Golden Argosy Part 5 - Postlude

By Tony Vallillo (21 August 2004)

It's been a real pleasure having you with us for the trip to Rome! Many of you have expressed interest in this series of articles and a number of you indicate an interest in a career as an airline pilot. I hope that the insights into our day-to-day routine will be useful. It is important to understand, however, that trips such as this one to Rome are usually very senior trips at an airline, like American, that has a large international division. A pilot for Southwest, at least for now, will not be flying a trip like this, nor a pilot for Jet Blue or any number of airlines whose focus is purely domestic. Nor, for that matter, will a junior pilot at American.

An airline career is always under the rule of the seniority system, and, all in all, this is a good thing. Seniority systems ensure that access to the more desirable jobs will be handled in accordance with a fixed protocol, and not at the whim of a chief pilot or flight manager. Seniority has also ensured, over the years, that the pilots of the largest airplanes are the most experienced on the property. Since experience does count for something in this business, this has also had a positive influence on air safety.

The more junior pilots at any airline, however, will be flying copilot or, until very recently, flight engineer, and not captain. They will likely be flying the smaller airplanes on shorter domestic runs, and not the long haul non-stop premium trips like JFK-Rome. Although I have no plans to inflict another series of articles upon you, it will be interesting to at least examine a typical "junior" trip. This example, one of a great many, is from the American Airlines Super 80 selections.

The day begins with an 05:00 sign-in at LGA for an 06:00 departure to ORD, which is a flight of around two hours twenty minutes gate to gate. After arriving at ORD at 07:19, you will change planes and leave ORD at 08:16 bound for SAT, arriving at 11:12 for a layover. You will have from around noon on to enjoy the sights and the fine Tex-Mex food, before retiring early (to bed, that is!) since wake-up will be around 04:45! Departure from SAT is 06:00 bound for DFW, known around American as the Master Base. Having perhaps dipped a wing to the company HQ on final approach to the north runways at DFW, you will arrive at around 07:05, and, after bidding the passengers farewell, you seek the next flight, which leaves DFW at 08:00 for ORD. Arrival at ORD will be 10:15 if all goes well, and after perhaps a quick bite to eat, you leave ORD at 12:59 bound for LGA and home, arriving around 16:00. During the two days, you will be fed onboard once each day, a breakfast on the first flight of the first day, and the second flight of the second day. Overall, the trip is worth around ten and a half hours of flight pay, which is enough to avoid triggering provisions in the contract requiring certain minimums of pay per duty period. If this were your trip as a schedule for the entire month, you would have to fly seven of them to get a more or less full month.

Domestic trips can be two days, like this one, or one day, which are known as turnarounds. A turnaround might be just two legs, like JFK-MIA-JFK, or it could be more, like LGA-ORD-IND-ORD-LGA. Then there are three and four day trips, which are more like the one described above with the addition of one or two more days of flying. Since American's system includes a considerable amount of fairly long domestic flights - well over an hour - the multi-day trips usually involve no more than three legs per duty period. On an airline with a shorter stage length system, like Southwest, a duty day may involve considerably more flying than just two legs, although probably not much more in terms of total hours.

Of course, a pilot does not have to wait until he or she has mostly grey hair to fly to places like Rome. These trips can be flown as First Officer or Relief Pilot much earlier in a career, and the fun factor is almost the same! Indeed, a few years ago new hires at AA were flying the international division to Europe as FO and FB, albeit not to Rome. But there are many other beautiful and interesting destinations - like Paris, Zurich, Brussels, Buenos Aires, Sao Paolo, London and so on, many of which are available to more junior pilots.

The airline pilot career has been changing rapidly, especially since 9/11, and it looks like it will continue to do so. Not all of the changes have been desirable. Many pilots have lost their jobs, at least temporarily, and there is still a possibility that at least one airline in the US will cease to operate. Does this mean that it is futile to pursue a career as an airline pilot? Of course not! But you must go about it with your eyes open. Be realistic as to the conditions and prospects for both employment and the quality of the job once you get it. Be sure your expectations are in line with the reality of the industry. One thing is certain - for a considerable time to come, and regardless of the price of oil, airplanes and airlines will be the principal mass transit system, especially in the United States. And, from a purely flying standpoint, it will probably still be enjoyable. It may not be quite as lucrative as it has been in the past, but it will remain a good living and a good way to make a living. So keep pursuing it if you want to. It should still be worth your efforts.

Now, for those of you who merely want to simulate this on your new Alien Ware hot rod, how best to go about it? The following is somewhat tongue in cheek, but would result in perhaps the most realistic simulacrum of the overall experience. Read on!

Begin by getting in your car around 1400 local time and driving for two hours, preferably mostly on an Interstate. End the drive back home, and proceed to your computer, where you will examine the weather and plan your flight. If you don't have access to navigation charts and such, simply use the general flight plans included in the GA articles. Try to fly this in an aircraft that has a functioning FMC, if possible. If the only such aircraft you have is of shorter range, such as a 737NG, use that anyway and disable the fuel burn if possible. It is probably a better overall simulation to use an FMC than to be slavish about actually burning fuel at a given rate. Of course, you could always challenge yourself with a fuel leak or the like, just to spice things up! But at least for the first time, keep the actual flying simple. The purpose of this exercise is to simulate the overall experience, especially the fatigue issues.

At around 17:30 local time (Eastern, if you are leaving from JFK) start your checklists. Promptly at 17:50 leave the gate and start engines. Taxi out to the active runway very slowly, taking at least 20 minutes to get to the takeoff position. If you have access to some sort of realistic ATC system, use it. If not, don't worry. Ditto the AI airplanes. After around 20-30 minutes out to off, takeoff and fly your flight plan as precisely as you can. Phone a friend with position reports at the mandatory oceanic waypoints. Use proper reporting format. At some point around 2-3 hours into the simulated flight, have your (spouse, parent, friend) prepare and serve a meal, perhaps a TV dinner or the like. Take only a two-hour break for a nap and make yourself get up for the remainder of the flight. Don't just let the autopilot do all of the work - pay attention every minute! Use real world weather for the arrival, and also for the enroute winds if possible. Fly the arrival and approach as precisely as possible. Once again, if an ATC service is available, use it. After landing, taxi to the gate and shut down. Wait about 5 minutes, then walk around the block to simulate going through the terminal to the van pick up point. Have your (spouse, parent, friend) drive you around for around 15-20 minutes, and then, back home, head for the sack.

Allow yourself to sleep around 3-4 hours, then wake up and eat and go for a long walk. If you live in a city that has a "little Italy", walk around there! Have a nice meal in a good Italian restaurant. Your next wake up will be at 0200 local time, so plan to get some more sleep prior to then. At that time, get up, shower and the rest, have yourself driven around for 15 minutes, and report to your computer for the flight home. Do all of the same things again, leaving the gate at 0400 local (eastern time, again). Taxi out and takeoff, and fly the trip home. Again, use ATC if available. Take around a 2.5-hour break on this leg. You may choose either the first, second or third break, as you wish. After all, you're the Captain!

When you park at the gate and shut down the computer, you're not done yet! Drive for another two hours. When you arrive back home, then you are finished! Mission accomplished! Still want to be an airline pilot?!

Anthony Vallillo
avallillo@charter.net