Originally Posted by Seachain
very straightforward but can't locate a plausible answer (to conclude a pub argument)... what are the average flying hours a commercial pilot does in a year?
i know it get's difficult to answer depending on domestic or long haul pilots, but "on average", what sounds plausible? 1,000 per yr, 1,500 per year sort of ball park. even a range would be useful.
"we" got discussing how many hours we each flew last year and i thought i was busting some to reach 250 hours "in the air", only to find the odd colleague who simply laughed at this being on the low side. so, duly chastised of course but it then led to the above as yet unanswered question.
I'm not sure there's an easy answer to this as some may fly far more than others. There are many variables in this job, and lots of flexibility for most.
That said, US pilots cannot fly more than 100 hours/month and are also capped at 30 hours/7 days - someone correct me if I'm wrong. Each carrier's labor contract might also have additional limitations as well. Flight attendants have no cap set by the FAA, and a few nutty souls do fly well over 200 hours/month - though most are well below that in the 80-100hr/mo range, and many fly far less than that.