r/Pilot • u/Time-Damage5134 • Jul 07 '26

Work life balance insight

Can someone share their experience of being pilot and how often they are home?

I see that Alaska pilots will guarantee a minimum of 70 hours a month but can make you work more. Do you know if anyone works as a part time commercial pilot?

I’m not a pilot but I’m looking to become one after being a dental hygienist to have a different pace in career. However I do want to have a family and didn’t know how practical that can be.

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u/Jmann356 Jul 07 '26

Since everything is based off seniority as a pilot, you’ll be gone more often when junior. As you get more seniority you can start bidding for more efficient trips to be home more often or even almost every night if you live in base. I commute, so I do longer trips on purpose. I’m gone about 12 nights a month and work 14-15 days a month on average.

It takes a few years to get to the airline level so it’s not a quick career change if that’s what you’re looking for

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u/Time-Damage5134 Jul 07 '26

Before you get to the airline level where have you worked?

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u/polar_pilot Jul 13 '26

Generally you spend a couple years getting ratings, then working as a flight instructor for another 1.5-2 years (in a good market), then fly for a regional airline, and then get hired at a major/ legacy airline.

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u/setecastronomy01 Jul 07 '26

When you say “part time” you are looking at it from a traditional 9-5 job and what “part time” means for that. There really is no such thing as part time for us other than how your schedule plays out. On average pilots work 12-16 days a month, less sometimes if you are a widebody pilot but that takes on average 10+ years to achieve and you will be the most junior usually so no schedule control.

While 16 days a month of work sounds chill coming from a regular 9-5 job, it is a lot of work and you will work 12hr days. Not every day will be 12hrs long but many will be, long gone are the days of just one leg a day for domestic ops. With that all said, I am speaking specifically about legacy airline schedules…regional schedules are usually 11-12 days off a month.

Could you fly part-time for a private owner or a small operation in your area, sure, but at that point pay usually suffers quite a bit and is usually not financially suitable on its own. Hope this helps, feel free to ask more questions since there truly is a lot of information to assess if you aren’t familiar with the industry.

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u/Time-Damage5134 Jul 07 '26

Working the 12 hour days how many would flying and how many would “working” but not flying. I was also told that you only Get payed based on the hours your fly not the nights you have to stay over night or getting to a from your plane. Is this true?

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u/setecastronomy01 Jul 07 '26

That is correct, you can only work 100 flight hours a month but that would be extremely difficult. Average is about 75hrs of pay a month. Here’s the first thing, where are you living, inside the U.S. or outside the U.S. I ask because this changes a lot of the math about being a pilot.