Does time pass by fast as an Airline pilot?

Pilots are the fastest traveling humans, and closest to the speed of light. Time expands the faster you travel, so airline pilots should age slower than other humans. Time should go by slower for a pilot, but when one looks to the people around them, family, things will have changed faster than expected. Hence the perception that pilots have that time flies by (while they remain young (at heart)).

Another way to put this, from my own perspective and my 9-5 (kinda) job, time does go by slow for me. I mean, the time before I'm seated in the cockpit of an airliner. I have the flight hours, but family obligations keep me from being gone days at a time. Maybe someday. Until then, I instruct part time and enjoy looking down at the previously mentioned traffic. But then I have to land and join in the crowd.

OK, ramblings over.
 
JordanD said:
Crazy to see how many of the airplane spotter nerds (myself included) that I got to know way back in the day are now flying heavy metal.
Click to expand...

Minus one plane spotter nerd friend. @ChasenSFO come get over to the airlines already!

I remember back when we all hung out once chasing airplanes like a bunch of nerds that we were. Hard to believe that was almost 10 years ago!

Life does seem to go by faster as a pilot. Feels like only yesterday I was on IOE!
 
Radu38J said:
Pilots are the fastest traveling humans, and closest to the speed of light. Time expands the faster you travel, so airline pilots should age slower than other humans. Time should go by slower for a pilot, but when one looks to the people around them, family, things will have changed faster than expected. Hence the perception that pilots have that time flies by (while they remain young (at heart)).
Click to expand...
Ah yes, the couple hundred nanoseconds per circumnavigation.
Some pretty famous physicists did the experiment. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hafele–Keating_experiment
 
inspiringpilot96 said:
Does time literally fly by when you have a career as a pilot? This is a simple question so this thread won't be long but I'm wondering if life seems to go by fast when you are a pilot?
Click to expand...

I was hired "last week," flew for 25 years and feel like I retired yesterday although in reality that was 9 years ago. It has gone that fast.

You know what really made it go fast? Waiting for the new schedules to come out each month.

I just saw Cherokee posted this and he is so right!

Plus, as pilots we live one month in advance. By November 1st, bidding opens for December, schedule out by the 10th, and then you try to make changes 12-15th. So half the current month is spent planning next month. So November has just started on the 1st, but I’m full in December mode.

Enjoy the ride.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top