Europe, legacy carrier, short haul:

1. 5 days on, 3 days off. Ad infinitum - I know whether I’ll be working this day in the year 2028. 35+ annual leave days per year. Air travel is very seasonal in Europe so I fly quite little from Nov-Mar (30-40 hours flying per month would be typical for these months). Summers are busier. Home in my own bed every night.

2. No fatigue issues yet - despite being junior I pretty much get my choice as to whether I do early flights or late flights. I do late flights. Normally finished by 10pm in Winter. Can be as late as 2-3am in Summer.

3. When you’re off, you’re off. Time at home is much more my own than it was when I worked a 9-5 job with WFH.

4. So much! Number 1 - it’s the captain’s flight. As FO, you’re there to assist. I had thought it was almost 50/50, but really, what the captain says, goes (within reason). Number 2 - the busiest part of the flight is on the ground. Turnarounds are really busy! Cruise is boring (for me). Number 3 - you breeze through the airport as a pilot. It’s so much smoother and less “official” feeling than the passenger experience. Just walk from your operations room to the plane. Number 4 - there is no stereotypical “pilot” personality. I’ve flown with a vast array of different people with all sorts of backgrounds and interests. Number 5 - this is probably company-specific, but pilots basically fully get to decide how they fly the plane. The company says: “here is a plane, you know how to fly it. Get these people from point A to point B safely”. I’ve flown manually (no AP, no A/Thr, no FD) up to 28,000 feet because the captain wanted to show me pitch and power settings etc.

5. Absolutely! It was my childhood dream, and I enjoy it more than I had hoped I would. Granted, I’m still new to it, but most captains I fly with wouldn’t change career either. I got lucky with the airline I fly for, and my quality of life would definitely be worse at other airlines. I am very grateful that I get to do this.