CargoPilot

The work

The aircraft and the licences are the same as passenger flying; the working life is not. Freight runs at night, into airports that are quiet at three in the morning, on a body clock that has to be managed rather than fought. Loading matters more here than anywhere else in aviation, weight and balance is a live calculation with real consequences.

A typical day

• 01Night sectors, often several short legs back to back
• 02Check the load sheet and the centre of gravity before anything moves
• 03Fly into fields with fewer services and fewer people awake
• 04Manage fatigue deliberately, because the roster will not do it for you

How people get in

• The same licences

  Identical to the passenger route. Many pilots move between the two more than once.

• Regional freight first

  Single-pilot or light twin freight is a common way to build turbine hours quickly.

How it unfolds

1. Year 1Light freight or a first officer seat, often single-pilot night operations on a piston twin.
2. Years 2-6Turboprop or narrow-body freighter. The hours build faster here than almost anywhere.
3. Years 7+Command, and often a move to wide-body long haul or to a passenger operator.
4. LaterSome stay for the roster: freight tends to fly the same routes on the same nights.

Is there a job in it

The hard parts

You work when everyone else sleeps and sleep when everyone else works, and no amount of experience makes a body clock agree to that. Fields at three in the morning have fewer services, less traffic and nobody to ask. The flying is the same standard; the support around it is thinner.

What you would need

• Weight and balance
• Fatigue management
• Instrument flying
• Dangerous goods awareness