http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/05/1 ... alcomments
SNAFOO wrote: Although I agree with many that wages for US commuter pilots is low, it's tempered with the knowledge that flying an airplane isn't exactly rocket science.
Pilots have achieved legendary status as super-humans largely based on lack of understanding of exactly what they do. Believe it or not, the typical work load of an average airline pilot is considerably less than than a city bus driver. A bus driver must maintain a high level of attention during his or her entire shift and deal with issues ranging from unruly passengers, schedule delays, traffic and weather conditions. Bus drivers have the responsibility of transporting their human cargo safely while dealing with those challenges. And....bus drivers do it for a full shift, 5 days a week.
The majority of the workload for airline pilots occurs at landing and takeoff which are arguably very short periods of the entire flight. The rest of the flight enroute is handled by the autopilot.
The typical enroute cockpit scene consists of the pilots drinking coffee, eating lunch and sharing some light chatter all the while occasionally keeping air traffic control up to date and scanning the instruments for anomalies.
The pilot in command is the primary operator and the copilot helps out. They theoretically work as a "team" and that is true as far as a few functions go (gear and flaps are controlled by the "pilot not flying") but it's really a one man show as the copilot is also there to train and gain experience.
Airline pilots don't put in anywhere the same time on duty as the average bus driver but there is a great deal of training which is pretty much all concentrated on the "unlikely" events like weather or mechanical failure.
Most of the time its takeoff, coffee break, land in a largely automated machine.
