

ch252

Ah its not that bad! You chat to the co-pilot, your in contact with atc, your always doing something, you wouldn't be on the same routes all the time, no 2 days are the same.

tracker-man

darragh-k wrote: »

Ah its not that bad! no 2 days are the same.

Have to disagree with you there, while i'm no expert, I hear the same pilot on the scanner starting up in the morning from EICM, flying to luton, back again and sometimes taking off to another destination after that. I would imagine the first time would be quite enjoyable but after time the constant weather checks, flights delayed, re-filing them, monotonous atc clearances, monitering the engines etc. etc. would become quite tedious.
Then again if flying is what you love you may not find it boring at all. As you say Daragh you have the co-pilot and not to mention the air hostesses!

ch252

tracker-man wrote: »

and not to mention the air hostesses!

WOO!!:Dlol
well, what I meant is you won't be going Galway to Luton only every day of your career! You will be doing various routes and moving up the ranks, I can't say I would like to be a transatlantic pilot...wouldn't mind their wage though! But the short-medium hauls are good I would say.

Steyr

tracker-man wrote: »

but after time the constant weather checks, flights delayed, re-filing them, monotonous atc clearances, monitering the engines etc. etc. would become quite tedious.

Thats why they cant fly over a certain amount of hours!

tracker-man

darragh-k wrote: »

WOO!!:Dlol
well, what I meant is you won't be going Galway to Luton only every day of your career! You will be doing various routes and moving up the ranks, I can't say I would like to be a transatlantic pilot...wouldn't mind their wage though! But the short-medium hauls are good I would say.

I had to refrain from saying "trolley dolleys" oops!

tracker-man

Heres an interesting link, decide for yourself whether its boring or not. It gives a run down of a typical "day in the life" of a pilot. Worth a read :

http://www.geocities.com/khlim777_my/aspilotsissues.htm

and another interesting link :

http://www.princetonreview.com/cte/profiles/dayInLife.asp?careerID=117

Fabio

I tend to have a book beside me when I fly on Flight Simulator 2004! I enjoy the take offs and the landings and all but once you'r ein the air the book comes in very very handy.

Run_to_da_hills

Fabio wrote: »

I tend to have a book beside me when I fly on Flight Simulator 2004! I enjoy the take offs and the landings and all but once you'r ein the air the book comes in very very handy.

Can you not just do the Ryanair route from Dublin to Kerry, you won't have the time to read a book

pclancy

If its so boring why do so many thousands of people do it for a career? True the plane is often on autopilot from a few hundred feet in the air until landing but they have a fantastic view from their office and variety in the form of different routes and different cities. I think some people just really enjoy flying, a pilot that does the same route day in day out will see all kinds of weather etc and won't be sitting bored all the time i'm sure.

CP251 what's your say? you bored?

peter1892

If any bored commercial pilots out there would like to job swap, give me a call!

workaccount

What about helicopters then. I suppose your always on the controls with these.

highlydebased

Long haul could be boring, but as previously noted there would always be something to do- Pretakeoff and landing are most busy probably due to the amount of paperwork required.

On FS If I'm doing a long haul I throw on a film and sit back and relax......with world class VATSIM atc in the background =D

workaccount

I've played flight sim in the past but my computer was not really up to it and I had no joystick.

I might get it. That means a new computer though.....what are the min sys requirements for FS2004. I would not fork out to be able to run x.

highlydebased

Requirments are only P4 with 256ram.....but I recommend at least a E6600 with 2gb RAM, 8400 gfx at least

cp251

CP251 what's your say? you bored?

LOL, Well yes, actually I am today. But then again I'm not flying. Just sitting here looking at at the line of heavy showers parading across the radar image.

But then again, my kind of flying is rarely boring. Sometimes it's just a little too exciting. Why only last week.............never mind. I don't fly the airlines just yet.

Airline flying can be boring but you forget it's not clear skies and sunny days all the time. (Oh and there is no comparsion to Flight Sim, OK! That's a game not real life) Throw in some bad weather and technical issues on a trip and the fun begins.

Actually I was reading PPRuNe only the other day and saw this. He's not bored. But then he flies a Dash 8 and he's new.

I've done boring jobs, God knows. I've done boring jobs. Connect 600 plastic widgets a day, run four machines all day, fill in pages and pages of paperwork a day. There's boring and there's boring. Flying aeroplanes? See for yourself.

A day in the life . . .

This forum is getting a bit gloomy at the moment, what with all the talk of "is it worth it?" and 95 pages of "will there still be an economy next year?" You lot need cheering up. So just for a change (and to prove that it really is all worth it) here is a typical day for a low-cost FO - one who until very recently was a wannabe himself.

I wake up naturally - no need to set the alarm as I'm not reporting until lunchtime. This makes a nice change, having left the house at 05:00 for the last three days. Today is a typical four sector day, the afternoon Norwich to Dublin and back, then the evening Manchester and back. I have some light breakfast and make sure there are a couple of bananas in my flight case. Banana Man (remember him?) was right - 'nanas are miracle food, a great source of energy when you're starting to feel tired.

A nice leisurely bath, then I shave and get dressed. Allow myself a couple of moments of self-admiration in the mirror. I know I shouldn't, but it does look good. Anyway, what the hell, that uniform cost me forty-five thousand pounds - why not get your money's worth? Briefly consider popping into the village shop dressed like this, then decide against it on the grounds they'll think I'm the bloke from Securicor. Jump in the car and drive to the airport.

Park up and stride as purposefully as I can through the passenger terminal. No-one realises my flight bag actually contains bananas - my secret is safe. Get to security, there is no queue and they're happy for me to leave my shoes on today (wearing the same pair of socks three days running must have done the trick). Put my bag, mobile, jacket, etc on the conveyor and walk through the metal detector. For once I don't set it off. Security lady compliments me on the size of my bananas - today is going to be a good day.

Walk round to the crew room. Being new and keen, I'm early and have the place to myself. Get a coffee, then check-in on the system and print off the paperwork - plogs, weather, notams etc. It's a nice aeroplane today with no defects, and the weather looks good - winds light and easterly with a high cloud base just about everywhere. The captain arrives and we discuss the weather and fuel figures. Agree on a fuel uplift in Dublin, then I phone all the figures through to the dispatchers. The cabin crew have arrived so we join them to brief the weather and discuss a couple of emergency scenarios.

The aircraft arrives. The incoming crew have left us with enough fuel to get to Dublin, have pulled out all the aerodrome charts that we'll need, and even plugged the route into the FMS for us - one of the benefits of working at a small base where everyone knows each other and gets on well. The captain does the walkround while I go into the flightdeck and start setting up. A quick scan to check all the switches are in the right place (they are) then I get the ATIS and pull out the performance manual. The good book confirms we can do a full-flex takeoff (the Q400 is hugely overpowered, and it's not often that we don't fully flex). I bug acceleration altitude and double check the data in the FMS. It was a box of mysteries when I first started, but it's amazing how quickly you pick up the basics.

The captain joins me, we review the performance figures and FMS data entry, then I brief emergencies and the departure (today I'm flying the first three sectors). I remember my first departure brief, back during the MCC, when I had to read it off a piece of paper. When you're doing it four times a day however, it soon becomes second nature. The passengers board, and today there are no discrepancies with numbers or missing bags. They're even sitting in their assigned seats - most important on this aircraft - so we shut the doors and I call ATC for push and start. On the push I start number two then number one. Two good starts (not like the sim, where every time you flick a switch you can expect something to catch fire or explode).

The tug disconnects and we run through the after start checks. These take the form of a memory item flow, followed by a challenge and response checklist. In the sim I couldn't get my head round the flows, so the only way to memorise them was to set them to music. "Flaps, aux pumps, autofeather sel . . ." to the tune of the Itchy and Scratchy Show from The Simpsons. It worked though - at least I don't have to sing them now.

Departure clearance is received as we taxy. We line up, and I have control. Of an airliner. With 70 passengers in the back. A few months ago that was a distant fantasy. Forget all that now - concentrate. "Set Power." Even at full flex (81% of rated torque) the acceleration is fierce. A bit of right rudder to counteract the props, respond to the "eighty knots both" call, and Vr comes up in seconds. Smoothly rotate to the flight director command bars, trim the elevators and ease off on the rudder. At acceleration altitude the autopilot is engaged - I have hand flown the aircraft for barely a minute, but I don't mind - it can fly much smoother than I can, and it gives me a chance to admire the views. We're climbing between layers of overcast, but pop out the top at around twelve thousand feet. The passengers are released and now we're climbing above a sea of cotton wool. God, I love this view. It makes me want to write poetry, but there's work to be done first.

I dispense with the Norwich plates, retrieve the Dublin ones and start setting up the navaids for our approach. We've got an hour to go, but the trick in this game is to stay ahead of the aircraft. Particularly this one - it might have propellers, but it will cruise at 360 knots true airspeed, which is almost as quick as a BAe146. Either way, it's a lot faster than the Duchesses I've been flying. The captain carries out a fuel check and has already got me the Dublin weather. As expected, it's runway 10, which means a relatively leisurely arrival, all the way round to the north and then west of the airport. I brief the arrival, noting the speeds ATC will expect from us. Dublin is a very busy place and if you don't adhere to the speed profiles, you'll cause chaos.

Briefing complete, landing weight calculated and speeds bugged, time to sit back and enjoy a banana. Before long we're coasting out past the Wirral, Manchester hand us to Dublin, and we start the descent. There's no holding today, and we're immediately given radar vectors in preparation for the approach. Through flight level one hundred, the landing lights go on, and I can see at least four other aircraft around us on TCAS - as usual it's busy. After a pretty much continuous descent, we're given an intercept heading to the ILS. I remember to arm approach mode (my bugbear) and the autopilot smoothly intercepts. Now it's all about the speeds - not below 160 to 4. With a Vref (landing speed) of around 120 knots it doesn't allow much time to configure the aircraft and get everything stable by 500 feet.

It's a little lumpy today, but the autopilot is doing fine, and I concentrate on power settings to maintain the speed. Inside four miles, we take landing flap, landing checks, and I start bringing the speed back towards Vref plus five. "Five hundred" and we're stable, cleared to land. The speed is within limits, but higher than I'd like and increasing, I pull off some power - not too much as the power levers are very sensitive. Three hundred feet, I take out the autopilot and concentrate on sticking to the flight director. We're over the runway threshold, "Fifty, forty, thirty". The radalt calls are quite close together. I flare but daren't overdo it - a tailstrike would ruin my day. We're still sinking quite quickly - a tiny dab of power, but I'm a fraction too late. Boing - my first bounce. How embarrassing. Don't panic, don't pull back, don't yank off the power - and the aircraft settles back onto the runway. Sixty knots, the captain has control and we taxy in.

The passengers get off and no-one says anything - perhaps they didn't notice? The cabin crew did however; "That was a nice gentle landing, then we realised we were flying again." Thanks ladies! We debrief and I make a mental note to be more gentle with power changes. The captain does the walkround, I start setting up for the return flight. It's a 25 minute turn round and the passengers are ready to board. I engage in what I think is some harmless flirting with the dispatcher, which escalates alarmingly. It seems that if we ever go tech in Dublin, I'm guaranteed somewhere to stay for the night. Another mental note to self - hide in toilet next time we're here.

The return trip is a mirror image of the outbound one. A firm but acceptable arrival at Norwich, but this is from an NDB approach to a much shorter runway - not a place to go looking for greasers. Very much a case of right place, right speed . . .

Off to Manchester now, and this is one busy flight. My record is 38 minutes airborne, but today we're on the easterly runways, so it will take a little longer. Brief the approach in the climb, no time for a banana, and straight away we're descending and being vectored for runway 05R. We turn onto the localiser and I manage to arm approach mode again - that's twice in one day, I'm getting good at this. Determined to get a good landing, the wind is variable less than five knots. Autopilot out a little earlier this time, give myself a chance to retrim and nail the flight director. Nail the speed, supersize your scan rate. Nail the centreline. "Fifty, forty." The radalt calls are much better spaced now, I've got a ten thousand foot runway to play with, and we'll have to roll a long way before we can turn off. "Twenty." "Ten." I leave the power levers alone. Just as I start to think we're floating, the main wheels kiss the runway. A greaser! One of the smoothest landings I've managed in anything, let alone a Q400. Grinning like a kid at Christmas, I hand over control to the captain as we slow down.

I'm happy but tired. That landing took a lot of effort, and I'm glad he's flying us back home. Another 25 minute turn round and we're off again. In the evening light the clouds have a pinky glow to them. I marvel at the view one last time as we sink down into the murk, back down to the real world. The captain demonstrates an immaculate wing-down crosswind landing, we taxy back in and shutdown. Back to the crewroom, I key all the trip data into the computer, file the paperwork, make sure I've validated my car park ticket. We walk back through the terminal to the car park. It's dark now and I'm too tired to do anything else tonight. Tomorrow is a nice easy two sector day, and I'm looking forward to it already. I know the novelty will wear off one day, but until then I'm enjoying every minute.

Is it all worth it? Oh yes.

Last edited by G SXTY : Yesterday at 12:47.

fireplace1982

CP251, im guessing you are a driver of the air corps GIV, am i correct? Now that sound like a cool job, varied routes, VIP treatment etc...

cp251

That's a terrible guess:D If only! In another universe maybe. The Air Corps was my dream job! But to their eternal regret they turned me down. They've been begging me to re-apply lately. But no I have my principles!;)

workaccount

cp251 wrote: »

LOL, Well yes, actually I am today. But then again I'm not flying. Just sitting here looking at at the line of heavy showers parading across the radar image.

But then again, my kind of flying is rarely boring. Sometimes it's just a little too exciting. Why only last week.............never mind. I don't fly the airlines just yet.

Airline flying can be boring but you forget it's not clear skies and sunny days all the time. (Oh and there is no comparsion to Flight Sim, OK! That's a game not real life) Throw in some bad weather and technical issues on a trip and the fun begins.

Actually I was reading PPRuNe only the other day and saw this. He's not bored. But then he flies a Dash 8 and he's new.

I've done boring jobs, God knows. I've done boring jobs. Connect 600 plastic widgets a day, run four machines all day, fill in pages and pages of paperwork a day. There's boring and there's boring. Flying aeroplanes? See for yourself.

Great. I'd like to hear what a bad day is like too though.

Steyr

CP251 Who do you fly for? what do you fly?:)

Steyr

workaccount wrote: »

What about helicopters then. I suppose your always on the controls with these.

Helo's are brilliant and your always on the controls with most but some types like our EX Dauphins had Autopilot etc.

GBX

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Install and set up a copy of Microsoft Flight Simulator and sit in front of your PC for 7 hours. I think you will find it rather boaring.

You can adjust the simulation rate to quicken the flight length :cool:

ImDave

A friend of the family is captain for Shamrock, and has been flying for over 30 years. He has given me a lot of advice as I have progressed through training and he said he has never got bored with it. One of my instructors says "the day you don't learn something new in flying, is the day to give up".

cp251

Steyr wrote: »

CP251 Who do you fly for? what do you fly?:)

Not telling, I would have to stop posting, unfortunately. Because it would be obvious who I was and the boss wouldn't like it. It's not like there are 300 pilots in my organisation. Sorry.

Fabio

GBX wrote: »

You can adjust the simulation rate to quicken the flight length :cool:

Ah but that's cheating!

Steyr

cp251 wrote: »

Not telling, I would have to stop posting, unfortunately. Because it would be obvious who I was and the boss wouldn't like it. It's not like there are 300 pilots in my organisation. Sorry.

Understood.:)

Davidth88

I have a friend who at the time he told me this story was a 1st officer on 767's and is now a captain on 747's

He told me a story one time because I teased him that basically his job was boring . He was half way across the atlantic , reading a book. Looked up and the captain was fast asleep. It suddenly occured to him that no one was really flying the aircraft.

Now the CAA to sanction ( I believe ) cat naps by flight crew don't they ?( question to any crew out there ) but my friend's point was that he was reading his book at the time.

As for the cabin crew , they used to call the pilots ' Nigels' and tease them that they all eat ' from the cheese board ' ( because by and large they tend to have ' posh ' accents. )

workaccount

Steyr wrote: »

Helo's are brilliant and your always on the controls with most but some types like our EX Dauphins had Autopilot etc.

Where in Ireland are helicopters used apart from the obvious...sea rescue, garda etc.