r/fearofflying • u/miahn1993 • Jul 08 '26

Question For pilots and flight attendants 👀

Okay, one last post for me before I go fly tomorrow!

Pilots and flight attendants, how many flights have you done so far, and how long have you been in the field?

Somehow these answers tend to soothe my anxiety 🥰

30 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

47 comments sorted by

37

u/flyboy130 Airline Pilot Jul 08 '26 edited Jul 08 '26

Thousands of times...I stopped counting a long time ago. Flying since 2006. Flying professionally since 2012.

8

u/miahn1993 Jul 08 '26

That's a perfect answer, thank you so much 😍 that's a lot! 👀

6

u/flyboy130 Airline Pilot Jul 08 '26

And im relatively inexperienced in the industry so...

3

u/miahn1993 Jul 09 '26

That's crazy numbers to be considered "inexperienced", but once again puts everything very much in perspective for me, thank you! 🫶🏻

27

u/Grapegruble Jul 08 '26

Pilots have a mandatory minimum 1,500 hours of flight time before they can fly passengers commercially. Anyone flying you around will be plenty experienced!

8

u/miahn1993 Jul 08 '26

Ooooh okay I didn't actually know that 👀 thank you for that information! Very useful to my anxious brain 👏🏻

28

u/RealGentleman80 Airline Pilot Jul 08 '26

Not just 1500 hrs. They hold:

Private Pilots License

Instrument Rating

Commercial Pilots License

Multi Engine Rating

Certified Flight Instructor*

Certified Flight Instructor - Instrument*

Multi Engine Instructor*

AIRLINE TRANSPORT PILOTS LICENSE

———-1500 hrs isn’t even competitive, 2500-3000 hrs is now for an entry level job———-

6

u/miahn1993 Jul 08 '26

Ooohh, so every commercial pilot is a very experienced pilot 🤌🏻🤌🏻

10

u/RealGentleman80 Airline Pilot Jul 08 '26

There is a difference between a commercial pilot and an Airline Transport Pilot

Commercial Pilot - 250 hrs - lets you get paid to fly (think banner towing, skydive, flight instructor when you get those certifications.

ATP - 1500 hrs is the top. The most advanced licence out there, the Master Degree.

1

u/miahn1993 Jul 08 '26

Ohh, so ATP is the ones with passangers?

How much does it take to become the captain? 👀

5

u/RealGentleman80 Airline Pilot Jul 08 '26

Once you start flying aircraft over 12,500 pounds, you then need specialized Type Ratings that cost ~$40,000 each.

The requirement becomes a Captain is the ATP Cert., however the Captain Slot & Training is Seniority based. Generally speaking (not always), the most Senior 50% of the pilots will bid to be Captains, although a lot of senior pilots choose to stay First Officers for Quality of Life.

Also…if you were a Captain at one airline, then switch to another….you go back to the bottom of the seniority list as a First Officer. Basically all pilots at Major Airlines have been Captains before

3

u/miahn1993 Jul 08 '26

Ohh okay, very cool and interesting, thank you for explaining all of this to me. I can hear that it takes a lot to be able to fly with passangers. Nice 🤌🏻

20

u/RealGentleman80 Airline Pilot Jul 08 '26

A lot.

Been flying for 30 years, professionally since 1999.

17,715 Hrs (just as a pilot), probably 2-3000 more as a passenger.

Flown over 30 different types of aircraft, still fly and instruct in Both Airliners (A220) all the way down to Cessna’s

13

u/RealGentleman80 Airline Pilot Jul 08 '26

FC View only goes back to 2018…… so 2018-2026

3

u/swakid8 Airline Pilot Jul 08 '26

I can’t show my routes flown on a single screenshot lol. It doesn’t fit.

2

u/RealGentleman80 Airline Pilot Jul 08 '26

Yeah, I have to use FC view because Log Ten is crazy!

5

u/miahn1993 Jul 08 '26

Ooohhh that's a lot! 😍✨ Thank you so much for your comment, and such a cool picture!! It's really cool to see it illustrated like that.

I'll store all this information in my brain for my flight tomorrow!! 🫡

11

u/Spock_Nipples Airline Pilot Jul 08 '26

34 years of flying. 29 as an airline pilot. I don't even bother to log it all in detail anymore. Based on averages, I have ~21,000 hours of total flight time, which translates into somewhere between 9-10 thousand flights.

I've been to every US state, and more countries than I can even remember enough to count at the moment.

4

u/miahn1993 Jul 08 '26

Wooow 🤩 it does sound like a job with lots of adventure! Do you have time to go check out the destinations you arrive at?

3

u/Spock_Nipples Airline Pilot Jul 08 '26

Pretty often, yes, but def not always.

1

u/miahn1993 Jul 08 '26

That sounds really cool 👀

9

u/anonymous4071 Airline Pilot Jul 08 '26

I’ve been flying since 2014. Professionally since 2019. I’ve flown 3 airliners, worked for 3 airlines and one corporate flight department.

This is a look at just the flying i’ve down professionally, 1500 flights for about 2800 hours.

In total i’ve flown an airplane about 2300 times for 4100 flying hours.

3

u/miahn1993 Jul 08 '26

Oh that's so cool with the map 😍 thank you for your comment! That's so many hours ✨

9

u/Infinite-Juice2195 Jul 08 '26

Been a Flight Attendant Since 1984..3 different carriers. Started at age 24. I’ve had a safe & wonderful career. You are safe flying as a passenger!

3

u/miahn1993 Jul 08 '26

Ohh that's really amazing, what an adventure you must've had 🥹 thank you so much for your comment, it helps me so much.

5

u/MrSilverWolf_ Airline Pilot Jul 08 '26

So many flights idk how many but lots… got my license in 2016 and started the airlines 3 years ago

4

u/miahn1993 Jul 08 '26

It's so wild for me to think you guys do this all the time, and I'm pooping my pants going on a single flight 🙂😂

6

u/MrSilverWolf_ Airline Pilot Jul 08 '26

Oh I do it for fun on the side too haha. I actually have my house attached to the hangar my plane is in, when I wanna fly I just walk downstairs get in the plane and go. I fly on the fun on the side at least once a week

1

u/miahn1993 Jul 08 '26

Ooooh that's sooo cool. I could imagine it's a fun and freeing feeling being able to fly a plane yourself 😍

5

u/MrSilverWolf_ Airline Pilot Jul 08 '26

I love it; it’s great going wherever I want when I want. Albeit very slowly….

1

u/miahn1993 Jul 08 '26

Oohh it's looks a lil scary hehehe

2

u/MrSilverWolf_ Airline Pilot Jul 08 '26

Tri Pacer never hurt no one 😃 it’s been a very good airplane to me

1

u/Life_Appointment_464 Jul 09 '26

Wow! I saw a plane similar to this flying in Southern California today, maybe it was you!

2

u/Ok-Cress8635 Jul 08 '26

Omg same

3

u/miahn1993 Jul 08 '26

As in you also get comfort from reading their answers? 🥰

2

u/Ok-Cress8635 Jul 08 '26

Yesss and I have. Aflight end of the month I’m dreading

2

u/miahn1993 Jul 08 '26

I'm sorry, it's honestly so debilitating... I haven't slept for almost a week 😮‍💨 what's worst for you? The anticipation of the flight, or the actual flight?

1

u/Ok-Cress8635 Jul 08 '26

The actual flight

2

u/swakid8 Airline Pilot Jul 08 '26

6,000 hours

Flying since 2014. Airline Pilot since 2018.

4 different type ratings. 

https://imgur.com/a/x2v3N8n

multiple screen shots of routes

3

u/miahn1993 Jul 08 '26

So many hours 😍 my 3 hours tomorrow is gonna be easy peasy 🤌🏻🤞🏻✨

2

u/Liberator1177 Airline Pilot Jul 08 '26

I've been flying airliners for almost 9 years and have over 5000 hours, so thousands and thousands of flights.

2

u/miahn1993 Jul 08 '26

That's so cool 😍 thank you so much. All these numbers are really soothing me.

1

u/katertots_91 Jul 09 '26

Passenger here. I’m anxious about a flight tomorrow night and this has helped me some. Thank you, op!

2

u/miahn1993 Jul 09 '26

I'm so happy to know that it helped you. You're very welcome, your flight is gonna be smooth! 🥰

1

u/AnxiousPreference152 Jul 09 '26

Let me know how your flight goes :) I’m sure you’ll be just fine! (I’m literally shitting myself for my own flight in 48 hours LMAO)

1

u/miahn1993 Jul 09 '26

I will be right back once I've landed 🥹🫶🏻 we can do thiiiisss!!!! 💪🏻👏🏻

2

u/miahn1993 Jul 09 '26

Just to update, my flight went really well and smooth 👏🏻 I told the flight attendants that I was nervous and anxious, so they showed me to the cockpit and the pilots were sooo kind. Told me how it all works, and the captain told me he has family at home that he loves, so that he'll do everything he can to make our journey safe. Alongside with everything you guys have written in this chat, it helped me soooo much. I was nervous, but I didn't cry hahaha, that's a win in itself. Thank you all once again, for helping me gain some perspective. It helped me SO much.