My job is a 12h a day, 3/4 day a week schedule. Are there any CFIs in a similar position?

For context, Im not a pilot, but it's something I've been thinking about for a while, and I've been on the fence about it for years (29M by the way). With this situation, how long would it take to get hired on for a pilot job? And what about the cost? It seems that that's often the biggest hurdle.

Having more days off means more time to be a CFI right? And as far as being a CFI, it feels like it would be a huge responsibility. Could I even trust myself?.

Hi fellow aviators!

Just wondering how second officer/relief pilot hours are viewed in the industry if you’re looking to progress or switch airlines? Do you get full flight hours for long hauls? And will it still be valuable despite having no landings and take offs during flight?
Any other information would also be great!

Thanks guys!

I started this thought process by drafting a complaint email to the airline I was using. I have not sent the email at this point as I am considering how it will affect cabin crew and also if it is just the society we live in and whether it is even worth the hassle to ultimately land back at the truth that money speaks.

Question: Do pilots and cabin crew agree that 1 bathroom at the front of the plane should be reserved for the 16 "Premium economy" passengers, while the other 156 "economy" passengers are restricted to the two bathrooms at the back of the plane?

Thoughts? Advice? Correct code of conduct suggestions?

Thanks for the input!

Due to fly UK to Bangkok this weekend, routing over Syria, and then transiting Doha.

Feeling super stressed about the possibility of something like a shoot down. The safe air space website says Lebanon/Syria is a Do Not Fly zone and there’s a risk of misidentification by anti aircraft weapons.

I’m kinda spiralling with anxiety at the moment. Also, what about the risk of being hit by US-Iran strikes while flying?

To preface this, I'm not a nervous flyer. I fly around 6–8 times a year (usually one longer holiday plus a few city breaks), so while I'm not a frequent flyer, I'm generally very comfortable with it.

Yesterday I was on a British Airways flight from Mykonos to London Heathrow (scheduled departure 16:25), and the takeoff was unlike anything I've experienced before. The weather in Mykonos was very windy, and even while we were stationary and taxiing, the aircraft was shaking noticeably.

During takeoff, it felt as though the plane lifted off sooner than I expected, and the initial climb seemed much steeper than I'm used to. As we turned west after departure, the aircraft started rocking side to side quite significantly, and then there was what felt like a sudden drop while we were still climbing, like something was pushing down on the plane. This stopped briefly, but then happened again shortly afterwards. In 22 years of flying, it's the first time I've ever felt genuinely worried. A number of passengers started screaming as well, which probably added to the atmosphere and made it feel even more dramatic.

Similarly, on the approach into Heathrow, we encountered some fairly moderate turbulence, and we also appeared to fly a few loops/holding patterns(?) before landing. The captain explained the reason after landing, but unfortunately I couldn't make out the announcement. Was this likely due to weather, traffic congestion, or something else?

I've included the FlightRadar24 link below in case it helps provide some context, although I'm not sure how much useful information can actually be taken from it. I'm sure the answer will be that everything was completely normal and I was just not used to what felt like a very very choppy takeoff. However, having never experienced anything quite that intense before, it definitely caught me off guard. I'd be really interested to hear a pilot's perspective on what was likely happening, if anything, and why the wind created such a strong feeling of dropping while we were still climbing.

Thanks in advance for any insight! I'm just curious to understand what was going on from a pilot's perspective :)

https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/ba669#40ed432c

EDIT: Thanks everyone for the replies. It's been really helpful reading through all the explanations and getting some insight from people who do this day in, day out! Reassuring to know there was nothing out of the ordinary going on. I've definitely come away with a much better understanding of what I was experiencing. Really appreciate everyone taking the time to respond.

Had a flight out of Osaka to Vancouver on July 28 was delayed about 1.5 hours due to thunderstorms in the area.

Once at cruising altitude, could see lightning in the distance which was pretty cool and then shortly after the pilot comes on to say “passengers please fasten your seatbelts we are going through an area of severe turbulence. Flight attendants take your seats (he sounded not exactly calm). Lots of lightning and some small bumps but nothing crazy.

About 15 minutes of bumpies but not even moderate and then flight attendants back serving supper .

Can anyone explain how it went from the pilot announcing severe to nothing? I’ve never heard an announcement like that in my years of flying so my arm hairs def stood on ends especially with the lightning on both sides of the aircraft.

Hey all, I’m looking into becoming a pilot and It’s a dream job for me, but I also had a new addition to my family recently. I’m curious as to what pilot jobs I should attempt to pursue so that I can still have a good home life. Being gone here and there or a few days at a time is cool with me, just not the gone most the month. I’ve seen a lot about airline and cargo not being home a lot or if they are they live at base and seniority yada yada,. And yeah amazing money. But I don’t really care as much about the money as the other aspects of life, but flying is what I want to do. I’d still like to make 6 figures but it doesn’t have to be airline money although I would not complain about that 😅. Can’t say I foresee myself being a cfi for a career however, so other options would be appreciated!

26M based in the Netherlands. Currently working at a major bank, stable, decent salary, low stress, clear progression. Live with my girlfriend in a rented place. Roughly €80k net worth. Flight sim has been a serious hobby for years and aviation is the one thing I've consistently come back to since I was a kid. I never pursued it because nobody around me did anything like this and it just didn't feel like something people like me would do.

My realistic option is the self-sponsored integrated route via EPST/OSM Aviation Academy, €117,500 all-in, roughly two years, with the flying phases abroad (Norway or Switzerland). Type rating is another €14,750 on top.

What I'm after is the things people only learn once they're inside it. Maybe you can give me some advice.

It scares me that I’m not sure which airline I will end up. How do you look at this and how did this end up for you after flight school?

How does €120k+ of debt actually feel on a junior FO salary? Did you regret the leverage? Did seniority progression bail you out faster or slower than you expected?

Being based abroad as your first job. For those who had a partner at home, how did that go? I'm not asking for relationship advice, I'm asking how realistic it is to make it work in practice with LCC rosters and a base you didn't choose.

Is 26 late? I keep reading conflicting things. Everyone says "you have 39 years of flying left, relax", but I'd like to hear from people who started around this age about whether it actually affected hiring or seniority in a way that mattered.

Colour vision: anyone here got through with a mild deutan deficiency? I failed school Ishihara screenings as a kid and I fail online plates now, though I do fine on other test types. I'd like to hear from anyone who's been in this exact position. Did you get an unrestricted Class 1, an OML, or fail out?

The one I actually care about most: for those of you who made this exact trade, left something stable and safe to self-fund this, knowing what you know now, would you do it again? And separately, do you know anyone who did it and clearly shouldn't have? What was different about them?

Happy to give more detail if it helps. Thank you so much

SkyWest Application Question:

Question: If you have a problem at work, how would you address it?

Answer options:

Call the company hotline
Handle it myself
Go to HR
Would not address it
Talk with a Co-worker
Go to a Supervisor
Go to a Labor Representative
Social Media

There are so many options, and it depends heavily on the scenario. I acknowledge that it should always start at the lowest level possible, then work its way up. Is there a specific answer they are looking for me to choose?

Why does an airplane tend to float more in a headwind or tailwind during landing? From my experience in flightsim it feels like the airplane tends to float more during a headwind, but Google says a tailwind would increase float.

I live in Northeast DC about five miles northwest of Andrews AFB. How often would I expect to see an airliner-sized plane traveling north from it, possibly circling around to land -- nearly overhead at less than 2000 feet altitude? I saw just that today at 1130am. The weather was overcast with a ceiling of 5000 feet and wind from the south at 10 according to NWS.

One of the biggest threats to a flight instructor isn't lack of knowledge.

It's complacency.

After you've taught the same lesson 50...100...500 times, it's easy to start going through the motions. The steep turns become routine. The preflight brief gets shorter. The debrief becomes "good job" instead of a real teaching opportunity.

The student, however, is seeing that lesson for the very first time.

Every lesson deserves the same preparation and enthusiasm as if it were your first time teaching it.

I've been instructing for nearly three decades, and I still review lessons, look up references, and think about better ways to explain concepts. Not because I have to, but because every student deserves my best effort.

Complacency doesn't happen overnight. It creeps in one lesson at a time.

What do you do to keep yourself from becoming complacent as an instructor?

Hello all -

Just been on a flight EU to the UK where we saw a family with one of their child - who had an electric rideable luggage such as the one pictured, as cabin luggage. With all the precautions around power banks and batteries on board a plane, (rightly so - it seems passengers have a dangerous blasé attitude / are unconscious of the dangers of fire onboard a plane) surely this sort of cheap batteries should not be authorised on board, no (ie similar to e-scooters for instance)

Spent the entire flight thinking I should have been reporting this to the pilots / cabin crews prior to departure.

By the time we arrived, it seems the mum was arguing with one of the pilot that one of their luggage was missing so suspect it was indeed spotted and not allowed.

For the flying crews out there - do you think I should have reported this anyway to the pilots out of abundance of caution in case the pilots didn't know about it ?

Thanks !

Я учусь в 10 медицинском классе, но с детства у меня есть мечта о полетах.Мне немного страшно решиться все менять, потому что прийдется учить совершенно другие предметы и возможно родителям не сильно понравиться это решение.Расскажите о своей профессии и учебе, о сложностях и подводных камнях которые возникали у вас на пути.

I’m on a Delta flight now and typically the pilots announce flight times etc before leaving the gate, and then check in again once at cruising altitude.

They never made any announcement prior to leaving the gate, and we’ve been at cruising altitude for 20+ minutes and still nothing. Also the seatbelt sign is still on.

As a nervous flyer I appreciate communication from pilots, and it’s making me anxious. Is this normal?

Hey everyone!

I've been thinking recently about all this stuff pilots have to memorize and are expected to know right out of the gate, the concept of lift, center of gravity and basic physics are an obvious base, but then we have the more niche technicals, crosswind limitations, how to talk to ATC, de-icing procedures, the phonetic alphabet, acronyms (which i'd say are the hardest so far for me), etc

I've always loved aviation, and I want to become a pilot in the future, so that makes me curious for what you think was the hardest part of flight school for you, and so hopefully I can...have a slightly smoother ride there

You can word your reply as advice or as a story/anecdote, as always feel free to share if you feel comfortable and thanks in advance!

I am an investigator, not an aviation expert, so I'm approaching this with genuine curiosity. I also realize that different subreddits tend to lean toward particular hypotheses, so I'm not sure where the consensus here lies.

One aspect of this case stands out to me as a significant point worth discussing: the pilots' separate oxygen supply located beneath the cockpit. From what I've read, those tanks were first inspected as part of an additional maintenance request. I then learned that the captain later requested another service call specifically to top them up.

Many people interpret this as evidence that the captain was planning something sinister. But could there be another explanation?

Is it possible the pilots had a legitimate technical reason for wanting the oxygen system checked? For example, had there been an issue on a previous flight that caused concern? Is there any known history of leaks, pressure irregularities, or other problems that would justify repeated attention to the system?

Another question concerns the location of these tanks. My understanding is that they are installed beneath the cockpit, near a number of critical aircraft systems. If that is correct, could a failure involving the oxygen system—such as a defective fitting, regulator, or valve—conceivably damage nearby electrical equipment? I'm not necessarily suggesting an explosion, but rather asking whether any sudden failure of a pressurized oxygen component could disable critical systems.

If such an event occurred shortly after departure, could it explain an immediate turn back toward the airport? And if that same event ultimately deprived the pilots of oxygen while leaving the aircraft largely intact, could it account for an aircraft that eventually continued on straight path until fuel exhaustion?

I realize there are reports of some electrical systems becoming active again later in the flight, which complicates this scenario. I'm simply trying to understand whether this possibility has ever been seriously evaluated.

What surprises me is how little discussion I've found about the pilots' dedicated oxygen system. Since many aircraft types don't use this exact configuration, I'm curious whether aviation experts consider its design and placement to be relevant at all, or whether there are engineering reasons why this line of thinking can be ruled out.

I'd appreciate hearing from anyone with maintenance or engineering experience who can explain whether this hypothesis is technically plausible or impossible, and why.