Pilot Hours and Rostering
An Airline Pilot is only permitted to fly 100 Flying Hours in any 28 day period by law. The maximum time on duty allowed normally is 14 hours. If delays occur up to 16 hours may be worked. Depending on the type of Airline and Route structure will determine the actual hours. Some Airline Pilots for example work six days working three days off.
Note that the100 hours mentioned above is flying hours. A typical days work allows an hour before flight plus turnaround times on short haul flights. A pilot is said to be off duty half an hour after parking at the gate on his last trip of the day. On excessive long haul flights sometimes 4 pilots are rostered. The first crew prepare the cockpit for example and fly for the first five hours. The second crew do the outside checks and rest for five hours. They then relieve the first crew. There are bunks on the 747 for pilots . Just before landing the first crew take over at the top of the descent and land the aircraft. Thus having a fresh crew for the landing. The role is reversed on the return trip.
This can be a nightmare for the Operations Section at HQ as the pilot has to have done a number of take off and landing over a given period otherwise the pilot has to be retested. The long haul pilot could be away 190 days a year sometimes for two weeks at a time. Some airlines out base pilots for a couple of months. The first crew can fly say London Singapore and the out based crew relieve them and fly the aircraft down to Sydney. The first crew rest say for 24 hours then relieve the Sydney out based Crew and fly back to the UK when the aircraft comes back to Singapore.
Some airlines just roster pilots for the flights ,others allow pilots to bid for the flights on what dates suitable to the pilot. This has led to Computer use being high with some pilots. My Brother in Law is a Long Haul Pilot with British Airways flying the 747-400. He can program his computer for the trips he would like to do for the period. If he is away the the computer will contact his roster office and submit his bids. It does not mean he will get them. Later his roster comes through. The pilot who wrote the program has it down to the last penny which are the best paying trips. Pilots get a flying time payment from Brakes off to Brakes on on the ramp as well as their salary.
A short haul pilot flying for a scheduled airline may fly about 4 hours a day flying time. His duty day will be about 11 hours allowing for Booking on turn around etc. It is possible for a London based pilot to fly two return trips to Paris and a Manchester shuttle in a days work. Sometimes the last trip is a night stop and the pilot fly's back first thing in the morning with the first service and doing another day before going home. Sometimes the pilot will fly the aircraft all night doing a mixture of scheduled and mail services. Seats being removed after the last passenger flight and then put back in again before the first passenger flight in the morning. A sort of airborne Postman Pat mission.
The Charter Airline Pilot will normally only do one return trip a day as there is normally not time to fly two. Sometimes the crew will travel by road to another airport and relieve incoming pilots and fly a service from there. So a five hour flying time day could be a 11 hour duty day. Sometimes the crew will travel up by road the day previous stay in a hotel and relieve a flight the following day. IE a flight from Gatwick to Orlando calling at Glasgow. Likewise the Crew that flew the aircraft up from Gatwick may return by road. On the longer charter routes the crew may have a nice few days off at a lovely resort as the flights are not every day they may wait two or three days before they relieve an incoming flight to the UK. Most of the resorts the pilots return the same day with about an hour on the ground. They never see all the lovely resorts other than from the air.
The cargo pilots are a different breed altogether. They could go anywhere anything could happen. Extra freight happens to be available on route so the aircraft diverts. Sometimes there is loading problems delaying them even more.. These guys every day is a challenge. They often are away for a long time time each trip.
A British pilot is not allowed to drink alcohol 8 hours before a flight. In the US its 24 hours.
Jet Lag is a thing that is never cured it is basically your body learns how to cope. It is no wonder the flights to UK from America are called the RED Eye. They are at night. The pilots flew to USA on a day flight arriving anything between 5 and 8 hours time difference. The return flight is probably about 3 o clock GMT in the morning from USA arriving in the UK about 11 AM. It only then wants the next trip to go to the Far East and the problem is aggravated. Especially when you start sleeping Murphy starts drilling outside your hotel after you have just done an 11 hour flight.
An ideal rest period is 12 hours or 36.This way the pilot is fresh. Unfortunately some airlines operate a 24 hour rest period. The pilot could find himself going to work when he should be going to bed Especially if he is still jetlagged. So the dangers are there.
Occasionally a pilot has to stay by the phone at home on stand by in case a rostered pilot goes sick or a sudden unscheduled aircraft movement is required. The pilot may get up at 9 O clock and then get called into work at 5 PM for a long haul flight. This can also be a problem
I hope this gives you some idea on how the airline pilot operates. There are many combinations but this is to give you a general idea. Other problems are foreign food does not always agree with you. Pilots soon learn the Bombay quickstep. happiness is a dry fart in confidence on the way home.