In the words of a retired station manager at LGA: "They take off, they do their paperwork, they eat, they read the Wall Street Journal, and then they spend the ENTIRE rest of the flight talking about how management is running the airline into the ground."
Yes, it's a pity pilots however well paid they are, are not part of top management. The CEO who is not the pilot heads the management together with the Boards who made the management decisions on running the Airline. A real pity really. Edit : Top Management.
@@bahardin3992 They absolutely are part of management. Chief/Deputy Chief pilot, base captains and flight ops are all part of management. In terms of contracts, most civilised airlines in reasonable countries have unions to negotiate on behalf of the pilot body - usually to mixed results.
@@asarsealex Not TOP or Upper Tier Management - CEO, COO, MD , BoD or even Chairman/ President. They are still considered as employee - salaried worker, paid employee. If they ever make it to top mgm, they will not be flying full time anymore.
I am very proud of my son -- captain on 737. His life was changed at age 10 years -- we were in route to Mazatlan, Mexico for Christmas 1997. This was before 911 terror attacks. The pilot heard my son wanted to be a pilot and we were invited into cockpit while flying over the Chihuahua, Mexico. My son was so moved by the experience, it altered the course of his life. He became serious about math & physics. He graduated Embry - Riddle university and now loves his work.
I spent a lot of time in the cockpit during the 80s and 90s on holiday flights. Loved it up there and I wanted to be a pilot so much! I never became a pilot but I did become a flight attendant for just under 10 years. My favourite place was still the flight deck 😂 any chance of a flight deck seat for take off or landing - I was there!
The more I learn about the airline industry, the more I'm amazed at what humans are capable of. It's easy to feel down, and feel like we're living in a bad time. In reality, we're better off than we have EVER been. Life is a gift. Just putting so positivity out there. :)
Don’t forget “space invaders” - each pilot picks a radio beacon somewhere on the map display, off the route. Then you take turns entering a radial and range from your chosen beacon… first one to ‘hit’ the aircraft symbol with the paint of the range and radial wins…
@@MamacitaBonita anyone that can keep folks 5klm up in the air in a metal tube & return them saftey to the ground ' not only get my total respect but also my gratitude.
Some crew in the US over their destination and for another hour before they realised and got in contact wuth ATC. The whole time ATC was trying to contact them and nearly scrambled jets to intercept 😂😂
All these complex procedures that has been mentioned take only 5% of the time in cruise. With experience these task can be performed in a very quick manner and the rest of the time it's just about monitoring that the airplane is doing what the pilots intents it to do. For the remaining of the time, while chatting is common, more times than not it's extremely hard to keep a conversation for that long resulting in finding other ways to spend the time. Reading books/newspaper/doing crossworks can be either allowed or not depending on individual company policies. On the other hand, most airlines won't allow the use of personal electronic devices (PEDs) but that does not stop pilots from using them anyways. Watching movies and tv series, listening to music/podcast, playing games on a phone/tablet and sleeping (one at the time) are very common practices (the last one is actually allowed by the airlines with limitations on time and phase of flight but these rules too are often breached in one fashion or the other)
My youngest son pilots the biggest cargo plane made and when he checks in to say "hi" to his Mom I never know where the call will be coming from. This recent Christmas it was Hong Kong. Enjoyed this video. Helps me to admire pilot skills even more.
Over 15 or 16 hours three relief pilots. Once at SFO several years ago I saw six of them (two capt, two FO, and two SO) on an Air China flight SFO-PEK which was operated by a 748. I think that rule applies even for international carriers flying to/from the USA.
11 หลายเดือนก่อน +3
That's because you are flying Boeings, you need more pilots and if possible also en engineer and awelder to make it safe.
I think it depends on the company, but 8h is hard enough, so going beyond that is very difficult. It's easy to just start glazing over and then quickly miss things.
I learned this now. I thought pilot On a good weather put the autopilot and if one pilot chooses to sleep the other pilot takes over and take turns so there is no need to fly with more than 2 pilots
The crew also don't eat the same meals as the passengers. Some airlines also require the pilots to select different menu options to reduce the risk of being incapacitated by stomach issues. If one pilot has the chicken and gets the shits or starts puking, the other pilot who had the beef will hopefully be fine.
Great video! Monitoring fuel burn, keeping up with destination and alternate airport weather are a real concern on some flights. The crew must keep a constant awareness of their nearest divert field in the case of a serious emergency and where they are relative to the equal time points on trans-oceanic flights.
The equal time point can easily be input into the Flight Management System. You go one way or another depending if you have passed the ETP or not and have hours to prepare your diversion. Monitoring fuel burn is not an intensive task either.
@@PogU If it's that simple you're not thinking about it enough. On a transoceanic flight the ETP may be between Gander, Newfoundland and Shannon Ireland, but there's more to it. ETP is mostly about shutting down an engine and deciding to turn around or press on. You should be aware of the time to other divert airports along the way. Greenland, Iceland, the Azores may be the best bet if a sudden life-threatening medical emergency happens, or the duration of flight is threatened by a mechanical failure. If all's good it passes by with little effort; if the divert fields have tough or rapidly changing weather you should keep up with it and know the approach minimums. Our airline also provided us with estimated travel time to the nearest hospital for emergency airfields. What's the point in landing at ABC when the weather is too bad for a helicopter med-evac and it's a 30 minute drive to the hospital when you could land at XYZ 10 minutes later but the hospital is 5 minutes away? You can fly an entire career and never need to do this but being ready is part of the drill.
Thanks for this. I always wondered about it. I imagined they have secret bunk beds where they can have a nap mid-flight, but apparently that is not that common. It is a difficult job with long hours, weird times, I wonder if pilots are generally stressed or happy…
The bunk beds are not secret; they are just not accessible to passengers. Pretty much the same difference with long-haul trucking. I wonder if it is the case with long-haul trains. I mean trucks and trains can or must stop along the way to rest, relief and restore. Aircraft, not so much unless a stop is required or forced.
Bunks are almost always present on widebody aircraft. Be kind to the cabin crew, and they may let you see it after landing if you’re nice and visit with them during the flight.
Naps in the crew bunk are absolutely common on long haul flights over 8 hours. The airline will schedule 1 or 2 extra pilots on the flight just for that purpose. Being able to sleep when your nap time (typically 3 hours) comes is important to enjoying international flying. Getting good sleep at the layover hotel, even when jet-lagged, is also crucial. Pilots that struggle with sleeping, either on the plane or at the hotel, will often bid short haul flying just to avoid it.
@@acasualviewer5861 Captain: "What are you playing?" First Officer, holding a Switch: "Oh, Ace Combat 7." Game: "Hold L2 and R2 to perform a High-G turn." Captain: "..."
Or, popular with Aeroflot is doing the same with Ukrainians who downed a civilian Russian airliner over the Black Sea in early 2000s, denied it for a year backed by their good friends the US, finally, they admitted it, and their president said, “hey, mistakes happen, get over it”…or the US doing the same with the Iranian airliner…
@@stephenebert6820 What are you even on about? It was Russia that was insistent that flight 1812 was brought down by a terrorist attack while the U.S was one of the first parties to raise concerns that it was shot down by a Ukrainian S-200 during a joint Russian-Ukrainian missile exercise. There's mountains of quotes even from Putin himself disparaging the notion of a shoot down from the time period too.
Being a long haul pilot is one job I would love to do, but would not be able to do. I think the hardest part of the job is getting enough rest. For flights from USA to Europe, the pilot has to sleep during the day, then fly a redeye. But upon return to the USA, they sleep during the night, then takeoff around noon. It wouldn't surprise me at all if there's many pilots that find themselves unable to sleep during the day, but do the the 10 hour flight anyway.
Eating and sleeping that’s all they do and cabin crew are the one working so hard always on their feet but still all the money is given to pilots for just sitting
Thank you for posting. I didn't know all the details of what pilot do on long-haul. But, its cool. especially since I am in pursuit of becoming a pilot myself. My goal is to become a C.F.I first with all rating, then if possible become a first officer for an regional airline. That would be very cool. Especially coming from past. I was scared of height as a child. "God, always has a master plan for your life".
I rode on a Skyhawk with one of my pilot friends on a trip to an amusement park. When we reached the cruise altitude, we ate snacks, he told me about some of the basic aspects of flying, and for whatever reason, we looked for baseball fields. Like we got way too excited when we saw baseball fields and golf courses during the flight.
One of the most challenging jobs ever, involving many skills , who many know little of.Kudos to all airline pilots .you deserve your salary and recognition.
When the AF447 CVR was recovered and someone leaked the whole transcript in a French book, people were complaining that the crew appeared to be listening to music, joking around and reading magazines at cruise. That's actually perfectly normal and many long haul pilots do it.
Two more important info: they have topáveis-vos differents meals ( Pilots and Captain) in case one is home bad and, when we have only 2 Pilots and one want to exit for a short time, one of the Cabin free hás to stay in the Cockpit ( this after the pilot locked out the Captain and crushed the plane on a mountain....and now the Health center is also obliged to send to the airline Company the results of the periodically check )Health )
I often wondered what pilots do after they " level off " and cruising. It seems, however, that most have more time at hand than work to be done. I do not intend to take away anything from their job and always respect a pilot for their skills and competences.
One day when we were landing, the pilot kept on saying 'in case of emergency landing' which spooked the heck out of me. Seems that there was heavy rain outside, and they landed with a thud.
Did the Everest Basecamp Trek. Flew into Lukla Airport at an altitude of 2800m. Runaway just 400m long. The most skilful pilots stearing the plane inbetween mountains to land on an inclined runaway. Was just awesome to see and very scary as well. 😅
I think this is only for concentraton-demanding tasks such as takeoff, descent and taxi. There were some fatal incidents which involved pilots talking to flight attendants forgetting to put down the flaps before takeoff...
ULH flights will have a rest area for the crew. Some areas are located above the passengers while some are located under. Look them up on youtube, I was very surprised seeing them.
Pretty accurate if somewhat simplified. In my airline though there was no reading and no video games with thexceptioon that, enroute, reading of aircraft and company manuals was permitted. There was certainly smalltalk enroute. I don't recall any flight being boring. ... retired Captain on overseas flights.
On way to anc at night. First officer went to bathroom, I went into fd, captain was snoring. I was crew. No biggie. First office wasent gone long. Plane was on autopilot
Flight attendants can’t just go into the flight deck these days. They either need to be permitted entry by the pilots, or use an emergency entry code. Attempting to use that code will set off a particularly loud alarm in the flight deck. Nobody is sleeping through that!
Between mid air refueling, tracking our oceanic progress, and our flight engineer moving fuel if need be, lots of Monopoly Deal on the center console! I’m usually pretty ruthless at that game.
I knew vaguely of the things that pilots had to do during long flights. But this video “filled in the blanks” for me. Very informative video. Thank you.
@@budguy21 doesn’t mean that airport is the most suitable for an emergency landing. Does it have sufficient emergency equipment? Does it have a nearby hospital? Does it have long enough runways for an overweight aircraft? Is the weather good or bad? All these can factor in depending on how severe the emergency is.
@@budguy21 or you can think ahead and plan for which is the best suitable airport and create a secondary flight plan knowing the runway will be long enough. Then if an emergency does arise you already know where you’re going to go and can activate the back up flight plan
I dated a flight attendant for Cathay Pacific. She would always tell me that many pilots would ask her to sleep with them when they got to their hotels.
you know, i have been flying on a 777-300er in a flight sim at home, and I have no heck of an idea how hard it is not to get out of your seats! i wanna be a pilot when I grow up. but it seems kind of intimidating
They can be unlocked from the inside. They can also be unlocked from the outside if you type in the correct code and the pilot inside the cockpit then flicks the switch.
Many years ago when passengers were allowed onto the flight deck I was allowed to stay until the plane landed. A local college held a weekly evening class so people could get an understanding of ATC. The person running the course obtained the charts pilots use on the flight deck. When I showed the captain these he said pull out the seat behind and you’re welcome to stay.
Done correctly, there is a quite a lot going on during long flights. Done lazily, with complacency, boredom can tempt pilots into missing critical safety threats. Position checks, weather checks, equipment checks, fuel log checks etc. What I found is pacing these tasks is critical. If the pacing is stretched out, and tasks done a leisurely, it greatly cuts down on boredom and the temptation to nap on the flight deck or get engrossed in phone-games degrading safety. Every hour, fuel/position/weather checks must be carried out, if done very fast it makes the next 55 minutes very boring, leading to a reduced level of alertness. I pace my duties out so that there is never more than 15 minutes of "nothing to do". Some pilots at the checkpoints get them done in 5 minutes, and have a very boring next 55. There are many examples of pilots not paying attention on long-haul flights that caused accidents, and even events running out of fuel. Staying alert and "in the game" takes conscious effort to not be distracted or bored to the point of safety degrading.
I think about the Air France flight from South America to Paris that ran into issues with weather, instrumentation and pilot error that I always wondered if could have been handled with better alertness and awareness in the middle of the night.
@@noobnoob6490 I would hate to fly with you. I do exactly what Dcxplant is mentioning, and if you're just going to hit the Autopilot and forget about the plane than you probably shouldn't be flying.
I knew I’m two pilots who passed the time by being on their iPads by doing this. They miss their white point for descent and completely lost touch with ground control. When asked why are you where you are they never answered only to reveal later that they were on their iPads as you can tell they’re no longer pilots anymore they are now doing janitorial work at local schools and doing their night shift at Walmart to pay for the ridiculous fines they got and deserved
Even on a longhaul flight...when you haven´t done anything flying-related for longer than 10 minutes, you can almost be certain that you have messed up something.
So, they are not doing the Monty Python thing when they try to annoy passengers by announcing that this is not an emergency and there's nothing to worry about.
A common topic of discussion on my flightdeck is related to how the aircraft functions. When I was in college I was working as an aircraft mechanic which means that I am familiar with a lot of the really intricate and technical aspects that pilots generally don't need to know much about. So if my first officer wants to learn a bit, more then happy to describe something for them. Other then that, between scanning the instruments, observing weather patterns, filling out paperwork and communicating with ATC, we talk about just about anything up there. Except politics or religion!
In the words of a retired station manager at LGA: "They take off, they do their paperwork, they eat, they read the Wall Street Journal, and then they spend the ENTIRE rest of the flight talking about how management is running the airline into the ground."
Don’t forget discussing what they will do after the flight😹
Yes, it's a pity pilots however well paid they are, are not part of top management. The CEO who is not the pilot heads the management together with the Boards who made the management decisions on running the Airline.
A real pity really.
Edit : Top Management.
@@bahardin3992 They absolutely are part of management. Chief/Deputy Chief pilot, base captains and flight ops are all part of management. In terms of contracts, most civilised airlines in reasonable countries have unions to negotiate on behalf of the pilot body - usually to mixed results.
@@asarsealex Not TOP or Upper Tier Management - CEO, COO, MD , BoD or even Chairman/ President. They are still considered as employee - salaried worker, paid employee.
If they ever make it to top mgm, they will not be flying full time anymore.
@@bahardin3992 hey bahar! Are you Persian?
I am very proud of my son -- captain on 737. His life was changed at age 10 years -- we were in route to Mazatlan, Mexico for Christmas 1997. This was before 911 terror attacks. The pilot heard my son wanted to be a pilot and we were invited into cockpit while flying over the Chihuahua, Mexico. My son was so moved by the experience, it altered the course of his life. He became serious about math & physics. He graduated Embry - Riddle university and now loves his work.
Me too, mine is a first officer on 737s, after nine years flying navy helicopters.
That is great.
I spent a lot of time in the cockpit during the 80s and 90s on holiday flights. Loved it up there and I wanted to be a pilot so much! I never became a pilot but I did become a flight attendant for just under 10 years.
My favourite place was still the flight deck 😂 any chance of a flight deck seat for take off or landing - I was there!
And of course, you can always fly a kite, the simpler pleasures of life.
The more I learn about the airline industry, the more I'm amazed at what humans are capable of. It's easy to feel down, and feel like we're living in a bad time. In reality, we're better off than we have EVER been. Life is a gift.
Just putting so positivity out there. :)
You hit home with this one.
Matthew McClain? Wouldn’t happen to live in Peachtree City Ga would you?
@@madmikemackas no, Ohio. It's a fairly common name. I know a couple others
@@matthewmcclain1316 yeah but Matthew W Macclain?!? Weird
@@madmikemackas no, not W
Don’t forget “space invaders” - each pilot picks a radio beacon somewhere on the map display, off the route. Then you take turns entering a radial and range from your chosen beacon… first one to ‘hit’ the aircraft symbol with the paint of the range and radial wins…
Lol
I didn’t understand. What does beacon, radial, and range mean in French ?
@@sebastiencolomb2271 Range is distance and radial is direction
And "The travelling lemon" and word games, mostly...from what I've gathered.
@ Been listening to Cabin Pressure? Definitely a BA source feeding John Finnemore…
Sounds fairly straightforward. Big respect to all airline pilots.
What about the flight dispatchers?
@@MamacitaBonita anyone that can keep folks 5klm up in the air in a metal tube & return them saftey to the ground ' not only get my total respect but also my gratitude.
@@MamacitaBonitathey also deserve praise
Airline pilot here. Thank you very much! 😊
@@MamacitaBonitawhat about them
Just make sure not to discuss airline pilot scheduling and get so engrossed in the discussion such that you fly past your destination airport
Has that happened lol😂😂
@@beretboi it does
Are you speaking from experience?🙃
@@beretboi yes unfortunately. mentour pilot has done a video on it
Some crew in the US over their destination and for another hour before they realised and got in contact wuth ATC. The whole time ATC was trying to contact them and nearly scrambled jets to intercept 😂😂
All these complex procedures that has been mentioned take only 5% of the time in cruise. With experience these task can be performed in a very quick manner and the rest of the time it's just about monitoring that the airplane is doing what the pilots intents it to do. For the remaining of the time, while chatting is common, more times than not it's extremely hard to keep a conversation for that long resulting in finding other ways to spend the time. Reading books/newspaper/doing crossworks can be either allowed or not depending on individual company policies. On the other hand, most airlines won't allow the use of personal electronic devices (PEDs) but that does not stop pilots from using them anyways. Watching movies and tv series, listening to music/podcast, playing games on a phone/tablet and sleeping (one at the time) are very common practices (the last one is actually allowed by the airlines with limitations on time and phase of flight but these rules too are often breached in one fashion or the other)
Wait since when did they allow smartphone games?
@@bigmungus4864 more times than not, they are not. Any personal electronic device is not allowed to be used during flight, for most companies.
You seem to be no cockpit crew member.
@@johannesfabender9 what I am or am not is not important. This is how it works in most companies
They are definetely watching movies and/or sleeping.
My youngest son pilots the biggest cargo plane made and when he checks in to say "hi" to his Mom I never know where the call will be coming from. This recent Christmas it was Hong Kong. Enjoyed this video. Helps me to admire pilot skills even more.
God bless all the pilots in the world. Please keep up the good work. Thank you.
Thank you for your Prayers 🙏🙏🙏
The French Pilots even engages in some physical combat in the cockpit during cruise flight.
😂😂😂😂
Arguing whether putting the engines to idle will correct a wing stall condition as they did on flt 447 that dropped into the Atlantic.
Or they are planning for the next time to go on strike
They are French…at least one of them is running away
thats more like what brit pilots would do
Actually anything over 8 hours in the USA is required to have a relief pilot. Over 12 hours two relief pilots.
yup, USA rules are much more stringent than European
Over 15 or 16 hours three relief pilots. Once at SFO several years ago I saw six of them (two capt, two FO, and two SO) on an Air China flight SFO-PEK which was operated by a 748.
I think that rule applies even for international carriers flying to/from the USA.
That's because you are flying Boeings, you need more pilots and if possible also en engineer and awelder to make it safe.
I think it depends on the company, but 8h is hard enough, so going beyond that is very difficult. It's easy to just start glazing over and then quickly miss things.
I learned this now. I thought pilot
On a good weather put the autopilot and if one pilot chooses to sleep the other pilot takes over and take turns so there is no need to fly with more than 2 pilots
On our aircraft we play ping pong across the centre console. Sometimes we play eyespy but it’s more limited at night.
Eyespy the Atlantic Ocean... 😂
“I spy something that looks like a horse.”
“A cloud that looks like a horse!”
“Correct!”
The crew also don't eat the same meals as the passengers. Some airlines also require the pilots to select different menu options to reduce the risk of being incapacitated by stomach issues. If one pilot has the chicken and gets the shits or starts puking, the other pilot who had the beef will hopefully be fine.
I see they watched Airplane
I watched this out of curiousity and am grateful for what you do.
Great video! Monitoring fuel burn, keeping up with destination and alternate airport weather are a real concern on some flights. The crew must keep a constant awareness of their nearest divert field in the case of a serious emergency and where they are relative to the equal time points on trans-oceanic flights.
The equal time point can easily be input into the Flight Management System. You go one way or another depending if you have passed the ETP or not and have hours to prepare your diversion. Monitoring fuel burn is not an intensive task either.
@@PogU Shut up
@@PogU If it's that simple you're not thinking about it enough. On a transoceanic flight the ETP may be between Gander, Newfoundland and Shannon Ireland, but there's more to it. ETP is mostly about shutting down an engine and deciding to turn around or press on. You should be aware of the time to other divert airports along the way. Greenland, Iceland, the Azores may be the best bet if a sudden life-threatening medical emergency happens, or the duration of flight is threatened by a mechanical failure. If all's good it passes by with little effort; if the divert fields have tough or rapidly changing weather you should keep up with it and know the approach minimums. Our airline also provided us with estimated travel time to the nearest hospital for emergency airfields. What's the point in landing at ABC when the weather is too bad for a helicopter med-evac and it's a 30 minute drive to the hospital when you could land at XYZ 10 minutes later but the hospital is 5 minutes away? You can fly an entire career and never need to do this but being ready is part of the drill.
Perfect, especially the last part.
@@gerardmoran9560it’s called ETOPS
Thanks for this. I always wondered about it. I imagined they have secret bunk beds where they can have a nap mid-flight, but apparently that is not that common. It is a difficult job with long hours, weird times, I wonder if pilots are generally stressed or happy…
The bunk beds are not secret; they are just not accessible to passengers. Pretty much the same difference with long-haul trucking. I wonder if it is the case with long-haul trains. I mean trucks and trains can or must stop along the way to rest, relief and restore. Aircraft, not so much unless a stop is required or forced.
It is very hard to become a pilot. Pretty much everyone who becomes one does it out of passion, and is most likely happy with their job.
Bunks are almost always present on widebody aircraft.
Be kind to the cabin crew, and they may let you see it after landing if you’re nice and visit with them during the flight.
Naps in the crew bunk are absolutely common on long haul flights over 8 hours. The airline will schedule 1 or 2 extra pilots on the flight just for that purpose. Being able to sleep when your nap time (typically 3 hours) comes is important to enjoying international flying. Getting good sleep at the layover hotel, even when jet-lagged, is also crucial. Pilots that struggle with sleeping, either on the plane or at the hotel, will often bid short haul flying just to avoid it.
@@roccogordon69they are happy with their pay checks
On short legs, it can actually be quite busy. If it's over 2 hours, Angry Birds is still popular in the airline world
Angry Birds is not a good example for pilots. We don't want them intentionally crashing into things.
@@acasualviewer5861
Captain: "What are you playing?"
First Officer, holding a Switch: "Oh, Ace Combat 7."
Game: "Hold L2 and R2 to perform a High-G turn."
Captain: "..."
@@McCaroni_Supis Ace Combat really on the Switch??
I’m particularly impressed by the quality of check marks shown at 2:18. I’m quite easily pleased.
Those are some exemplary check marks ngl
"Making sure that you are on course so that you don't get shot down by the Russians" is popular with Korean Air
Or, popular with Aeroflot is doing the same with Ukrainians who downed a civilian Russian airliner over the Black Sea in early 2000s, denied it for a year backed by their good friends the US, finally, they admitted it, and their president said, “hey, mistakes happen, get over it”…or the US doing the same with the Iranian airliner…
Ouch.
@@stephenebert6820 What are you even on about? It was Russia that was insistent that flight 1812 was brought down by a terrorist attack while the U.S was one of the first parties to raise concerns that it was shot down by a Ukrainian S-200 during a joint Russian-Ukrainian missile exercise.
There's mountains of quotes even from Putin himself disparaging the notion of a shoot down from the time period too.
007
@@stephenebert6820 Aeroflot crashes anyway, they don't need outside help. Do the research.
Wow this is very informative. Thanks for the video!
Thank you for watching, be sure to tune in again! 😊✈️
Sometimes they'll get bored and do some barrel rolls and nosedives and call it 'turbulence'
Throw on some Highway To the Danger Zone in your earbuds. Yell about Maverick not pulling his weight.
Being a long haul pilot is one job I would love to do, but would not be able to do. I think the hardest part of the job is getting enough rest. For flights from USA to Europe, the pilot has to sleep during the day, then fly a redeye. But upon return to the USA, they sleep during the night, then takeoff around noon. It wouldn't surprise me at all if there's many pilots that find themselves unable to sleep during the day, but do the the 10 hour flight anyway.
Just flew from dubai to london Heathrow this morning on a British airways a380. Always wonder what the pilots are doing when we cruising at 39000 feet
Are BA still sending a380s to DXB?
@@firewaffle1 Yup
Playing candy crush
Sleeping, or practising handstands
Eating and sleeping that’s all they do and cabin crew are the one working so hard always on their feet but still all the money is given to pilots for just sitting
Thank you for posting. I didn't know all the details of what pilot do on long-haul. But, its cool. especially since I am in pursuit of becoming a pilot myself. My goal is to become a C.F.I first with all rating, then if possible become a first officer for an regional airline. That would be very cool. Especially coming from past. I was scared of height as a child. "God, always has a master plan for your life".
Good luck my guy! Work hard for it and get going!!!
@@PedroThePortuguesePilot thank you!!!
The funniest or weirdest thing I Image a pilot could do, is playing flight simulator games mid air xD
I rode on a Skyhawk with one of my pilot friends on a trip to an amusement park. When we reached the cruise altitude, we ate snacks, he told me about some of the basic aspects of flying, and for whatever reason, we looked for baseball fields. Like we got way too excited when we saw baseball fields and golf courses during the flight.
Let's support this amazing channel!
I never forget how excited I was just looking people flying from Istanbul to London. While I was flying from Istanbul to Kosova without visa.
Spotting ufos
Yes lol
Lol
yes.
Yep
The best way to pass the time is to concentrate on staying ahead of the aircraft.
The computers do all of that
Staying ahead of the aircraft is something usually said for when the plane is below 10,000 feet
One of the most challenging jobs ever, involving many skills , who many know little of.Kudos to all airline pilots .you deserve your salary and recognition.
When the AF447 CVR was recovered and someone leaked the whole transcript in a French book, people were complaining that the crew appeared to be listening to music, joking around and reading magazines at cruise. That's actually perfectly normal and many long haul pilots do it.
You heard about starting sentences with a capital letter but disagree with the concept, do you?
@@markfox1545 no, not at all
Two more important info: they have topáveis-vos differents meals ( Pilots and Captain) in case one is home bad and, when we have only 2 Pilots and one want to exit for a short time, one of the Cabin free hás to stay in the Cockpit ( this after the pilot locked out the Captain and crushed the plane on a mountain....and now the Health center is also obliged to send to the airline Company the results of the periodically check )Health )
Either English is not your primary language or you need to put that bottle down. This comment makes no sense whatsoever.
@@roberthenry9319thank you, for a second I thought I was too high off this bong hit
Stupid question, but do the pilots have a separate bathroom they can use?
Very informative. Thank you.
They do alot of work. God bless them.
I often wondered what pilots do after they " level off " and cruising. It seems, however, that most have more time at hand than work to be done. I do not intend to take away anything from their job and always respect a pilot for their skills and competences.
They are there for when the lights and bells go off. They hit the autopilot about 1 min after gear up.
One day when we were landing, the pilot kept on saying 'in case of emergency landing' which spooked the heck out of me. Seems that there was heavy rain outside, and they landed with a thud.
Did the Everest Basecamp Trek. Flew into Lukla Airport at an altitude of 2800m. Runaway just 400m long. The most skilful pilots stearing the plane inbetween mountains to land on an inclined runaway. Was just awesome to see and very scary as well. 😅
Really always wondered how pilots pass their time and what do they do. Thank you so much for your video
Thank you for the information.
I always leave the plane ✈️ with
“ great job” to the pilots
Pay forward
From west Africa
🦅
Chances are the plane landed itself
Wow good information not known earlier. Thanks for the post
I didn’t know much about this, thanks for the video.
When flying with the sun in your face. Pilots tape up news paper to the windows. 🤙
Very informative video indeed.👍😊
My pilot friend says it’s so boring that they pray for things to go wrong.
I have great respect for pilots. I was told by a pilot that small talk while flying is prohibited as it may lead to distraction!
My exp flying jump seat on a reg basis...once they have taken off, they turn on autopilot for most of the flight and veg out.
I think this is only for concentraton-demanding tasks such as takeoff, descent and taxi. There were some fatal incidents which involved pilots talking to flight attendants forgetting to put down the flaps before takeoff...
Very interesting. A lot of this stuff I had no idea about.
One of the pilots on one of the flights we were on, they were going to have a quick game of Twister
On ULH flights they carry 2 sets of flight crews what does the 2nd crew do or do they take over at half way
ULH flights will have a rest area for the crew. Some areas are located above the passengers while some are located under. Look them up on youtube, I was very surprised seeing them.
Informative. Pity about the very annoying quick cuts.
"Who never traveled in a plane and still watching this."😂
I learned something new!
Pretty accurate if somewhat simplified. In my airline though there was no reading and no video games with thexceptioon that, enroute, reading of aircraft and company manuals was permitted. There was certainly smalltalk enroute. I don't recall any flight being boring. ... retired Captain on overseas flights.
I spoke to a flight attendant who went into the cockpit and saw both pilots fast asleep .
This is not just a myth.
@@tomsherwood4650 happened this year. Ethiopian Airlines. It's rare, but it can happen.
On way to anc at night. First officer went to bathroom, I went into fd, captain was snoring. I was crew. No biggie. First office wasent gone long. Plane was on autopilot
Fa goes into flight deck for a reason. The don't just walk in. That was bull
Flight attendants can’t just go into the flight deck these days. They either need to be permitted entry by the pilots, or use an emergency entry code. Attempting to use that code will set off a particularly loud alarm in the flight deck. Nobody is sleeping through that!
Between mid air refueling, tracking our oceanic progress, and our flight engineer moving fuel if need be, lots of Monopoly Deal on the center console! I’m usually pretty ruthless at that game.
Reminds me of the video on youtube ”Robert the flyer” from inside the cockpit. Really cool. Will subscribe
Thanks for the information
Your presentation is highly interesting to watch. Thank you very much and take care.
I knew vaguely of the things that pilots had to do during long flights. But this video “filled in the blanks” for me. Very informative video. Thank you.
Another one is planning where to divert if something happens like medical or engine failure
You push a button and it tells you nearest airports. Not much planning.
@@budguy21 doesn’t mean that airport is the most suitable for an emergency landing. Does it have sufficient emergency equipment? Does it have a nearby hospital? Does it have long enough runways for an overweight aircraft? Is the weather good or bad? All these can factor in depending on how severe the emergency is.
@@tomstravels520 Nearest button gives you runway length. All the rest of that info takes a few second to evaluate.
@@budguy21 or you can think ahead and plan for which is the best suitable airport and create a secondary flight plan knowing the runway will be long enough. Then if an emergency does arise you already know where you’re going to go and can activate the back up flight plan
Very informative. Tks.
I dated a flight attendant for Cathay Pacific. She would always tell me that many pilots would ask her to sleep with them when they got to their hotels.
These activities look interesting.
Interesting insight. 🇨🇦
Is it weird that I'm wanting to do all this even more after watching this video?
We understand! 😂✈️
Do they have sleep shifts and what are the intervals like London-johannesbueg
you know, i have been flying on a 777-300er in a flight sim at home, and I have no heck of an idea how hard it is not to get out of your seats! i wanna be a pilot when I grow up. but it seems kind of intimidating
I am a pilot and I endorse this message. It’s always busy.
Pilots sleep! I was one for 44 years, I slept all the time. Thats what copilots are for!
Fun fact: the pilots generally eat separate meal options due to potential contamination of one option.
Thanks for sharing. Very interesting 👍
Sudoku, that’s what we do, or Solitaire, either is good.
Very interesting
I just can't get confortable with the thought that the pilots of my long haul flight are up there playing with their phones.
What about when pilots need to leave the cockpit (to go to the toilet for example). Aren’t cockpits always locked?
They can be unlocked from the inside. They can also be unlocked from the outside if you type in the correct code and the pilot inside the cockpit then flicks the switch.
Can plane make long or short turns in autopilot mod..
They play sudusku or what number twisting whatchma call it game ?
I am a regular traveler but never know what happens in the cockpit thanks
The navigation screens disappear and TH-cam pops up on screen.
Many years ago when passengers were allowed onto the flight deck I was allowed to stay until the plane landed.
A local college held a weekly evening class so people could get an understanding of ATC. The person running the course obtained the charts pilots use on the flight deck. When I showed the captain these he said pull out the seat behind and you’re welcome to stay.
Nowadays you're only able to go in after arrival and parked at gate. I went inside an A321-200 and an A350-1000 flight deck this way
Boeign 787 is such a beauty.
Done correctly, there is a quite a lot going on during long flights. Done lazily, with complacency, boredom can tempt pilots into missing critical safety threats. Position checks, weather checks, equipment checks, fuel log checks etc. What I found is pacing these tasks is critical. If the pacing is stretched out, and tasks done a leisurely, it greatly cuts down on boredom and the temptation to nap on the flight deck or get engrossed in phone-games degrading safety. Every hour, fuel/position/weather checks must be carried out, if done very fast it makes the next 55 minutes very boring, leading to a reduced level of alertness. I pace my duties out so that there is never more than 15 minutes of "nothing to do". Some pilots at the checkpoints get them done in 5 minutes, and have a very boring next 55. There are many examples of pilots not paying attention on long-haul flights that caused accidents, and even events running out of fuel. Staying alert and "in the game" takes conscious effort to not be distracted or bored to the point of safety degrading.
I think about the Air France flight from South America to Paris that ran into issues with weather, instrumentation and pilot error that I always wondered if could have been handled with better alertness and awareness in the middle of the night.
You must be a peach to fly with lol
@@noobnoob6490Sounds more professional than you....
This person has no idea what they are talking about
@@noobnoob6490 I would hate to fly with you. I do exactly what Dcxplant is mentioning, and if you're just going to hit the Autopilot and forget about the plane than you probably shouldn't be flying.
Depends of the airline I'd say. With ITA both pilots might be snoozing :D
🤣🤣 and I believe also arguing... it's a way of life for Italians
They also tell each other jokes, which they then bring home and inflict upon their long-suffering family…🤣🤣🤣😉👍
I knew I’m two pilots who passed the time by being on their iPads by doing this. They miss their white point for descent and completely lost touch with ground control. When asked why are you where you are they never answered only to reveal later that they were on their iPads as you can tell they’re no longer pilots anymore they are now doing janitorial work at local schools and doing their night shift at Walmart to pay for the ridiculous fines they got and deserved
Very interesting🤔 and i like it
Even on a longhaul flight...when you haven´t done anything flying-related for longer than 10 minutes, you can almost be certain that you have messed up something.
Making sure they hit those way points is of importance.
This would make a great satirical short! à la the secret life of pets. 😁😁
Good to know
Thank you for sharing.
Good information
So, they are not doing the Monty Python thing when they try to annoy passengers by announcing that this is not an emergency and there's nothing to worry about.
Great information
Thank you for watching! ✈️
When flying a Boeing aircraft, pilots also can spend time rereading the fine prints of their life insurance policies.
Newspapers have pretty much gone by the wayside. Hope the plane has a good Wi-Fi signal 🤣🤣
Where does flying 2 legs without the logbook on board rate?
Interesting video!
A common topic of discussion on my flightdeck is related to how the aircraft functions.
When I was in college I was working as an aircraft mechanic which means that I am familiar with a lot of the really intricate and technical aspects that pilots generally don't need to know much about. So if my first officer wants to learn a bit, more then happy to describe something for them.
Other then that, between scanning the instruments, observing weather patterns, filling out paperwork and communicating with ATC, we talk about just about anything up there. Except politics or religion!
Pilots pass the time on long flights playing Microsoft flight sim