How often do airline pilots fly with the same pilots?

Question

is it Awkward?

Answer 1

Depends on the airline and how they work the schedules.  Some airlines have hard lines, which means that the month is scheduled in advance and every pilot picks the one he wants in seniority order.  In that case, you generally fly with the same crew all month.  If you have a preferential bidding system, you tell the computer what you want, in terms of days of and types of trips, and the computer puts a month together for you.  In that case, you probably fly with a different crew on each trip.  Of course, when you are on reserve you get moved around a lot and in a larger airline, you might meet new people every time you fly.  

I guess it could be awkward if you don't like the crew you are with, and you have them for the whole month.  But, you learn to deal with people.  I hope that answers your question.

Answer 2

It depends what type of airline it is. Low cost in small airport not often. Long haul very few destinations maybe every flight!!

Answer 3

it depends on what kind of airline it is but a few that I know (united and southwest) don't so the pilots don't get to comfortable with one other.

Answer 4

Depending on the airline you fly with it's entirely possible to flight with the same crew every time. I know a number of Capt, and 1st officers who fly 8 hours together at least 2 or 3 times a week. the problem with this is you become too familiar with that person and when problems start to happen it's easy to fall in to the "He knows what I'm thinking and how I work" and they often forget to fly the plane. But it does happen often enough.

Answer 5

Zach,

When pilots fly for any US airline that carries people they fall in a category of the Federal Aviation regulations called "flying for hire".  Under these rules every pilot is closely monitored by both his company and their "check pilot" and by the "operations" pilots of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).  Every active pilot must comply with the rules set forth by the FAA and his/her company covering every aspect of pilot training, conduct and compliance.

Now to your specific question.  It does not matter if the pilots in a crew fly together every day and every flight because once the crew starts its day, from dispatch to recovery of the aircraft, they all are required to comply with a very strict set of rules as far as individual assignments both on the ground and in the air.  Once the crew takes command of a flight every function performed is covered by the "rules".  Every function from "gear up" to a bathroom break is covered by a rule and every function must have specific commands and recognition language.  For instance:  the Captain calls for "flaps 40", the first officer must respond after placing the flaps, "flaps 40".  The response for "bathroom break" is "I've got the aircraft" followed by "bring me back a cup of coffee".

So, you can see that even if flight crew members work together every day, it normally is not a problem.  As a matter of fact in most airlines the pilots bid flights and crews that cover sometimes many months.  Its when pilots don't follow the rules (big FAA penalties) that things fall apart and people can be exposed to harm.

I just retired from aviation after 48 years.

Hope this helps