everyone knows that a pilot's job
includes flying planes but what I'm
often asked is what does a pilot's work
schedule really like I'm going to
explain it all coming up hey seven four
crew welcome back if you don't know me
my name is Kelsey I'm a 747 pilot my
channel 7 for gear is all about aviation
so whether you're a pilot or an aviation
enthusiast consider subscribing every
pilots work schedule is different and
they vary greatly depending on whether
you're flying for the airlines or a
charter and inside each of those the
schedules can also be very different in
this video I'm gonna give you a couple
quick examples let's get into it
first I'm going to talk about corporate
and charter flying early in my career a
couple years after this picture was
taken I was flying for a couple
different charter airlines at most
corporate and charter jobs a pilot
schedule is usually based on a 7 & 7
and what that means is it'll work 7 days
on and 7 days off in some cases I've
heard of guys having up 14 14 again
based on the 7 7 it's 14 days on and 14
days off that is the most common
schedule that I hear from pilots who are
still flying charters another example of
a pilots work schedule is if you're
flying for a family or an individual and
you are part of it two or four main crew
that flies whenever they want to go
wherever they want to go the cool side
about doing that type of flying is you
could be hanging out at home on Tuesday
and you get a call and say hey in two
days we're going down to the Maldives so
the next five days you might be hanging
out in the Maldives at a hotel like this
which of course is a lot better than the
four-day Xbox marathon you had planned
with your couch you don't even know me
and just like every other pilot job with
the positives are negatives if your boss
has a economic issue or your boss dies
you're probably going to be out on the
street
or if you had something planned that you
wanted to do with your friends and
family those plans are gonna be canceled
no no no no that also worn out don't
ruin it for an airline pilot job the
schedules also have a wide variety and
I'm often asked on average how many days
a month does a pilot work and I would
say
the average monthly is about 15 to 16
days now how those days get broken up is
gonna vary depending on the airline that
you're at but the most common is usually
you're gonna do a three or four day trip
and then have three or four days off
after that trip that's the most common
however just like every other Airlines
there is a variety in the u.s. we have
an airline called Allegiant an Allegiant
does out in packs they do day trips so a
lot of their pilots are home every night
so if you have a family or you don't
want to spend time on the road or
sleeping in hotels then that's a good
fit for you if you live in one of their
bases because if you don't live one of
their bases when you finish your trip
you're gonna come back to your hotel and
you're gonna have to be paying for the
hotel on the opposite side of that
spectrum is my schedule I like to clump
all my days together so I'll usually do
10 or 16 days in a row now the reason I
prefer that is I'd rather just get all
my work done early in the month or
whenever in the month and then I have
the rest of my time to hang out and do
whatever I want or I can go somewhere
and not use my vacation days but because
of that I'm usually hauling three bags
around the world two bags is the most
common but I have a third bag to carry
all my computers and cameras and stuff
for making these YouTube videos now
speaking of me traveling around the
world if you want to see kind of a
behind the scenes of what I'm doing and
where I'm going just go to my Instagram
account it's the same as my youtube
channel at 7:00 for gear and I have a
lot of different stories of when I'm
going places and often I ask the people
that are on there hey should I do this
or would you like to see this so for
example I asked if they wanted to see
some bloopers and outtakes so for the
flight of the Phoenix and some of the
eight later videos I started putting
bloopers and outtakes at the end of
these videos but not everybody knew
about that so a lot of people never saw
them now the final thing to consider
when you're thinking about an airline
pilot schedule is where do you live if
you don't live in base a lot of times
when you finish your trip you're gonna
have to get home and that means if
you're doing three or four four-day
pairings in a month three or four times
a month you're gonna have to figure out
how to get to work and how to get home
from work and if you not driving
distance that means you're gonna have to
jump seat or catch a flight which can be
very time-consuming now I've lived in
base and I lived out of base and I've
had to do the commuting and when I first
thought about having to do the commuting
I was like hey this is
gonna be that bad I can get on a flight
and then after about two months I was
like this idea [ __ ] sucked finally
the right long-term pilot job that fits
and the right pilot schedule is gonna be
different for everyone
for me when I finish a trip I'm able to
walk back onto the plane get on one of
our flights and go somewhere cool that
I've always wanted to go or if somewhere
where I've been and I want to spend more
time and none of this air B&B there for
a week or maybe two weeks then I'll
catch one of our flights back to my base
and start my trip again obviously if you
have a wife and family and kids and
people that are relying on you to be
home that doesn't work but for me it's
just fine all right crew that's
everything I have to give you to give
you a better understanding of what the
pilot job is all about in the comments
section below let me know what pilot
schedule would work out best for you I
look forward to hearing from you until
then keep the blue side up in this video
I'm gonna give you a couple of quick
questions let's a couple quick questions
alright crew that's everything I have to
give you on a better idea of what I'm
gonna spit all over myself