What do pilots do during long flights?

July 25, 2005 8:54 PM

What do pilots do in the cockpit during extremely long flights?

Its bad enough being in economy when you have plenty of distractions, but for 16-24 hour flights, like to and from Australia, what the hell do they do? Is there some sort of sofa or entertainment? Just wondering

posted by LongDrive to Travel & Transportation (8 answers total)

Program the computer, sleep, read, look out the window. The really long flights have double crews.
posted by trevyn at 9:13 PM on July 25, 2005

I'm pretty sure most long-haul flights (Sydney-LA, Newark-Hong Kong, Minneapolis-Manila) have two flight deck crews that work in shifts. That would alleviate at least some of the boredom.
posted by nathan_teske at 9:17 PM on July 25, 2005

On long flights there are usually two sets of pilots who operate in shifts. In between shifts, they relax. On long range planes there's typically a crew rest area where they can sleep (example).

Here is a thread on airliners.net that asked the same question
posted by blue mustard at 9:20 PM on July 25, 2005

In a little 16-seater plane on a short haul flight on which I could see right into the cockpit, I observed that the pilots mostly read Maxim magazine and giggled.
posted by loquax at 12:40 AM on July 26, 2005

I flew from the UK to the Carribean about 6/7 years ago, and cheekily asked if I could go and see the cockpit. Halfway through the flight, and after the kids had all been to 'see the pilot', I was allowed up there. Only to find the pilot sitting back reading the newspaper, with his feet on the side of the console.

Every 5 minutes while we chatted, he looked at one screen, and then at an oldschool map...that was it. I asked if it got boring, he said "yes, especially over the sea - but take off and landing more than make up for it."
posted by mattr at 12:42 AM on July 26, 2005

On some of the NTSB crash reports involving landing accidents, the voice recorder transcripts go back 30 minutes... interesting to read the stuff they talk about to kill time.
posted by rolypolyman at 5:25 AM on July 26, 2005

Don't know whether you're talking about airline pilots or private pilots. As a private pilot (small planes), I can tell you that there's almost always something to keep your attention focused. In fact, I've found that I enjoy the trips I take a LOT more if I figure in regular stops along the way to relieve the mental stress. Flying a plane without anyone else to take some of the burden off of you is VERY draining.
posted by richmondparker at 6:35 AM on July 26, 2005

Given the context of the question I assumed commercial. If you're interested in the life of a commercial pilot I highly recommend Patrick Smith's Ask The Pilot collection and his ongoing column in Salon that the book pulls from.

RichmondParker makes a good point that the difference between the two is night and say. Most hobbyist pilots fly under Visual Flight Rules and at an altitude much lower than commercial airliners. Additionally they don't have the bazillion anti-collision gadgets the commercial airliners do so they have to constantly be on the lookout for other small planes.
posted by phearlez at 9:09 AM on July 26, 2005