Waiting for the phone to ring...

[deadstick]

How do you pass the time?
What's your base like?
What amenities do you have there?

Also...
Is your schedule other than 7/7? What's your swap time?
Annual flight hours?
Which is shift is busier, days or nights?

I think that first question is one of the great challenges for people just starting in this sector. It'll make ya or break ya. I've heard of more than a few people only lasting a couple of hitches.

 

[Rudabega]

Playstation and really bad movies (Space Trucker Bruce bad)
A huge hanger with a small office, a theatre room and a twin bed. No oven.
Everything from a tower to a line guy to pull the plane.

4 on 4 off...ish
I blocked 88 hours last year, hoping to break triple digits this year.
Days without a doubt.

 

[A150K]

Well, I've been on for 4 days without a peep from dispatch (which is actually not the norm for my base), so I may be able to provide some insight....I work a 14/14 schedule out of a base that is not where I live. When I'm on day shifts (in my case 0400-1600), I briefly wake up at 0400, check my phone, take a look at WX and call dispatch to let them know I'm still alive and if nothing, I go back to bed for a few hours. At about 0800 if I still haven't been called, I head to the airport (my shop allows you to take call from home/crew house) and meet the other day pilot (0700-1900 guy) and we split up daily pre-flight/paperwork duties-my base is a 4 airplane base most weeks. That usually takes about 1 hour or so. After that, I typically head to the gym for about 1 hour then back to the crew house to either read or watch TV until I can't take it anymore.....Once 1600 hits, I generally try to get out for a bit..especially this time of year when it's nice out. Sometime I'll head home and check on my house since it's only a couple hours away from my base, but that's usually only once or twice per 2 week rotation. When I'm at work I generally stay in a shared crew house. Since my base consists of less commuters than guys who choose to live here, I either have it to myself or share with a random medic or something.

As for your other questions....I've flown about 140 hours so far this year....which is probably a little above EMS averages to be honest. I've covered 6 bases other than my own and there is generally much more downtime in those bases vs. my own. In one example up in Nevada, I flew 7 hours over the course of a 14 day rotation. Nights tend to be busier than days in my area of operation (Navajo nation), but for other bases that weren't IHS, it seemed to be more of a tossup.

 

[A150K]

Playstation and really bad movies (Space Trucker Bruce bad)
A huge hanger with a small office, a theatre room and a twin bed. No oven.
Everything from a tower to a line guy to pull the plane.

4 on 4 off...ish
I blocked 88 hours last year, hoping to break triple digits this year.
Days without a doubt.

You have it easy... Not only do I have to tug my plane in and out of the hangar at my non-towered field. I also have to fuel it myself

 

[MaxHOGE]

Netflix binges, Internet, workout, cook, eat....nap
We are 7/7 swapping at 7.
We are rotor based at a small hospital, base has individual rooms for pilot and crew, kitchen, living area, TV, computers etc. Couple of bathrooms.
The flights come and go, flew 7 flights out 7 days on last night shift, then flew 1 flight out of 7 days on the next hitch. Another crew had 4 flights in one 12 hour shift so it varies.

 

[SpiraMirabilis]

I read novels (usually sci-fi or fantasy), play video games or program/software design/electronics design for my side business/tax evasion strategy... usually I focus on ways that help me be lazier... for example, I created an app using twilio that automatically detects whether or not we're going to have a lead pilot conference call on Friday (based on my inbox), and then if we are 5 minutes prior to it it will call me on my phone and then connect me into the conference call and record the whole thing. If I don't answer it will call the conference call anyway, and use a pre-recorded MP3 of me saying something non-commital before going quiet and then forwarding me the recording after its done.

 

[Roger Roger]

for example, I created an app using twilio that automatically detects whether or not we're going to have a lead pilot conference call on Friday (based on my inbox), and then if we are 5 minutes prior to it it will call me on my phone and then connect me into the conference call and record the whole thing. If I don't answer it will call the conference call anyway, and use a pre-recorded MP3 of me saying something non-commital before going quiet and then forwarding me the recording after its done.

The hero we deserve.

 

[NickH]

I read novels (usually sci-fi or fantasy), play video games or program/software design/electronics design for my side business/tax evasion strategy... usually I focus on ways that help me be lazier... for example, I created an app using twilio that automatically detects whether or not we're going to have a lead pilot conference call on Friday (based on my inbox), and then if we are 5 minutes prior to it it will call me on my phone and then connect me into the conference call and record the whole thing. If I don't answer it will call the conference call anyway, and use a pre-recorded MP3 of me saying something non-commital before going quiet and then forwarding me the recording after its done.

I am in awe of the amount of effort you put in to being lazy...

 

[BigZ]

I am in awe of the amount of effort you put in to being lazy...

Personally I prefer the term "energy-efficient"

 

[SpiraMirabilis]

Yep, costs me maybe fifty cents a week.

I am in awe of the amount of effort you put in to being lazy...

I know someone who went a step futher and routed everything through AWS Lex (speech to text system) in order to make an alert if someone said his name, that way he could just day dream until then.