A Typical Long Haul Pilot Duty

Looking back at a long career as a pilot, it is very obvious working as a long haul pilot was a lot more than a 9am to 5pm job! Most long haul flights out of New Zealand consist of anything between 8 and 19 hours today, a large number carried out at night (thank you for the electric light bulb!). My personal longest flight was 16hr 35min from Houston to Auckland.

John in his happy place

Generally speaking, for our airline, flights up to 8 hours are crewed by two pilots. Longer flights carried more crew, and they are carried based on several factors. The likes of flight hours and local nights at destination.

 At an individual pilot level, many additional factors must be taken into consideration working long duties and through the night. Getting good rest at home before a duty and also in my case, living in Christchurch meant a commute to and from Auckland, adding extra hours to the duty.

 If we consider a flight to North America (LAX, SFO, IAH, YVR, etc) these typically leave mid evening from Auckland. I would usually commute from Christchurch mid-afternoon or early evening dependant on the duty start time. In my early years of commuting, I would travel standby and thankfully rarely missed a flight! A handy mitigation to this was to travel with a flight in hand in case of delays, cancellations, etc.

 Friends and family would see a distinct change in my demeanour as a flight duty neared. Many pilots undergo this as they start to focus on factors affecting the work schedule ahead. Some duties were up to 10 days long as we traversed the planet from Auckland to London and back. Not only do pilots need to manage the aircraft over the long duties, they also need to manage themselves. Selfcare and personal responsibility are foremost in thought.

 Naturally, weather enroute is high on the list of items to be thought about, along with destination considerations and potential crew dynamics. The size of the crew compliment is large, so, often the crew working with you are strangers until you’ve had time to get to know them. However, we have been trained to exacting standards and even though your crew may be strangers, it is entirely predictable how the aircraft will be operated.

 Crew dynamics start to come together at Flight Planning where it is also my role as Captain to allocate duties over the next few days. As an example, a flight duty to North America usually consists of two sectors. The First Officer does one sector pilot flying and the other pilot monitoring. The roles are reversed for the return sector. It is in Flight Planning we review weather, (enroute, destination & alternate) NOTAMs, aircraft minimum equipment list etc. We discuss all these considerations and with the flight plan, we come up with decisions - mainly involving fuel needs.

 Upon arrival at the aircraft, operations and passenger considerations are discussed with the lead flight attendant. I found this discussion was a great opportunity to establish a good working dynamic with all the crew. Meanwhile, the pilots are carrying out various flight deck preparation duties and setting up flight computers – the electronic flight bag, flight management computer alongside pre- flight set up.

 Bringing a flight together involves several folk – engineers, air traffic controllers, multiple ground staff, etc. I always marvel when we get an airplane onto the runway ready to take-off.

The captain always makes a “Welcome Aboard” PA, but I preferred to go one step further and speak to the passengers via PA in the actual aircraft cabin. I would alternate between Business and Economy sections for variety. The passenger and flight attendant feedback especially during disruptions was gold.

Obviously, a long haul flight mainly involves lots of hours in the cruise. Most folk think not much happens here but I personally found much goes on in this phase. Long Haul operations involve working under a ruling of EDTO (extended diversion time operations) today which originally started as ETOPS (Extended Twin Engine Operations – flights over 60min from an airfield.) Air New Zealand was at the forefront of the development of these rules. They had to be as EVERY international flight was over large swathes of deserted ocean.

 A typical flight will always operate within its EDTO limit. In practice this could be 120, 180, 240, 290, 330, 370min away from a diversion airfield flying on one engine. Many considerations determine enroute suitability- weather, airfield equipment, etc. All these must be monitored in flight. Across the Pacific Ocean there is lots of weather to negotiate – large CB clouds up to 50,000’ and frequent turbulence. Thankfully, modern aircraft such as B787 Dreamliner, A350 and A380 have a gust suppression system installed which dampens turbulence effects.

 Part of EDTO operations being so successful is aircraft and engine reliability, of course, feature largely. Engine manufacturers monitor, in real time, engine performance whereby potential issues show up in a timely manner. Pilots are also encouraged to carefully manage engine handling - both pre-flight by programming minimum power take-offs, and other flight phases. This real time monitoring of engines is remarkable. I have been notified inflight of an engine issue before our own computers picked anything up.

 Managing crew wellbeing mainly occurs in the cruise by assigning rest appropriately. The B777 has several pods for both flight attendants and pilots. Considerations of managing this vary between the two groups. For example - meal service timing for flight attendants and assigned duties for the pilots. (The flying pilot usually gets the best rest period!)

 Arrivals into any airport always is a busy team effort. The entire crew have to be just as alert as they were when the flight began, even if it was 16 hours ago! For Air NZ operations, all pilots are on the flight deck. Some airlines only have the operating pilots there for arrival. To effect a smooth and safe arrival, thorough preparation is carried out both programming flight management computers along with checks and briefings.

 Air Traffic Control in busy American airports features continuous instructions from pilots and clearances from controllers. It is imperative to maintain a sharp listening watch for instructions. To the well trained flight crew ear it becomes easy to filter non relevant chatter! The trick to fitting in with busy airport environments is simply go with the flow and strictly adhering to instructions. This comes into sharper focus on the ground as in places like Los Angeles, San Francisco, etc the ground controllers could be handling dozens of aircraft at a time in confined spaces.

 Layovers these days are mostly dictated around timetables. A crew may spend one or two nights at a destination and occasionally more if, for example, a destination doesn’t have a daily service. After completing post flight duties, the entire crew (both cabin and tech) would clear customs and immigration and walk to a waiting crew vehicle to take us to our accommodation. Although usually very tired, the entire crew would chat and get to know each other a little more. Sometimes, the level of fatigue could mean some nod off and snooze in the bus!

 Once in my room, I preferred to have a brief nap before getting on with a restricted remainder of a day, before meeting my crew for evening dinner. Occasionally, cabin crew would also join us. These occasions were most important in maintaining a healthy crew dynamic.

 If the following day was a day free of duty, the crew usually disperse to many different activities. Several, including myself, had mini routines to spend free time. Some may go skiing, tramping, shopping, biking, running, touring, etc. Some of the things I enjoyed in Los Angeles was visiting two ex-presidential museums, along with seeing the space shuttle, Endeavour.

 Invariably, the return flight would arrive back in Auckland in the early morning. From there I would make my way across to the domestic terminal breathing in the fragrant and crisp early morning breezes and catch the first flight home. I’d most often be asleep in my seat before take-off. The remainder of the day, I would catch up with minor chores, as I really wouldn’t be capable of much more than that. An early bedtime would conclude the multiday tour of duty. And a couple of days later, I would do it all again.

 While there are many other aspects to long haul flying, the greatest emphasis is on teamwork. It takes a lot of people to successfully complete each flight. I joined the airline industry at a time where there was a much more hierarchical structure – the captain was king and not to be questioned - but, thankfully, for both flight safety and efficient flight management, crew resource management training was introduced. The captain was no longer king, he was a leader of a team who had voices and confidence to use them. This has evolved with time and is now a critical factor in aviation. Crew Resource management is now an examinable subject for every stage of pilot licencing. Safety, efficiency and better working environments are the winner.

Now I have retired from the role of Captain on the B777. I look back on the 20 years I spent as a long haul pilot (and 20 as a short haul pilot) and see with pride that the entire process of getting a flight in the air and successfully concluded at an outstation was (and still is) a well-oiled operation. No individual is greater than any other in the whole team for responsibility and professionalism.