5 day trip

TheFlyingTurkey

TheFlyingTurkey

Fetus Worshiper
Ahh...the life of a reserve pilot!
Just got the call from scheduling...I get to start a 5 day trip tomorrow! :nana2:

I HATE 5 DAY TRIPS! :mad: Even if the first day is just a deadhead.
Hell, I hate 4 day trips. Nothing like flying 6 legs a day for 4 days straight! But I guess I have to "pay my dues". CRAP!:mad:

And the worst part is I have to fly with a Harrisburg crew...that means flying to Philly:( and New York:(.
 
This post shows how pilots always complain about everything. We dream of the airline job, and then complain once we get there. No offence man, but I'd take a 5day trip over instructing 5days.
 
Dude, you have no idea how brutal a 5-day trip is.

I don't care how much you're paid, or how glamorous and 'cool' it is to fly a plane for an airline, 5 day trips SUCK.
 
Shemsey said:
This post shows how pilots always complain about everything. We dream of the airline job, and then complain once we get there. No offence man, but I'd take a 5day trip over instructing 5days.
Click to expand...
You're 100% right. I shouldn't complain. I was in your exact same shoes this time last year.
But...it's been my experience that the airlines have taken all the joy, freedom, and fun out of flying. At least as a flight instructor you're home every night.
This is the reality of airline flying and I wanted to share that with anyone considering this as a career.:)
 
Our contract limits us to no more then 3 nights away from base at a time. Small benefit I guess. Shamsey, not to come down on you or anything, but Turkey is right. A five day trip is hell. It almost is a (uh oh, should I say it) safety issue at times.
 
TheFlyingTurkey said:
You're 100% right. I shouldn't complain. I was in your exact same shoes this time last year.
But...it's been my experience that the airlines have taken all the joy, freedom, and fun out of flying. At least as a flight instructor you're home every night.
This is the reality of airline flying and I wanted to share that with anyone considering this as a career.:)
Click to expand...


I am not in your shoes but I feel your pain man. 5 days away from home would get tiresome. Do you get any free time to enjoy the destinations that you fly to? Or is it drop off, turn around, take off and sleep for a few hours at the end of the day?

How many days do you get off after a 5 day trip if you don't mind me asking?
 
Shemsey said:
This post shows how pilots always complain about everything. We dream of the airline job, and then complain once we get there. No offence man, but I'd take a 5day trip over instructing 5days.
Click to expand...

Ahh, the grass isn't always greener my friend.

Four day trip requires at least three days of recovery time from dehydration, sleep deficits and at least helping to get your life back on track.

Being gone for five days? Oh man, I'd be in a belltower with a .22.
 
MQAAord said:
Dude, you have no idea how brutal a 5-day trip is.

I don't care how much you're paid, or how glamorous and 'cool' it is to fly a plane for an airline, 5 day trips SUCK.
Click to expand...

I have a 3 day trip starting tomorrow going into SNA. Meeting up with Chip Foose to look at some cars and then going golfing.

In two weeks I have 7 day trip to Florida. For that week, the boss is chartering a boat to tarpon fish. And we're also golfing a few rounds in the Naples area.

Yeah those long trips suck....:sarcasm:
 
SierraPilot123 said:
I am not in your shoes but I feel your pain man. 5 days away from home would get tiresome. Do you get any free time to enjoy the destinations that you fly to? Or is it drop off, turn around, take off and sleep for a few hours at the end of the day?

How many days do you get off after a 5 day trip if you don't mind me asking?
Click to expand...
At Piedmont they actually give you time to rest. Lets say I report at 13:00. I will fly between 4-6 legs, then be off duty around 22:00. Then it usually takes 30 minutes to get to the hotel. By the time I relax and unwind a little its after midnight before I get to bed.
Wake up the next day to mooch off the free breakfast (if there is one) then I'll have a couple of hours to kill before I report say around 13:00-14:00. Rinse, repeat.

Same thing with early (04:40) report times. Get done by 13:00-14:00, and you have the rest of the day to kill, until you report at 05:00-06:00 the next day. I really prefer the late report times.

After the trip your time off depends on a few things.

For one thing if you are a line holder, there are very few if any 5 day trips. Usually it's out-and-backs, 3-day, and 4-day trips. Then you usually have 2,3 or more days off. Line holders usually get 14-15 days off a month.

I am on reserve. So I start out with a 6 day stretch of reserve. They called me on my first day, for a 5 day trip. When I get done with that trip, I still have one more day of reserve. They could, if they needed to, call me to fly an out-and-back on that 6th day. Then I get 2 days off. On 6 off 2. We do get 4 days off in a row, once a month. I get 10 days off a month.

It may seem kind of confusing. When I am sitting in the hotel tomorrow, I'll post my schedule for next month.:)
 
I've been away from "home" for seven years.... consumed in my Undergrad, Graduate degree, and now Flight School! Aaaahhhhhh I miss Texas!
 
Amorris,

There are plenty of major airlines with trips lasting more than a dozen days!
 
World Airway's pilots are on duty for 14 days and then 7 off. Within those 14 they could be sitting anywhere in the world. We have had a crew stuck in Bishkek, Manas, Kyrsyzstan for 3 days. The arm pit of the world. You arent flying everyday but you are away from home.
 
Nah, knowing SouthernJets, they'd want to strap two CRJ's together with droptanks.
 
And expect you to make with enough fuel to divert to the Sudan or somewhere...

We have a flight right now doing TPE-ATL nonstop...
 
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