Good evening all, my question is this, How often will you fly as a new pilot at your regional as a “stand by” pilot and you are able to pick up others shits, correct? Forgive me if this topic has been addressed previously.
KC,
It really depends on your airline, how well they are staffed, and the time of the year. During the summer pilots can expect to fly quite a bit, during the fall it will be much less. Of course some pilots are holding lines rather quickly and are thus not on reserve. It really varies so much, but I would say anywhere between 30 and 90 hours per month.
Chris
Thanks Chris also can you answer a question pertaining to insurance hours. How does it work for pilots,does it work the same way as say a nonpilot job where you have to have a certain amount of hours to maintain insurance and if not do you make the difference up out of pocket?
KC,
All pilots at an airline are full time, regardless of how much they fly, so insurance works like it does for any other full time employee.
Keep in mind that while on reserve you might not fly that much, you will still be paid a minimum guarantee, which is a full time salary.
Chris
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Chris, that’s an amazing answer especially when dealing with insurance and how much some cost for coverage nowadays.
KC,
At my airline for example, if you drop to below 58 hours of credit per month, the company considers you a part time employee and you become responsible for your insurance costs.
Yarden
Yarden, thanks for the insite.
KC,
At Hawaiian (and ExpressJet when I was there) you were/are not able to drop below min guarantee which was/is 75hrs (as a lineholder). If you do and you don’t have any sick leave you may find yourself an unemployee 
Adam
KC,
But to clarify what Yarden is saying, that is if you chose to drop below 58 hours of credit. If you are on reserve and are simply not assigned much flying you will still be paid your guarantee pay (usually about 72 hours per month) and still be considered a full time employee.
Chris
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Yes, I meant as a lineholder…
Thanks for clarifying.
Adam, just out of curiosity how would one drop below those set hours unless they deliberately didn’t want to fly or is there other underlining factors that would create such an issue?
KC,
I was being silly. As I said the airline won’t let you drop below so the only way would be to “no show” which would obviously be a problem.
Adam
Lol…gotcha 