Common Misconceptions about Airline Pilots

Countless conversations with friends and strangers alike have led me down the path to this blog post. When you do a job every day, it comes to seem like common knowledge even though most people really don't know exactly what it is that you do. Hopefully this will put some of your questions to rest.

I am a first officer for a regional airline. That's what most people think of as the co-pilot. I'm actually qualified to fly the airplane; I'm not a "junior pilot" or anything like that. The captain (left seat) and first officer (right seat) share flying duties; while some tasks may be seat specific, many are designated as "flying pilot" or "monitoring pilot" duties. Typically, we take turns flying--so if we fly six legs today, I fly three and monitor three (that includes the takeoff and landing!).

The captain bears legal responsibility for the safety of the flight and is the ultimate decision maker, although most decisions are made as a crew. Captain and First Officer both receive the same training and qualifications, except the captain takes an additional flight test to earn a "type rating" that is specific to the model of aircraft she is assigned. There's no reason the FO couldn't take the same test except that it's expensive and not required by the FAA.

"Making captain" is simply a matter of having the appropriate seniority and going through several weeks of training in seat-specific tasks and leadership skills (unless the candidate is upgrading into a different type of aircraft than he previously flew--then more lengthy aircraft specific training is required; this occurs when an airline flies several different planes--say a 37-seat turboprop and a 70-seat jet. Pilots are typically paid according to the size of aircraft flown and will move to a larger aircraft as seniority permits. As a senior FO, a pilot will be in the jet; when upgrading, he is now the most junior captain and will be put back in the turboprop).

In some cases, an FO may even have more flight experience as a captain but got hired at the airline later. The airline industry relies heavily on the seniority system rather than merit. I mean, how exactly would you determine merit? This guy crashed a lot less than that one? We all nearly always get every flight safely from A to B or abandon the flight if we deem it isn't safe.

I do not have a designated route that I fly. The jet is normally assigned to certain routes while the turboprop is designated for others. Since I fly the turboprop, I fly to all the cities served by that aircraft. The company publishes schedules, or "lines," each month. Pilots bid for the lines they want which are then awarded by seniority (here we go again!). Most of our trips are four days, laying over each night in a different city. That means I leave home each week on, say, Tuesday, and come back home on Friday. Even though most of our destinations aren't very far away, I still have to stay in a hotel--this accommodates late arrivals and early departures for those cities. We fly between one and eight "legs," or flights, each day--usually somewhere in the four to six range.

The company pays for our hotels and we earn an hourly "per diem" to help cover meals and tips while away from home. Captains complete recurrent training and "pro checks" (proficiency checks in the simulator) every six months, while FOs go every 12 months.

Before applying for a job at a "major" airline, a pilot must typically be a captain for a period of time at a regional airline to earn "PIC," or pilot in command time. Majors usually pay more than regionals, but as you can see, it's basically a waiting game on the seniority list to be able to move up. Even then, job availability fluctuates wildly with the economy and the state of the industry.

So next time you have a conversation with a pilot, you can avoid the pitfalls of the most commonly asked questions that drive us all nuts and can probe more deeply to fully satisfy your curiosity. Feel free to post questions here and I'll try to answer them!