In April I had fourteen days off.
Love John Wayne! I heard its a dangerous place to fly into and out of because of the runway length. They always seem to jump on the brakes hard right away at touchdown. Do you have any issues with it?
I wouldn’t say that it is dangerous, but is certainly isn’t anybody’s favorite airport to fly into. The incredibly short runway means that we really have to be on our game and of course also means that you can expect to feel full braking immediately upon touchdown.
The short runway also affects takeoff, that is why you will usually notice full thrust being used and more flaps than normal on departure.
Chris
Cuba! How was it??
Havana was interesting, from what I saw of it. I only left the airplane to do my walk around and we weren’t allowed into the terminal. The whole airport had very high security around it.
I did notice several Russian built airplanes, which were interesting to see. I also noticed where train tracks used to cross the runway, something that I have certainly never seen before.
Amazing. So much beauty in the different planes and different style of life. I would love to be able to walk the Havana streets to see the cars and what not.
Do you guys have Havana overnights? Or is it always a turn?
As of right now it is a turn, I don’t see that changing anytime soon.
Is that for safety or just how the schedual works out?
Probably a pretty good combination of both, but that is for people at a higher pay grade than me to decide.
also largely due to the travel restrictions still in place for the country. They’re slowly relaxing but they’re definitely still in effect. You really have to cut a lot of red tape to be allowed to travel there
Very cool Chris!
Def on my bucket destination list.
Adam
Chris,
So how many flight hours is this? Does you choose your days off and how many flight hours? (April flight schedule)
Thank You So Much!
This schedule represents about 90 flight hours. I am pretty senior on the airplane, so I bid what I wanted my days off to be. The company set the number of hours.
Hi All
Visited Havana twice this year. If you go just use the people to people option as your reason o
f travel. You don’t have any problem going to Cuba they welcome you. When you get back to the states they will ask you for your reason of travel to Cuba. Just say it was to meet the people don’t say it was a vacation. People to People.I have another question about scheduling. Is it possible to scale back your airline schedule to work on a more part-time basis, i.e. if i had a young family and wanted to only fly 50 hours a month. Or do the airlines set a minimum number of hours you must fly every month?
It is almost impossible to do what you are asking. The airlines hire full time pilots and expect them to work as such. Some people have success with dropping trips, but to consistently be able to drop below 80 hours per month would be very difficult.
Sorry Bob, but airline pilot is not a part-time job. The airlines spend tens of thousands of dollars to train their pilots. The provide travel and health benefits etc. In exchange they expect professionals who work full-time. The min hours at Hawaiian are 75 which really isn’t that arduous.
Adam
Hey Adam,
How many hours per month is full time typically? Do airlines ever have pilots work overtime? Are you guaranteed full time no matter seniority? Did you decide on a home city, or did you let what airline you ended up working for dictate that?
Thanks,
Bailey
Bailey,
Full time, which is the only option as a pilot at an airline, is 75-95 hours of flight time per month, which translated to 14-18 days of work per month. All pilots are guaranteed full time. Sometimes airlines off “premium pay”, which is the same as overtime, when they are short on pilots. At United this is 200% of your pay.
Chris
