Sitting the Dream!

Sitting the dream!

Sitting the Dream!

The Real Life of an Airline Pilot

Sitting around my DFW crash pad this week while on Reserve, waiting for that call to fly to some exotic port unknown, I got to thinking:

The life of an airline pilot involves a LOT of…

Sitting.

In this post, we’ll briefly explore the exciting world of airline pilot…sitting!

BUT FIRST…

Congratulations to New Mommy & Daddy, JP & Heidi A!

On the birth of beautiful bouncing baby Lee Fitzpatrick!

And Now,

Sitting the Dream!

The Real Life of an Airline Pilot

We in the pilot biz have a bit of a standing joke. When asked, “How’s it going?” the standard reply is, “Living the dream!”

Of course, this is a somewhat facetious, if downright cynical, reply to our life in the skies.

While being an airline pilot may be the ultimate dream for many, the realities of any career, business, or dream, is rarely all rainbows and unicorns.

So, too, the flying biz.

But, I daresay, warts aside, it’s as close to that wonderful dream job as you’ll ever find!

That said, it’s kinda obvious that flying an airplane for a living involves a lot of sitting.

But, even more than that, there are other times when the airline pilot is not flying to exotic destinations, and is simply sitting around…

—Waiting

—or Studying

—or Testing

—or Jumpseating to/from Work

—or Prepping for a Flight

—or Writing a Report

Sitting the Dream!

The Early Days of a Pilot's Career

Back in “The Day,” when I first started flying for a living, I would spend hours on end waiting for a flight.

As a young pilot, I would do anything to build those precious flight hours, which was by far the most valuable experience when applying for an airline pilot job. I would spend hours waiting, just to get one hour of flying in.

Traditionally, Flight Instructing is the entry level job for a civilian pilot. However, you flew only when—and if—your student showed up. Often, you spent all day at the airport, just to fly 1 hour with one student in the morning, and another in the afternoon.

As a young charter pilot, I would spend the same hours waiting for my client to show up, do his or her business, and then fly them back home in my company’s Cessna 210.

In fact, one of my first real flying jobs other than flight instructing was chauffeuring BLM officials to different parts of the state of Arizona. Often, they would fly to, say, a Navajo Reservation location such as Window Rock, where I would sit in my plane at the dirt strip, or over at the nearby KFC, for the day.

All just to fly that 2-hour flight back to PHX.

I know what you’re thinking, “But Cap’n Aux, that’s BORRRRINNGGG!!!”

But, Oh! “Boring” is in the eye of the beholder! Boring is what you make—or don’t make—of it!

I LOVED my time sitting around for hours on end at Window Rock!

Recently graduated from ASU, I was still nuts about studying Japanese, so I would continue to devour my language books, studying grammar, Kanji and Hiragana. At Parker, AZ, I would walk down to the river and hang out for the day, tanning—the very place that’s a pilgrimage to Mecca for many college kids during Spring Break!

And, once, when I flew a client to GCN (Grand Canyon Airport), I even got to hitch a ride with him on a helicopter down to Havasupai Falls. While he met with leaders of the Supai tribe that lives at the bottom of the Canyon, I spent the day lounging in the gorgeous turquoise waters!

Now, how many people can say they did that?!

Sitting the Dream!

North to Alaska

Up in Juneau, Alaska, some of my longest workdays ever came while flying as a young bush pilot.

The summer sun would be up from 2am to 10pm, and I’ll be darned if your body wouldn’t even notice—you’d keep cranking out working and flying as the long hours melted away!

There was still lots of sitting around between flights there, but the promise of the next adventure always beckoned. I was NEVER EVER bored in that beautiful land of the Last Frontier!

And, yes, a piece of my heart still lives there!

Life as an Airline Pilot

While the scheduled airline pilot might spend more hours flying, and fewer hours sitting between flights, there’s still a LOT of sitting.

Sitting waiting for the phone to ring as a Reserve pilot;
Sitting between flights, sometimes up to several hours;
Sitting waiting for the weather to clear, or the mechanical issue to be fixed;
Sitting and studying your quarterly “Distance Learning” to keep current;
or studying for your annual/semi-annual (depending on the airline) “Recurrent” simulator training.

Above: Using the iPad to study and test on the many quarterly “Distance Learning” modules. This keeps the pilot fresh on procedures, rules, regs, SOPs, and abreast of the latest trends in technology and systems upgrades.

Sitting the Dream!

Cap'n Aux's Longest "Sit"

Once, while preparing for a flight from EWR (Newark) to LAS (Las Vegas), a very minor mechanical put us about 15 minutes late.

Unfortunately, that 15 minutes cost us 8 hours!

A very intense line of thunderstorms was slowly moving toward the airport from the west. Just after pushback, the airport issued a “Ground Stop.” Unfortunately, all gates were now occupied, and we had no choice but to sit on the ramp…

For 8…

Solid…

Hours!

All I could do was keep our passengers informed of the situation. They took it pretty well, knowing that there was nothing we could do about it.

Finally, the weather passed, and we were able to launch—with only 15 minutes to spare on our “drop dead” max duty time!

From that, I learned that you must keep your passengers candidly and honestly informed of the situation. Your honesty goes a long way to help smooth those ruffled feathers!

Although, I dearly wish that I had complied with a passenger’s request: a couple was on their way to get married in Vegas, and requested that I, as Captain, marry them right then and there!

Oh, how I wish I could have!!

Sitting the Dream!

Conclusion

As I’ve long said,

Life is an Adventure. Life in the Sky…Exponentially so!

So, is sitting around doing nothing boring? Only if you make it so!

With the advent of smart phones, no one has the excuse to be bored any more! So, scrap those old college language books (if you want to!) and seize the day—and the skies!