A pilot’s lifestyle is not relaxed or easygoing by any means. In fact, it is exactly the opposite: hectic, pressured, serious and taxing. Pilots lead lives that the average person could not keep up with. With an incredible amount of responsibility on their shoulders, they bounce around the world like a pinball, in and out of new cities daily. Some pilots handle the pressure gracefully, claiming that the lifestyle suits them. Others become increasingly more overwhelmed and struggle with stress management, addiction and substance abuse problems. So just how do the people who we trust with our lives at 35,000 feet function in their every day lives?

Firstly, their work demands an intense level of focus. A pilot is not a professional who can afford to be distracted. On a good day, a pilot needs to maintain diligent focus on their job in order to perform it correctly. On a bad day, the lives of everyone on board an aircraft depend on the focus and the skill level a pilot maintains. For this reason, good mental health and clarity is a necessity for a pilot to possess.

Secondly, it is amazing that pilots can stay as clear minded as they do considering the work schedules they lead. It is not uncommon for a pilot to do turn-around flights day after day. Sometimes, their flights are in such close proximity of one another that it is impossible for a pilot to get a full night’s sleep before embarking on another flight command. A great deal of attention has been placed on this problem in recent years as pilots fight for more reasonable work schedules.

And lastly, the constant movement that pilots engage in is bewildering. Typically, they will work a number of days in a row that exceeds the average work week, then have a number of days off that exceeds the average weekend. During their work days, they may be in and out of as many as 50 different cities in one work period. This type of rootlessness is dizzying, and not everyone can maintain it for a number of years.

Being a pilot is a rewarding profession, but it comes with a significant amount of stress. Everyone respects pilots for their wealth of knowledge and skill that they possess, and everyone can agree that pilots are some of the most trusted people in any profession. However, the pressure and expectations that fall on a pilot can be overwhelming. The education and skill set a pilot must possess are demanding to achieve, the responsibility for other’s safety is enormous, the work schedule is grueling and the compensation is not in the bracket it should be in.

The technical knowledge a pilot must possess is enough to make anyone second guess getting a pilot’s license. The number of hours a pilot must go through in order to take command of a commercial airliner is enormous. Pilots must demonstrate complete control over an aircraft and total mastery of flight protocol before they can independently do their job. This level of responsibility is too much for some would-be pilots to handle.

When it comes to the task of keeping other people safe while the airplane is in motion, the stress is at its maximum. The idea of flying is inherently fearful to people, and when airplane passengers are willing to place their lives in the hands of a pilot they don’t know, this is a remarkable gesture of trust. The burden of this responsibility is so heavy for some pilots that they cannot cope with it. There are instances of pilots losing their minds and succumbing to mental illness because of the pressure placed on them to be responsible for others.

And lastly, the schedule worked is grueling while the compensation is somewhat meager. It is commonly known that pilots lead largely rootless lives because of how much bouncing around they do. They spend more time in hotels doing short changes and turn around shifts than they do at home with their support systems. Most pilots rack up a lot of debt in school to get their pilot’s license, but the salary they receive, even years into their careers, often cannot make ends meet.