Pilot

Soulstorm§Tumblr

Pilots fly airplanes and helicopters to do many jobs. Most pilots fly people and cargo from place to place. Some pilots test new planes, fight fires, do police work, or rescue people who are hurt or in danger. Before they take off, pilots plan their flight carefully. They check their plane to make sure that it is working properly. They also make sure that baggage or cargo has been loaded correctly. They check the weather forecast to see if they will run into any bad weather on their trip. They then decide what route they should take, and how high and fast they should fly. Takeoff and landing are often challenging and require a great deal of piloting skill. As a result, pilots must be especially careful during those times. The rest of the flight can be fairly easy if the weather is good because planes have computers and other gauges to tell pilots if their trip is going according to plan. These gauges show whether there is enough fuel, whether the weather is changing, and whether the plane is on course. Pilots must check monitor these gauges at all times during the flight to be sure that all is going well. If problems come up, the pilots must quickly take steps to solve them. The law says that pilots who work for an airline cannot fly more than 100 hours a month or more than 1,000 hours a year. Most airline pilots fly about 75 hours a month, and work another 75 hours a month at other parts of the job. When they are flying, airline pilots often stay away from home overnight. Airlines have flights at all hours of the day and night. This means that airline pilots are often asked to work odd hours. Pilots who do not work for the airlines can have unusual work schedules, too. For example, they may fly 30 hours one month and 90 hours the next. Most of them do not have to stay away from home overnight, but they may have to work odd hours. Pilots who fly very long distances may have “jet lag.” This is fatigue caused by moving through different time zones. The work of pilots who test new planes may be dangerous. Pilots who work on farms or who help police and firefighters also might get hurt on their jobs. Flying does not involve physical work. However, pilots can feel a lot of stress because they know that they are responsible for the safety of their passengers. They must be careful and quick to react if something goes wrong.