Con: flying in the backside of the clock is no joke really bad for your long term health. The notion that cargo pilots often drop dead at age 67 is real.
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Pilot Career Cons
You need a deep bank account. While you will earn a lot of money as an airline pilot later down the years, the first few years might cost you up to $100 000. ...
A steep learning curve. ...
Missing out on holidays. ...
A lot of stress. ...
Losing your career in an instant because of medical reasons.
While there usually are no flight benefits as a cargo pilot, reciprocal jumpseat privileges for crew members can be expected with nearly every one of them, making commuting to work still an option for those looking to live outside of their base.
As a cargo pilot, any type of schedule you can imagine is available—domestic, international, 1-day trips, 14-day trips, all-daytime flying, all-nighttime flying, and every combination of these. It is a myth that we only fly in the middle of the night!
Unfortunately, some medical or health issues may cause you to fail the extensive medical examinations required to become a pilot. This includes certain heart diseases, conditions such as epilepsy, poor hearing, bad vision, and even common allergies, as certain allergy medications can make you drowsy.
“The ups and downs are constant, and we fly at all different times of the day,” Deitz says. “It's a stress on your body.” Takeoff and landing are the trickiest parts of a given flight, requiring all of a pilot's attention and mental energy. Heart rate increases during those windows, studies show.
Cargo pilots sometimes have less conventional schedules. It's common for long-haul cargo schedulers to build trips that might last upwards of two weeks away from home.
Due to the risks to flight safety posed by ADHD, regulatory authorities worldwide consider ADHD a disqualifying condition for pilots. Unfortunately, pilots sometimes fail to disclose ADHD to their Aviation Medical Examiner (AME).
Not too many people are aware that pilots in the U.S. must retire at age 65, due to federal regulations. That may be set to change, however, if a just-passed bill succeeds in becoming law.
It might seem obvious, but many of you ask about this: yes, the pilots prepare their own coffee and meals. Just behind the flight deck, we have a galley, containing several catering boxes with plenty of food, drinks and snacks, an oven and a coffee maker.
While passenger planes predominantly fly travelers with minimal luggage stored in the hold, cargo planes are completely kitted out for the transport of goods. There are no passenger seats in a freighter. Instead, there is an empty galley that can be manipulated to carry various types of cargo and maximize payload.
Some operators fly “on demand cargo flights”, where aircraft will wait for new cargo at the airport were it had landed with the previous load. They may make “repositioning flights” (that are empty), but they do not “return.