An airline pilot flies an aircraft and is responsible for the safe conduct of a flight. Work starts with a briefing and preflight checks and ends with a debriefing. The long training of airline pilots is not mainly for the day-to-day work, but for the rare moments when something goes wrong. The time as a co-pilot is also training, namely towards captain. Up-to-date ATPL knowledge helps in an airline pilot's daily work, for example in performance calculations, weather analysis and emergency procedures. Cockpit procedures have a purpose that must be understood, not just known; an airline pilot must also be able to land with an engine inoperative, with flap problems and in bad weather, and decide when diverting is safer. Under EU-OPS, the flight duty period starts when the airline requires the pilot to report for duty and ends at on-chocks after the last sector. The larger an airliner, the more slowly it responds because of inertia, which requires thinking further ahead. Pay For Time (PFT) and Pay to Fly (PTF) mean the same thing: you pay an airline to be allowed to fly for it as a pilot and so build experience. For airliners, broadly speaking, the VMO limit depends on pressure and the MMO limit on temperature. The approach ban (JAR-OPS) means you may always start an approach, even if the RVR is below minima, but at the outer marker or equivalent position the minimum RVR must be available, otherwise you discontinue the approach.

Pilot life can be glamorous but is also irregular, physically demanding and sometimes lonely. For intercontinental flying, pilots have fewer flying days but are away from home for longer stretches. A major challenge is jet lag, as the body constantly has to adjust to different time zones. After a flight to Asia, you might sleep during the day in a hotel room while life at home goes on. This is physically and mentally demanding, but many pilots value the longer periods off and the variety. For European flying, pilots almost always sleep at home, but the days are long and intensive. Early starts are a significant challenge, and pilots often miss birthdays, school events and spontaneous social moments. Many intercontinental pilots also name missing these events as the hardest aspect of the job. The schedule does not match that of the rest of society, making weekend work, public holidays and irregular hours a hurdle for maintaining a social life. Emotional isolation is another factor, as pilots must always remain professional, calm and composed. Suppressing feelings can reinforce loneliness in the long term. A partner who understands and a social network outside aviation are key to managing this. To cope, it helps to communicate with your partner and friends about your schedule and plan quality time when at home. Physical activity helps against jet lag and mood problems. Building a network of fellow pilots is beneficial because they understand the lifestyle. Finally, it is important to be realistic and know the challenges before starting, as the lifestyle has a lot to offer but is not perfect.

Rosters can be intensive, with early check-ins and long duties leading to little sleep. A roster can sometimes include five consecutive days of early check-ins at 05:00, with duties of up to 13.5 hours. A pilot in 2024 warns that in the wet-lease sector, pilots work 20 days on and 10 days off, meaning they are often only really at home for about 8 days. A widebody captain in 2024 flies rotations of up to 17 hours, such as Dallas to Xiamen, about 10 hours of which are over the ocean. Another widebody captain in 2023 describes the job by stating they are a pilot for 5 to 10 minutes per flight, and a systems manager the rest of the time. At KLM, pilots on intercontinental routes fly the Boeing 777, 787 or Airbus A350 to destinations such as Tokyo, New York and Buenos Aires, with a typical trip lasting two to four days with one or two nights' layover. Workload and flying hours can vary significantly. One line pilot expected to fly about 650 hours in 2021, which was about 100 hours fewer than expected. Another line pilot flew about 130 hours in the first six months of 2021 because of a lower workload and reached around 504 hours for the full year. Pilots shared concrete flying experiences from 2021: a 737 captain flew 550 hours PIC in 146 sectors with 75 landings, with an average flight time of 3:40 hours. A 747 cargo pilot flew 666 hours in 105 sectors with 35 landings that same year, with an average flight of 6:18 hours and the longest being 15:05 hours. After 18 months without flying, an A220 pilot in 2021 was able to start line training directly after a week of ground school and two simulator sessions, and flew more than 187 hours in ten weeks.134

Pilots describe the aviation industry as an environment with little stability, where bankruptcies and declining working conditions occur. They stress that the motivation to become a pilot should come from a passion for flying rather than from expectations of high salaries or job security. A pilot who went through several bankruptcies warns to always fly a stable approach, as it is the only stability you will find in this business. Salaries outside legacy carriers such as KLM and Lufthansa are low, according to a pilot in 2024. At KLM, there is a strong emphasis on an open culture, with new pilots encouraged in simulator and Crew Resource Management (CRM) training to speak up to the captain and to report their own mistakes immediately in an Air Safety Report (ASR). At a large cargo airline with a union and a collective labour agreement, pilots find calling in sick straightforward, with scheduled duties cancelled immediately, while support for medical visits and repatriation abroad is arranged by a contracted company.1256

An airline pilot advises aspiring pilots to think carefully before starting training, noting that most people who start are really young and have no idea about money. The financial burden of training can be considerable: in 2010 one pilot was looking for work with more than EUR 100,000 of bank debt and EUR 10,000 of student debt. Another airline pilot in 2023, who started ATPL theory in 1997 and obtained a frozen ATPL in early 2000, only got a job as an airline pilot in 2005 because of the crisis after 11 September 2001. In hindsight, this pilot took too much financial risk without a backup plan.78