General aviation planes have come a long way in technology. There are Cessna 172′s flying around that have more high tech equipment than many airliners. The G1000 is an amazing setup for a cockpit. For those unfamiliar it’s a full glass cockpit. I never had the chance to fly one while I was training. Before [...]

For the previous bid period I was assigned morning airport standby. I developed a routine of signing in to work at 6AM then sleeping till 10AM. I was only called for a flight between 6AM and 10AM once during the month. Whenever I woke up…or 10AM…whichever came first, I would wander up to the terminal [...]

Before joining an airline I had a lot of questions….and few people to answer them. One purpose of this blog is to answer questions from those curious about the industry. I am by no means an expert, so if I don’t know the answers I will tap my colleagues for information. I received an email [...]

Unlike most jobs, pilots and flight attendants can live in any city they want with the convenience of flying to work. I use the word convenience liberally. Some are forced to commute due to financial or family issues. Whatever the reason those who choose to commute are faced with challenges not faced by those who [...]

Tomorrow starts a new month for me. Right now….and for the foreseeable future, I am the most junior First Officer in my status. Being so junior I get whatever is left over each month for bidding. This normally means airport standby. My status has two sets of airport standby, morning and afternoon.This month I had [...]

Seniority at an airline mostly determines the quality of life (QOL) that a pilot will have. When you first start you are near the bottom of the seniority list. In “good” times (when airlines are hiring) the distance from the bottom grows and life gets better. The only way to move up the list is [...]