Typical day for pilots...

[Guest egovolo]

I know that relative to the heavies, fighter pilots spend less time flying. What would be involved in a typical day/week aside from flying, briefing or debriefing a mission?

[Hacker]

Depending on your mission for that day, those tasks (plan, brief, fly, debrief) might just take up your entire day.

Remember that each pilot has a "desk job" that he's responsible for (scheduler, training officer, weapons shop, etc), plus any number of additional duties. That's what comprises the rest of the hours in the work week.

[scoobs]

Does time go by fast on flying days.I know 10 to 12 hours seems a lot but is it that bad.

[Guest HueyPilot]

Fighter pilots may fly fewer hours than a heavy pilot, but I'd wager that their sortie count is about on par. Heavy pilots show up about 2-3 hours prior to takeoff, fly for 8-10 hours or so, then spend about 30 minutes to an hour post-flight.

Fighter pilots, on average, show and brief, which might take a few hours, fly one or more 1.5 hour sorties, then debrief for several hours. So they have perhaps as many flying days, but they actually spend fewer hours airborne.

Fighter pilots typically log around 200-300 hours a year, while heavy pilots log 400+ a year. Crew position for heavy pilots also has alot to do with how much you fly. Copilots are the least flexible position (can only fly in the right seat, must be paired with an AC or IP, etc), and fly the least...something along the lines of 250-300 a year. ACs fly more, and IPs fly the most. When I was a C-21 IP, I regularly flew 40-50 hours a month, sometimes flying over 60 a month.

And depending on your job, you might have a busy office schedule or a light one. Schedulers and execs are often the busiest...in those cases, the job drives your schedule. Training, stan/eval and mobility are often oriented around paperwork. Busy jobs, but often self-paced. Safety is probably the best gig of them all...paperwork oriented, but most of the paperwork is only done when there is an incident (ie, safety of flight issue, birdstrike, etc). So long as you keep your books up to date, your work is minimal unless your wing loses a jet (or even an engine).

My favorite jobs were safety and scheduling. Safety because it was pretty laid back, and scheduling because it was dynamic and you could see the fruits of your labor (ie, getting sorties launched). I hated training...90% of that job was making sure everyone's training folders had the i's dotted and the t's crossed, etc. Once or twice a week the scheduler would come back and ask me what I wanted to put on the schedule for training, and that was about it as far as that went...everything else was paperwork.

Oh, avoid pubs officer like the plague. It's funny how an office will empty out like a whorehouse during a police raid when you show up with the NIMA FLIP to change out...and you wind up doing it all by yourself. I couldn't get too upset, because I remember fleeing like everyone else before I had become pubs guy.

[C17Driver]

I'll just comment on CPs being least flexible due to being only qualified in the "right" seat. In the C-17, because we almost always fly augmented, it means the CPs are gone more than anyone else because almost every sortie launched has two "CPs" on it (I use quotations because in order for a crew to be considered augmented, the third pilot must be qualified as a First Pilot or higher, yet First Pilots are normally Co-pilots that have more than 400 hours and have more experience than the "general" co-pilot)

I do agree with most of the other things written about office jobs, etc.

[Guest AirGuardian]

He's referring to the generic heavy side I guess which makes sense,

Always not enuff airlift around C17Driver as you know. I have racked 175 hours in about 2 months from home station - no stage. Would have flown more, but no sense being a true hog about it!

For the fighter guys I was with during my MX days. They seemed to spend alot of time in the "Vault" studying the latest threats and whatnot - at least that's what they were telling me when I was a shade greener Lt....hmmmm! Viva LaVault!

[Guest f16wolf]

Here's what last week was like.

Monday: Pretty slow day. Mission planned for three upgrade sorties on Tuesday, while juggling some scheduling issues in the process. 9 hour day.

Tuesday: Woke up at 0400, briefed, and attempted to fly a DEAD, BSA, and TI mission. 1st mission turned into the BSA ride to practice medium altitude deliveries and strafe at the range due to weather. The second mission was a wash because maintenance found a hole in the left main tire. Taxiied back and jumped to a spare to meet the rest of the guys on the third sortie. Everyone else flew a 2v1 TI mission. The third sortie turned into the original DEAD mission. Debrief ended around 1730. 13+ hour day.

Wednesday: My "day off". Drove around the safety truck, worked on the next day's schedule, and mission planned three more upgrade sorties (4vX ACT) that didn't happen due to Tropical Storm Tammy. Got a call at 1915 that 1st go was cancelled due to weather; mass brief was going to be at 0730. 9.5 hour day.

Thursday: Showed to plan for a 2v2 TI mission, that turned into a 1V1 TI hot pit. Briefed as a backup guy, since the other wingman was not CAT 2 (300-1). Worked on more scheduling issues, because Friday was turning into a fly day. Stepped to fly a hot pit 1v1 that turned into a little HABFM. Landed and debriefed. Finished more scheduling issues. Sat in on the schedule buy. Got home around 1830. 11 hour day.

Friday: Got up at 0600 to be at the Wing "Fun" Run (5k). Waited 20 minutes at the gate. Ran 3.1 miles. Showered in the squadron and ran over to range wars to buy airspace for two weeks out. Came back to tighten up scheduling issues for Tuesday. Flying got cancelled. Sat in on an intel brief about Iran. Ate lunch. Took care of more scheduling issues and attended a few squadron meetings. The DO then changed the schedule for the following week @ 1600. More scheduling. Chatted in the bar for 15 minutes. Handled more scheduling and coordination for the 4v6 ACT sortie on Tuesday with Dragnet (AWACS). Home around 1830. 11 hour day.

Oh yeah, not once this week did I wish I were flying around in a C-130.

[Guest Rainman A-10]

I have never once looked at the clock except to make sure I get to work early enough to make my brief. If you are a clockwatcher who enjys "free time away from work" the fighter world is probably not a good place for you. It is a lot easier to be a fighter pilot if there is nothing more exciting than getting up and going into work.

I can't count the number of times I have walked out of the vault into a dark main hallway and wandered down to the bar with the hopes that guys were still hanging around. I don't regret spending that time at work. I knew it would all be over too soon. I was right.

This is the greatest job in the world. I missed a lot of things when my kids were little but I am about to give them 110% of my time and energy as a retired guy. Three of four of them are teeneagers now and they are at the age where my attention and attendence at their events really matters. They were pretty clueless when they were little and I saw plenty of them when I was night flying (which was about half the time).

Treat your wife like she is the most important thing in the world (you will want her and the kids to be there when you're done being a warrior) and treat your job like you are the luckiest man on earth to be part of the warrior caste in the greatest nation on earth.

[Champ Kind]

Any Herk pilots want to take a few minutes to break down a typical week like f16wolf did? (No, I'm not being sarcastic.... I'm curious as to what a normal week entails) Thanks!

[HerkDerka]

Generally as a new Herk piglet you'll fly 2-4 times a week depending on your requirements. If you have a side job tack on an extra 20+ hours. If you don't have a job, you'll be studying, doing CBTs, etc.

A normal fly day consists of a 1430 show time, but you'll generally roll in an hour early to finish up stick diagrams or whatever your assigned products are for the brief. Go to LS for hemlets, NOGs, etc. Form brief for about an hour and a half and then crew briefs. Study the 280, charts, run-ins, CARPS, etc. etc. etc.

Step time around 1730. After that we'll usually go up for four routes. It changes everyday, but two VLL ad two SKE is a standard. Sometimes you'll just drop sandbags and sometimes you'll drop actuals. It all depends on the what the loads need. After that break off for some pro work. Choose from a local instrument sortie, NVG airland, NVG assaults, or Vis assaults. Form debrief after ward.

Expect to be home between 0100-0200, but overflights do happen.

With our high ops tempo, you'll be flying a ton both on rote and at home.

And not once this week was I wishing I had an afterburner after a 2,000 ft takeoff (corrected for VMCA, mind you).

HD

[ 08. October 2005, 17:26: Message edited by: HerkDriver24 ]

[Guest AirGuardian]

Agree with Rainman A-10 and others (Nice Post of course typing what most of us feel)

Only change from an ANG C-17 flyer outlook is as follows:

"It is a lot easier to be an AIRLIFT pilot if there is nothing more exciting than getting up and going into work in another country, or two, or three with your flying machine, your best buds and getting paid for it."

If you'd do it for free and it keeps food on the table and a roof over your loved ones, than its meant to be! How many people have you met in another career field that truly can say they are living their dream???

Cannot emphasize Rainmaster's point enough...

AF - 20 years and maybe more, but it will end!

Your Wife and Family - Treat them right and they will be there even after you're 6 feet under, or in my case ashes...

[Guest Hoser]

Up at 6

Out the door at 0645

Dental Hobby Shop Appointment at 0715

In the squdaron by 0800

Fine Tuned Breifing Guides /Put up boards for Defensive BFM ride till approx 1000

Practiced my brief until 1100

Lunch till 1200

Brief at 1245 for an 1515 Takeoff

Land at 1630

Wednesday Wings (Squadron Function) at 1700

"Student" De-Brief 1730-1900

Upgrading IP Debrief from 1915-2030

13.5 hour duty day.

Ready for a

Hoser

[C17Driver]

Flying day - Operational MSN C-17

Up at 0245

Alert 0300

Show 0400 (Duty day begins)

Brief 0405

Step 0420

T/O 0615

Land (somewhere in the midwest, east coast, whatever...then T/O again and head east)

Land (Final Stop) in Europe - 2100

Wait for bus at ETAR (usually 45) - 2145

Duty Day ends

Mil Around checklist (ie; check in with AMCC, get billeting) - 2200 (usually takes 30 min)

Get set up on next mission

Get to billeting - 2300

Go out on the town if possible (not set up with just 12 hours, or it's not 3AM)

[Wing Sweep]

What does an average day include for you operational pilots? The light at the end of the tunnel is starting to appear here at ENJJPT (unless ENJJPT IP has his way and I get three years in the mighty tweet) and haven't completely decided on my order for the dream sheet. As such, I'd be interested in hearing about what you do on an average flying or non-flying day. For people outside the fighter/bomber community, I'm sure other studs would like your input as well. Thanks.