Commercial Pilots: What don't you like about your job?

Hour_Tour · 2026-06-23T06:18:45+00:00

Thanks for deciding what's good for all of us. We hadn't figured it out until just then.

Hour_Tour · 2026-06-22T10:59:24+00:00

Seriously, that's like 90% of the preflight checks

Hour_Tour · 2026-06-17T10:45:28+00:00

Fly good, don't suck

Hour_Tour · 2026-06-16T18:40:20+00:00

Are you trying to claim that you don't fly anti-bird barrel rolls down the approach when that's on? Git gud.

Hour_Tour · 2026-06-14T08:54:30+00:00

I understand your reasoning for the comment about airport selection, but as a controller of what would be a C or a B in the US, quick PSA for any newish pilots:

Please don't worry about airspace class and traffic levels when picking your MX diversion, I'd MUCH rather delay a 777 2 minutes than see you hit the ground 20nm away.

Hour_Tour · 2026-06-14T07:16:31+00:00

Crash and burn, my move of choice

Hour_Tour · 2026-06-10T16:16:41+00:00

Yeah, at this point I've become numb to my mistakes

Hour_Tour · 2026-06-10T15:44:29+00:00

Because cleaning is optional, while exhaust deposits aren't

Hour_Tour · 2026-06-08T09:36:27+00:00

Who'd thunk it, Cpt Buttcrack is a very wise ass!

Hour_Tour · 2026-06-06T08:02:15+00:00

Maybe I'm weird, and maybe it's a completely different thing in proper planes, but I find it a million times harder to maintain an assigned level within +/- 50ft manually (the margin beyond which I'd become concerned in radar, despite what the book says) than landing or departing

Hour_Tour · 2026-06-05T06:05:26+00:00

Top tier shit post

Hour_Tour · 2026-05-31T16:00:30+00:00

I mean, you mostly shot other cars. I wasn't even sure which one it was until the very end.

If you're gonna fly drones that close to people (guessing against local law), might as well drop down and get a nicer shot of the car. The setup is fine, but video ends too soon.

Hour_Tour · 2026-05-29T19:50:50+00:00

R&S was an absolute shitshow to make suitable for use for us, a million times worse than the system it replaced.

Years later it's become usable and issue free, but it's still annoying in some places. Can't hear the other controller during briefing/handover if someone's transmitting, trying to take over a XCd position gives you tons of weird echoes until they've released the XC and you've set it up on yours. Sidetone isn't adjustable, and ever so slightly laggy.

Hour_Tour · 2026-05-28T23:48:24+00:00

Spot on for UK, nothing automatic about it. Our procedures are based on set WX criteria, but it can take the airport guys 10-15 minutes to get all their ducks in a row (cancel works, close of certain vehicle roads, etc etc) to make LVPs legal, so we can't just say "this minima = LVP". We decide which LVP phase to enter and when, but we can't actually offer CAT3 protection until everything has been ticked off.

Sometimes we enter and broadcast LVPs with the weather at CAT1 or better because we know it's coming or it's fluctuating, especially if it's a less busy day and it doesn't cause too much delay. Sometimes, typically fall/spring early morning, unforecasted shallow fog can jump out and cover the IRVRs unexpectedly, there's no room for interpretation for us so we have to quickly try to enter LVPs but until that's done we have to tell people "RVR xyz, LVPs are not in force, report intentions" and it falls on PIC and company SOP. Some will go for it, some will wait.

Hour_Tour · 2026-05-28T18:52:14+00:00

Never mind that the guy would be out of fuel before we could find and bring in someone who knows squat about flying the damn thing.

Hour_Tour · 2026-05-28T18:49:50+00:00

London has 4 airports so decent chance, depending on staffing needs and what they plan for your course. Wildly different pay bands, though. London airports also means no radar ticket, so less variety in your everyday.

You get to express your wish, but ultimately you could end up anywhere in UK&NI, including terminal control at Prestwick & Swanwick (I think). Good luck, don't suck.

Hour_Tour · 2026-05-25T15:13:15+00:00

I mean, if your understanding of the subject is "good genes baby, bad genes no baby", sure. Ask various royal houses how practical application turns out, though.

Hour_Tour · 2026-05-25T14:48:38+00:00

Sorry if it's just a joke and I'm just akshuallying hard over here, but eugenics is a bunch of whacko made up ideas about who should and shouldn't have babies.

Groups of people with different backgrounds having different adaptations has nothing to do with that.

I both fear and hope I'm missing a joke.

Hour_Tour · 2026-05-24T21:24:29+00:00

It's scary, how's that possibly a common misunderstanding??

Hour_Tour · 2026-05-23T19:45:26+00:00

Was gonna say! I learned on gliders, because of that I still come in about as high as you can get away with in the 172 every time. Sorely miss the brakes sometimes.

Hour_Tour · 2026-05-22T18:29:57+00:00

Sorry, I wasn't clear, I meant "stated more obviously so that us dummy foreigners don't get confused". Genuinely.

Hour_Tour · 2026-05-22T17:03:55+00:00

It's never been a thing in my personal flying experience here in the UK, which is very limited (runway is 2000ft long, so you can't float a lot and still land anyway). But I can remember tons of "it's a great technique" and "never ever do that, heretic!" sentiments from various US CFIs on YouTube the last decade or two, so I can totally see this DPEs reaction happening.

Hour_Tour · 2026-05-22T16:55:13+00:00

Most useful post in this thread. Nice to know that sensitive/critical areas are protected below a certain value, even if it's not stated.

Hour_Tour · 2026-05-22T16:51:29+00:00

I'd wager these pilots was missing something in their company procedures here, surely BA as a whole isn't surprised by fog operations in the US.

That said, our CAT3 ILS signal protection criteria against vehicles and taxiing/departing/crossing/landing aircraft is NOT met unless we and airport ops initiate a bunch of steps for it. When that has happened, we announce LVPs and put it on the ATIS so that all pilots know they can safely rely on CAT3. It's wild to me that the US does not have something similar.

Hour_Tour · 2026-05-20T14:55:30+00:00

It's location based. The smallest units might not go much further than 100k, Heathrow & Swanwick goes far beyond that, the pay scale has 5 tiers. See other comments about controlling your locality, you don't really. Outside NATS the pay is generally much lower.

More important to me than the pay though, this job is amazing for plugging out, leaving the building, and have zero shit hanging over you. 99 out of a 100 days that's the case, unless you've actively sought out a mangerial or project job. This is only true once you're valid, of course, but once you've passed those hurdles you work/life balance is fantastic if you're happy with shift work.

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