After researching the typical life of an airline pilot you have probably realized by now that there are times when an Airline Pilot will find him or herself “stranded” at a pilot base. This is a result of ending a trip too late to catch the last flight home or having to fly in a day early because the pairing, or trip, starts too early to commute in the day of the trip. Most pilots who have schedules that are not “commutable” will sleep in the lavish quarters affectionately named a “crashpad”.
A crashpad is typically an apartment or house with as little as one room or as many as 6 or more. Each room typically has two or more bunk beds allowing for several pilots to sleep at one time. The two typical arrangements styles are ‘hot beds” and “reserved beds”. In an example of hotbeds let’s first assume that the crashpad has 6 bunk beds, beds for 12 pilots to sleep, which the crashpad owner will rent out to 20 or so pilots for a monthly fee. Typically the fee for a crashpad is between $125-$300/mo. In this case the 20 pilots are going to share the 12 spots; it is unlikely that all 20 pilots will be there at the same time; therefore upon arrival a pilot will take any bed not in use. This means it may still be warm from the last crew member, hence the hot bed name. The second more preferred option is a reserved bed. This means that only an equal amount of pilots are accepted as there are beds. The fee for these crashpads works the same way, a monthly payment, but in this case you have a sure spot to lay your head and know that you are the only pilot utilizing that bed.
Crashpad amenities
You might wonder what sort of amenities these crashpads provide; in most cases it’s not so bad. Wireless internet is almost always provided as well as a shared full kitchen, bath, TV, and sometimes even a game table or video game system. Getting to the crashpad may pose a problem for those that have no local means of transportation. Since the reason a pilot would have a crashpad in the first place is because they are far from home a simple, and common, solution is free or low-cost transportation provided by the crashpad. Most crashpads are located next to or within walking distance to a train or bus station where a cheap ride directly to the airport is provided. Some crashpads provide a free “community” car where residents agree to shuttle each other to and from the airport.
Types of pilots that use crashpads
Typically pilots on reserve or those unable to fly schedules that are commutable from their home on the day of a trip inhabit these crashpads. Flight attendants have the same type of system in place and in some cases share the same crashpads as pilots.