A day in the life of an Airline Pilot
Ever wonder what a real trip
is like for an airline pilot? Here is a typical day in the life of a pilot, which provides play-by-play details of life for a
professional pilot. The information is genuine and logged by a pilot from a real
trip she took around the country. This editorial examines a four-day trip
flown by ExpressJet Airlines EMB145 Captain Kate Ryder. Below, you will see the
schedule as planned for the crew and details of her experiences while flying the
line. As you will witness, this profession is quite dynamic and the planning is
down to every last minute.
A four-day trip with
Captain Kate Ryder
Trip Pairing that displays
each leg of the four-day trip (click for a larger view)
The Commute to Work
Sun. 12/9
9:00 a.m. (Eastern) Today, I
started a four-day trip with a show time in Houston of 1:35 p.m. Much like the
majority of airline pilots, I commute to work from a city other than my base, or
hub city. Normally if you don’t live close to where you're based you are
considered a commuter and get to work by jumpseating
on an airline. I live in Florida. Therefore, I have to start
earlier so that I can make it to work on time and also meet our pilot’s commuter
guidelines, which at ExpressJet is to leave myself two flights to get me to
Houston,
TX, (IAH) no less than 30 minutes before my
show time. I log on to my home computer and look at the available flights and
find two that will meet the requirement to get me to work. I picked a 9:05 a.m.
departure and was able to get on the flight. Another pilot who was also
commuting to work was able to make it too. Typically when there are empty seats
in the main cabin, they all become available to pilots commuting to work as
jumpseats. When all cabin seats are full with
passengers then the cockpit jumpseat is typically the last chance for getting to
work on that flight.
The Crew Room
10:30 a.m. (Central) I
arrived in IAH four hours before my first flight so I spent the time updating my
Jeppesen charts, which are used for navigation and
have updates sent to the crew room every two weeks. I also checked our company
website for any operational changes, grabbed a bite to eat, read, and watched TV
in the crew room, which is like a holding area for pilots between flights.
Typically a crew room is located below the main terminal area in an airport and
has several computers for checking schedules and flight information, several
recliners for the occasional nap to catch up on rest, and a TV to watch weather
and news.
Day One
Sun. 12/9
1:45 p.m. (Central) I got
the paperwork for our flight to Baton Rouge, LA, (BTR) and noticed I had a
different first officer (F/O) for the flight than originally planned.
Re-checking my schedule, I saw that I had one reserve F/O for the BTR turn and
then another reserve F/O for the remainder of the trip. Our arriving aircraft
(a/c) was about 10 minutes late and our flight attendant jumpseat needed some
maintenance, but we managed to get the flight out only three minutes late and
made up the time enroute to BTR.
3:45 p.m. (Central)
We did a quick turn in BTR with no problems. Some
rain showers moved into IAH after we left so Air Traffic Control (ATC)
center implemented an enroute spacing
program, which gave us a 20 minute delay on our taxi out. We went to the end of
the runway and shutdown the engines to conserve fuel until it was our turn to
take off. Our aircraft has an Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) that provides
electrical power and air-conditioning when the engines are shut down. The APU
also provides the high pressure air to start the engines. Once airborne, the
rest of the flight went smoothly.
5:40 p.m. (Central) When we
landed in IAH, I had a message from crew scheduling on my cell phone saying my
flight to Oklahoma City, OK, (OKC) was cancelled due to an ice storm, and I
would be spending the night in IAH, then flying out early to OKC to continue our
pairing. Scheduling uses either the crew member's cell phone or an on board text
messaging system in the cockpit to inform pilots of a schedule change. My
original F/O was done with his trip upon return to IAH so he left for home.
7:10 p.m. (Central)
The flight attendant (F/A) and I finally arrived at
the hotel after waiting for the hotel van for 25 minutes. Then, after a long
ride due to all the stops along the way picking up other crews and passengers
from the adjacent terminals we had a 35 minute van ride. I went to bed early
because we had a 5:30 a.m. van the next morning.
Day Two
Mon. 12/10
5:30 a.m. (Central)
The morning didn’t start off too well because the
hotel didn’t have any hot water. The flight attendant and I met downstairs for
the van and unfortunately, there were about 25 people trying to get into an
eight-person van. Usually hotels transport flight crews first, but this one left
three crews behind, including us. About this time,
crew scheduling called me to let us know our OKC flight had once again been
cancelled due to ongoing ice storms. Our new schedule was modified again, this
time to deadhead, which is airline talk for “flying on the airplane for
repositioning,” meaning you fly in the back rather than in the cockpit, on the 8
a.m. flight to EWR (Newark, NJ) and then pick up our originally
scheduled 1:15 p.m. flight to BWI (Baltimore, MD). The F/A and I would meet
our new F/O in EWR.
7:30 a.m. (Central)
We boarded our flight after grabbing breakfast at the
airport. Both of us were given middle seats for the three-hour flight, which is
less than the ideal, but just a part of the job. At least there was a movie
playing.
12:45 p.m. (Eastern) The
flight to EWR went well, but we got long vectors, meaning we were given extended
headings to fly before we were cleared for the approach. This is generally done
to provide additional separation for aircraft when the airspace becomes
congested and today contributed to us arriving 15 minutes late. By the time we
got off the Boeing 767 aircraft, we had less than 15 minutes to get our flight
out for BWI.
1:15 p.m. (Eastern)
We made it to the gate, but our inbound flight was
late. Once it did arrive we got the BWI flight out pretty quick, and because we
missed our original departure time, we also missed the afternoon traffic
departing EWR. The flight went smoothly and upon arriving in
BWI, the F/A let me know a passenger seat would not stay upright. So
while the F/O and F/A got the crew bags off the a/c and cleaned up, I called
maintenance and MEL’d the seat for the outbound
flight to CLE (Cleveland, OH). The term MEL, is technical
talk for having a non-critical item noted and marked for resolution by
maintenance at a later time.
2:50 p.m. (Eastern)
We got on the van to go to the hotel, which was in
downtown BWI.
3:15 p.m. (Eastern) We got
to the hotel and checked in. Our rooms were in another tower of the hotel so we
had to walk outside and across a parking lot to get there. Unfortunately, we
were right across the street from a fire station, hoping it would not disturb
our sleep. Because the hotel restaurant was closed, we walked down the street to
grab an early dinner. Our van ride was at 5:20 a.m. the next morning, so we all
went to bed early.
Day
Three
Tue. 12/11
5:20 a.m. (Eastern)
The crew met for our very early van ride. We got to
the airport and headed straight for the aircraft, not enough time to stop and
wait for breakfast.
6:30 a.m. (Eastern)
We got out of BWI without any problems. It was a nice
flight to CLE and we arrived 15 minutes early. When we pulled up to the gate,
the ground personnel connected ground power to the aircraft and we shut down our
engines. As the passengers were getting off the aircraft, someone outside
knocked off the ground power, which sent the aircraft into an electrical power
problem. We called maintenance for some engine oil as well as to straighten out
the electrical issue.
8:00 a.m. (Eastern) We got
off the aircraft in CLE and had a three-hour layover before our next flight. I
got breakfast, read the paper, and took a quick nap in the crew room.
10:15 a.m. (Eastern) I got
the paperwork for the flight and headed to the a/c. We had an MEL on the
aircraft, which required us to take a weight penalty. Because we had several
children onboard we were able to take all passengers, bags, and a
jumpseater. The flight got out early and went
smoothly to LGA (LaGuardia, NY).
12:40 p.m. (Eastern) In LGA
while we got paperwork and prepared the flight for departure, the gate agent
boarded all passengers. The problem was that we had too much weight on the
aircraft and our maximum landing weight was limiting the payload we could load,
so in attempt to not take off passengers, I called dispatch to get us filed for
a lower altitude so we would burn more fuel allowing us to take on more weight
in passengers and baggage. The plan worked and we were able to take everyone.
1:10 p.m. (Eastern)
After clearing up our weight and balance issue, we
finally left the gate for CLE. Enroute, ATC really
helped us out with keeping us on our filed route at the lower altitude. We were
keeping an eye on the weather in CLE because the visibility was decreasing. I
began the approach into CLE, but ATC had high winds in the area so aircraft
spacing was getting closer than they had planned so they pulled us off the
approach. Because fuel was a concern I talked to dispatch to get a closer
alternate airport while we got vectors back around for another approach.
Fortunately, the second approach went fine and we got into CLE.
3:20 p.m. (Eastern)
We made it to the gate, but because of having to do
two approaches we were running late. I went to go get paperwork at our
operations desk below the main concourse, and when I returned to the a/c I found
that the fuelers had over-fueled us by 700 lbs, this
poses a problem because the added weight reduces the amount of passengers and
cargo we can carry. I let operations know that we might have a weight
restriction due to the increased fuel load and not to load all passengers until
I did some calculations. Fortunately, we had a small amount of baggage, so all
passengers made the flight.
3:45 p.m. (Eastern)
We pushed off the gate for Bradley, CT, (BDL), and during our taxi out to the runway we could
see the weather quickly deteriorating in CLE. We were happy to get right out
with no problems. Arriving in BDL, we were a little heavy for landing, so we
asked ATC some delay vectors and burned off some fuel weight quickly. The
approach into BDL went fine and we arrived at the gate only 10 minutes late.
5:45 p.m. (Eastern)
The van picked us and another crew who had deadheaded
on our flight from CLE. The drive was about 20 minutes long, so by the time we
arrived at the hotel I was very hungry (not having a break since 9 a.m.). The
only food available was at the hotel restaurant, so I ordered some to go. Once
again, we had an early van ride so we went to bed early.
Day Four
Wed. 12/12
6:00 a.m. (Eastern) The crew
met at the van on time, but a passenger was several minutes late, so when we got
to the airport we did not have time for breakfast.
7:00 a.m. (Eastern)
We got out one minute late to EWR because of
maintenance issues. The plane was all boarded and as we started the Auxiliary
Power Unit (APU), it failed and sent the aircraft into an electrical emergency
mode, which basically means we have to call maintenance and reset the plane.
After contacting maintenance, they had us shut down the aircraft so we had to
start over programming the flight and getting the aircraft ready to go.
8:10 a.m. (Eastern) Our
flight time to EWR was scheduled to be 45 minutes, but it took us one hour and
six minutes because of delays due to bad weather in EWR.
8:30 a.m. (Eastern) Even
though we got in late, we did a quick turnaround and got the flight out to
Kansas City, MO, (MCI) a few minutes early. The taxi to
the runway took about 40 minutes. On our climb out of EWR, we encountered icing
and had our engine anti-ice bleeds fail (fortunately open). The bleed system is
a pneumatic system that uses hot compressed air from the engine to power, among
other things, the pressurization and anti-ice systems of the aircraft. We got
out of icing quickly, began to troubleshoot the problem, and called maintenance
via SELCAL, an in-flight phone system used to talk with our company personnel,
while we continued to MCI. The rest of the flight went well.
10:00 a.m. (Eastern)
Enroute to MCI and cruising at 36,000 ft., we had a
125kt (144 mph) direct headwind, and we still had two hours and 15 minutes left
to go. The flight did have breakfast so we each got a small bowl of cereal.
11:30 a.m. (Central) Due to
the 125kt headwind, which is like paddling upstream in a canoe, we ended up
being 30 minutes late. In MCI, we had a scheduled sit and aircraft swap. Sit
time is just a scheduled waiting time for your next flight, typically spent
sitting around. I grabbed a quick bite to eat, then went to meet our inbound
aircraft, which was 15 minutes late.
12:35 p.m. (Central) We got
out of MCI only five minutes late and on our way to IAH without any problems.
Once up at cruising altitude, I checked the weather in IAH, which at the time
showed heavy rain showers on the field. We were slowed down by ATC a little
enroute and made it into IAH 20 minutes late.
2:50 p.m. (Central) Once
getting off the plane, we all said goodbye and headed off for our various
commutes home. My flight home was scheduled to leave in one hour and 20 minutes
so I had a chance to grab a quick bite to eat.
The Commute Home
Wed. 12/12
4:25 p.m. (Central) I filled
out the jumpseat paperwork and asked the captain working the flight for the
privilege of jumpseating on his flight. He was happy
to help me out and there were no problems getting home. I made it on the commute
home to JAX (Jacksonville, FL) and got a seat in the back as opposed to occupying the
cockpit jumpseat. I slept the entire flight home and got in at 7:45 p.m.
Eastern.
Actual
Pairing of the Trip after Completion
Final results that displays each leg of the
four-day trip (click for a larger view)
