Comments on: What do pilots do during long flights?

Question: What do pilots do during long flights?

LongDrive — Mon, 25 Jul 2005 20:54:06 -0800

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

By: trevyn

trevyn — Mon, 25 Jul 2005 21:13:00 -0800

Program the computer, sleep, read, look out the window. The really long flights have double crews.

By: nathan_teske

nathan_teske — Mon, 25 Jul 2005 21:17:46 -0800

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.

By: blue mustard

blue mustard — Mon, 25 Jul 2005 21:20:50 -0800

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

By: loquax

loquax — Tue, 26 Jul 2005 00:40:29 -0800

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.

By: mattr

mattr — Tue, 26 Jul 2005 00:42:49 -0800

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."

By: rolypolyman

rolypolyman — Tue, 26 Jul 2005 05:25:48 -0800

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.

By: richmondparker

richmondparker — Tue, 26 Jul 2005 06:35:53 -0800

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.

By: phearlez

phearlez — Tue, 26 Jul 2005 09:09:12 -0800

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.