I work for a part 135 FedEx feeder (Baron Aviation.). My day starts at 1750 PM local time (2350Z), I untie and preflight my mighty Cessna Caravan (10min) then go inside the FBO and watch Top Gear for 30 minutes until the couriers show up with the packages. They hand me the manifest and hazmat paperwork and go to the plane and start loading. I review the paperwork, sign it and supervise their loading of the plane from inside while Top Gear finishes. I also do my W&B during this time. When it looks like they're about done I go outside, hand them one copy of the paperwork and keep the other. I glance inside the cargo compartment and make sure they tied the freight down properly, close the door and blast off. After a 1.0 block flight (flown mostly on autopilot, direct from the 530W, and using satellite weather and radar to avoid any thunderstorms) I land in Lubbock, tie my airplane down and walk away. I hand my copy of the manifest to the FedEx people in Lubbock. I call my company and give them the times I entered in the airplane logbook and any invoice numbers if I purchased fuel, oil or services that day. I get in a company provided car and drive to a company provided apartment. I get in my room at about 0210Z and have a showtime of 1030Z, so most of the time I do not have enough time to go off duty overnight, but I do get an average of 7 hours of sleep anyway while "on duty." When I get to the airport in the morning I have a cup of coffee and wait for the Airbus to get there from Memphis. It is due to arrive at 1030Z every day, and lately it has been on time but during winter or other weird situations we have waited quite a while for it. The freight for my plane arrives pre-sorted mostly in it's own AKE can(s) right off the airbus. However I am the third caravan to be loaded in the morning so there is plenty of time to BS with the other feeder pilots in the lounge. About after 15-20 minutes after I hear the jet come in I walk out to my plane and untie it and open the cargo door for the belt loader if they haven't already done that for me. I supervise the loading of the plane, sign the paperwork and am marshaled out of the FedEx ramp about 1135Z for an arrival time back home of about 1235Z, after I pull in the FedEx couriers are usually waiting for me. I tie the airplane back down, hand them the manifest and any hazmat paperwork, go inside the FBO and call in my times for the morning flight. Then I drive home and usually arrive in time to get some snuggling in before my GF gets up for work, getting in my home at about 1300Z. I usually take a nap in the morning but more hardcore people are known to just tough it out and work a separate job or take care of kids, but I usually take a nap then wake up and play video games or read novels.
We have two runs where I am based. One of the runs is 4 days a week(Mon PM to Fri AM) and one is 5 (Mon PM to Sat AM) and the two pilots alternate weekly so every other week I get a "long" weekend.
I'm paid a starting salary of $38,500/yr and the company pays 100% of my health insurance. The QOL is nice primarily because I only "work" about 4 hours a day and don't have to touch any of the packages, in fact we're not really allowed to touch them. I used to work for a UPS feeder and I was going to have a blown back by the time I was 28 if I kept having to load that plane every day.
Radios dont work, squawk em. They dont fix it, squawk it again with the magic words "repeat squawk, see #7-3 (or whatever)" mx cant get away with not fixing stuff around here. seriously. its a big deal if you cant hear ATC very well, especially in a single pilot operation. Dont be afraid to throw your weight around with mx out there, I know I had to a couple times. Other bases are better.
