Turns

[Old fella]

Those turns to Delhi and back from YYZ gotta be hard on ya, even turns to Sydney(Aus) from YVR same.

[pelmet]

Those turns to Delhi and back from YYZ gotta be hard on ya, even turns to Sydney(Aus) from YVR same.

It all depends on flights like that. The longer flights can be better than the medium flights. At some point, extra crew members come on board. Double crew on a 16 hour flight can result in over 7 hours of rest time. It is great if it is close to your regular sleep time(and smooth flight, although some people do like turbulence for sleeping - perhaps they were rocked more as a baby). If one gets sleep at the right time combined with a cockpit power nap(ideally in between cabin crew bothering you again and annoying CPDLC chimes) and it can work out very well.

Two crew across the Atlantic......that can be way tougher.

[Sharklasers]

Guys that do exclusively SYD can get their months down to 6-8 days. Gives them lots of time to recover.

[Old fella]

Guys that do exclusively SYD can get their months down to 6-8 days. Gives them lots of time to recover.

How long are the destination layovers, SYD probably not hard to take but Delhi......... then again I have never been there(Delhi).

[bob99]

At the moment, both DEL and SYD are 24 hours.

[Fanblade]

Those turns to Delhi and back from YYZ gotta be hard on ya, even turns to Sydney(Aus) from YVR same.

From someone who has always found overseas fatiguing. The longer the flight the better. Going from three crew to four makes a massive difference. Some of the two and three crew stuff is nasty especially body clock middle of the night. Four crew though, never worse than a bad nights sleep. Your in the bunk half the time.

[pelmet]

At the moment, both DEL and SYD are 24 hours.

Pretty bad. 48 hours with occasional 72's gives a nice time to enjoy.

[Old fella]

Those turns to Delhi and back from YYZ gotta be hard on ya, even turns to Sydney(Aus) from YVR same.

From someone who has always found overseas fatiguing. The longer the flight the better. Going from three crew to four makes a massive difference. Some of the two and three crew stuff is nasty especially body clock middle of the night. Four crew though, never worse than a bad nights sleep. Your in the bunk half the time.

Another one? As pilots age commensurate with his/her seniority, do some opt out of overseas flying and go domestic on smaller aircraft. To someone like me without any airline experience in any type of operation, long haul flying would seem much more difficult as one gets older. I would assume that benefits aka money would be different(lower) by going on smaller aircraft with North American turns.

[Old fella]

At the moment, both DEL and SYD are 24 hours.

Pretty bad. 48 hours with occasional 72's gives a nice time to enjoy.

Even as a passenger I found overseas travel hard. About 10 yrs ago did YHZ-YYZ-LHR-Belfast and return Dublin-LHR-YYZ -YHZ and I wasn’t fit day after arrival each leg. Of course I have no idea as flight crew member what the hoops are, chaps like you would know no doubt doing/ understanding it.

[bobcaygeon]

As long as the layovers are short and you can stay on your normal sleep schedule it's not bad. Longer layovers are what mess you up as your body starts to acclimatize.

[Crewbunk]

As long as the layovers are short and you can stay on your normal sleep schedule it's not bad. Longer layovers are what mess you up as your body starts to acclimatize.

^ This!

After more years flying international flying than I care to admit, I find the usual 24 hour layovers the easiest. Sleep twice, hit the gym, walk around the hotel locally then go home. If you sleep and eat when your body says so, you won’t be fatigued.

I find the longer layovers hardest as you try to do “other stuff” and it messes you up. I think it depends how one views the layover. Accepting it as crew rest (to me) is a better attitude than, “this is a mini vacation on the airline’s dime” trying to get as much sightseeing as possible in the shortest time.

[Fanblade]

Those turns to Delhi and back from YYZ gotta be hard on ya, even turns to Sydney(Aus) from YVR same.

From someone who has always found overseas fatiguing. The longer the flight the better. Going from three crew to four makes a massive difference. Some of the two and three crew stuff is nasty especially body clock middle of the night. Four crew though, never worse than a bad nights sleep. Your in the bunk half the time.

Another one? As pilots age commensurate with his/her seniority, do some opt out of overseas flying and go domestic on smaller aircraft. To someone like me without any airline experience in any type of operation, long haul flying would seem much more difficult as one gets older. I would assume that benefits aka money would be different(lower) by going on smaller aircraft with North American turns.

There are pilots that stay on a Narrow Body rather than go to a widebody even when seniority allows. It's not a lot but definitely aome

[FL030]

long haul flying would seem much more difficult as one gets older.

The worst part of long-haul is being exhausted but not being able to sleep because your body clock is keeping you up. The old timers can sleep whenever they want. They're asleep for the pre-departure deadhead, they're asleep during their crew rest period in the bunk, they're asleep while doing controlled rest on the flight deck, they're asleep in the shuttle van to the hotel. They're basically only awake for takeoff and landing on their operating leg.

[accountant]

Pretty sure most crew who stick to long haul do it to maximize their days off.

How else do you have your cabins / lake houses with maybe 12 days work in a month??

Must be nice.

[Crewbunk]

Pretty sure most crew who stick to long haul do it to maximize their days off.

How else do you have your cabins / lake houses with maybe 12 days work in a month??

Must be nice.

Wrong again. Wow, do you just enjoy being wrong every time you post a message?

The most time off is afforded those senior on narrow body equipment. And …. a lot choose that for that reason alone. When a senior A320 Captain, I was working 7 days a month, home every night.

The next best were the senior 777 and 787 pilots that could work 5 3-day pairings over two months.

And yes, it’s very nice. Good thing I didn’t waste my life as a jaded, bitter accountant.

[Old fella]

Boyssss..... I posted this thread as a point of interest as was looking at Flightradar24 with AC flight filter and watched the long distance flights from Delhi and SYD so just asked the question. Certainly didn't want nor interested in an inter-cockpit AC pilot pissing contest on salaries, boats/cottages/houses/girlfriends/ex wives/sleeping habits on operational trips/ retirement income of senior pilots et al. Jesus sorry I asked questions, won't do it any more - promise.

Time for ya all to

[Dash.Trash]

You got some legitimate truthful answers, just ignore the pissed off troll that is accountant trying to derail every thread on avcanada.

I’ll echo what Crewbunk said in that 24 hours is both the easiest and most efficient. But there are of course many variable, departure time, time zones crossed, 3 vs 4 crew.

For example in YYZ, the “day tripper” to London (morning departure YYZ to an evening arrival in LHR) was quite senior as it was less fatiguing (daylight flying), decent layover as you could still hit up a pub when you arrive, and reasonably stay on your home body clock. Where as in YVR, Australia flying tends to go senior as it’s a 4 pilot operation, the senior 2 can hit the bunk right away for 3.5 hours after takeoff at 11pm, and it’s a decent layover.

I will say there is a pretty big difference between 3 and 4 pilot ops, it’s much less fatiguing having that 4th pilot to split the rest up equally. But everybody has their own methods and preferences.

[tupues]

Thanks for the insights.
On the wide-body are the domestic flights (YYZ-YVR and YYC) generally turnarounds or are they too long? I imagine the night one must be pushing it for a turnaround legality-wise. Or simply, what's the share of turns vs layovers on the widebody?
What flights will a wide-body FO on reserve with YYZ/YUL base typically end up getting?