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Airlines

Ask the Captain: A typical day in the life of a commercial jet

John Cox
Special for USA TODAY
Some overnight freight operators may fly a plane only one or two legs a day, while a regional airline may fly more than 10.

Q: What is a normal day for a typical domestic-based aircraft? How many miles/legs will they fly, and how long are they in service before scheduled maintenance?        

— submitted by reader Bob, Marietta Ga.

A: This varies dramatically with the type of operation. As an example, some overnight freight operators may fly the airplane only one or two legs a day, while a regional airline may fly more than 10 legs a day.

Most airlines use a progressive maintenance. A part of a maintenance check is done on an overnight; a few days later, another part is done in a different city. This process continues until the complete maintenance check is finished.

Q: How many hours a day do the airlines schedule a plane to be in the air?         

— Hooker Thomas, Greensboro, N.C.

A: It depends on the type of operation. Passenger aircraft can fly more than 12 hours a day, while some cargo operators fly only a few hours a day.

Q: How many short legs and hours can pilots for low-cost carriers like easyjet, Ryanair, etc., do, since they fly short-haul round-trips daily?

— Muki, Cameroon

A: Each airline has a limit, but there is not an industry standard. When I was flying short-distance flights, we would fly up to 10 legs in a day.

Q: Assume a regional jet lands at 11:30 p.m. and is scheduled for departure at 7 a.m. Does the same crew take the plane out, or is there a fresh crew available for the morning flight?

— Floyd, Reading, Pa.

A: It can be the same crew if the crew is scheduled to be on duty. Known as continuous duty overnights, the crew in this scenario usually flies one leg to the destination, has a very short night in a hotel near the airport and returns to base the next morning. Pilot duty periods are usually 14 hours or less. In your example, the crew would have reported for duty around 9:30 p.m. for a departure at 10:30 and flown for an hour. They would have reported back to the airport at 6 a.m. and flown an hour back to base. Their duty period would be 9:30 p.m., to 8:30 a.m., 11 hours.

This is an expensive way to schedule pilots, so more often another crew will take the morning flight.

Q: Why do airplanes fly to Europe at night and return in the day?             

— John, Boston

Airlines have determined that is when most passengers would like to fly, and they can get landing slots.

Q: Regarding your recent column about who is allowed to taxi an airliner after maintenance: I am a retired AMT and was specially trained to taxi aircraft. The procedure is that you have to have generalization and familiarization on each specific aircraft you’re rated for, then you have to memorize the airport layout, finally you have a check ride with a designated trainer. This duty is not taken lightly or easily accomplished.

— Steven M., Fort Worth

A: Thank you for the information. I knew that the process was extensive.

John Cox is a retired airline captain with US Airways and runs his own aviation safety consulting company, Safety Operating Systems.

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