How challenging is it to be an Airline Pilot. Is it a constant heavy work load during the whole flight?

Question

How challenging is it to be an Airline Pilot. Is it a constant heavy work load during the whole flight?

Answer 1

Takeoff and landing is hard, but autopilot can do the whole flight for you. Cruising is almost always done using autopilot.

Answer 2

If you love to fly, the workload is not heavy except in an emergency or during certain types of difficult weather or traffic situations.

Ground handling at a large, busy airport can get sweaty.  Takeoff/departure and approach/landing are busier times, as in any airplane.  In between, the workload is moderate, as long as everything is working right.

It is not correct to say that the autopilot takes care of things for you.  The autopilot is not a robot replacement for the pilots, but only an aid to stability and precision of flight.

The moderate workload in cruising flight includes monitoring the operation of the automatic systems and controls, record-keeping, systems monitoring, and visual airspace surveillance.  The flight crew stay pretty busy, but less so than a mop man on a roofing crew.

There are sometimes periods during which the crew are all caught up, and can relax and talk, but the outside airspace surveillance never stops.