Do pilots have long periods of time off from flying?

Question

I want to be a pilot and I had this idea in my mind that pilots work for about 4 days straight (as an example), then get a week off (for example). Is this true, or something very similar? Thanks.

Answer 1

I suppose you are referring to airline pilots, but they are in the minority.

Airline pilots and other pilots who operate under Air Taxi rules are limited like the AirTran pilot said.  But even then, it depends upon the route and the airline.  Seniority is everything.  A transoceanic pilot works a lot less because he/she spends many hours between landings and in most cases, the autopilot flies the plane.  The downside to that is this type of pilot has to work at maintaining his/her proficiency.  If they fly a trip of 12 hours one way, the pilot gets one take off and one landing, while the copilot gets one of each as well.  So, they don't get the practice that someone flying short trips gets.

The rest of the pilots in the world are not limited that way.

Answer 2

In the military, we do more office work when not flying, and work every day but weekends or crew rest days, even if we only fly 7-8 time a month.  At our Sqn our duty day can be extended to 18 hrs by the aircraft captain, or to 24 hrs by the CO for operational reasons.  The drive to the hotel counts as crew day for us, and your crew day (beginning of crew rest) doesn't end until the last crewmember is at the hotel, so we don't lose crew rest going to the hotel.

B

Answer 3

Well after a long flight, with the maximum being 12 hours, they get about an 8 hour rest. But that's not enough considering you have to go to the hotel, that takes probably 20 minutes, then dress up and prepare to bed, another 10 minutes, and afterwards do the same when you wake up. That's just the minimum, so you just lost an hour of sleep.

On average pilots have 10-12 days off from work, from what I've read. Like you said, it could be 4 days at a time. So yes you're quite right.

Answer 4

your always on call