Life as a pilot: We ask what it's like to fly a plane

Pilot Claudine Miles at the controls on the flight deck

For nervous flyers, the thought of flying a plane is utterly alien. So in an attempt to demystify air travel and get an idea of what it's like to pilot a plane, we quizzed Claudine Miles. She's a First Officer with a commercial airline and has been flying planes since she was 16 years old

What do you like about being a pilot? 

I love the view, and I love that every day is different. We're always going to different places, flying different people around, the weather's always different, and no two days are the same, so it’s just a really varied and interesting job. I've always liked travelling and I love going to new places, as well as visiting old haunts, and just being allowed to fly an aeroplane… well, every time I take off is exciting.

And in terms of the actual flying and simply being in the air, what is it you like about that? 

It's an incredible privilege to fly. I’ve flown all sorts of aircraft, from really small propeller beginner style planes to 350-tonne Boeing 747s. And, even on the bigger stuff, I still get a huge sense of freedom and enjoyment. Just being able to fly, handle and control something that is so big and powerful is amazing. 

Do you ever have any doubts about flying? 

No, no doubts.

Firstly because there are so many safety systems in place that if something doesn’t look safe, such as perhaps the crosswind is too strong, or the visibility is too low, then we go elsewhere. There are strict safety limits around these conditions, and if it’s looking like we’re going to breach them, we simply go elsewhere; there’s no indecision, we just do it.

The second thing is that I completely trust the aerodynamics behind how a plane stays aloft. 

That’s something that’s always baffled me – can you easily explain it for us? 

It’s understandable to think of air as insubstantial – if you just let go of something that you're holding up in the air, it will, of course, fall to the ground. So it doesn't feel like air is made of anything.

But if you're driving along in a car, and you put your hand out the window, particularly at higher speeds, you're going to feel that air going past, it's going to push your hand back, and that’s because of the speed you’re travelling at.

Now planes fly a lot faster than your car will drive. Yesterday, for example, our take off speed was 136 knots, or about 155mph. We take off a lot faster than you drive your car and then we get even faster (until we come into land, when we get slower again!).

When you're going at that speed, the dynamic air pressure is actually substantial enough to easily support 350 tonnes of aircraft. I’m happy to dive into the physics, but that’s for another time. 

It seems like you’ve always had a love of science, but which came first, the love of science or the love of flying? 

I think being interested in how things work came first. I remember seeing someone change a tyre when I was about four and was fascinated to see that you could take things apart, fix something and put it back together. 

As I was really interested in the mechanics of how things work and was also good at maths, it meant at school I leant towards the sciences then went on to do an aerospace engineering degree at university. But I was drawn towards aerospace engineering because I decided when I was 10 that I wanted to become a pilot.

What happened when you were 10 to make you set on being a pilot? 

Although we travelled on planes reasonably regularly as children, I'd never really considered what the pilots did or anything about the job or becoming a pilot. But on a flight in Australia to Sydney, my mum, my sister and I asked if we could visit the flight deck during the flight, back when this was a possibility. Not only did they let us visit the flight deck, the pilots actually let us stay there for landing. 

And as I said earlier, for me it’s all about the view. Seeing the view of Sydney, as we came in over the beaches and the harbour, and the airport and the runway all lit up in front of us, was brilliant. 

It made me think, how can I do this when I leave school? How do I make sure that this is something I get to see when I go to work? I’ve yet to fly into Sydney, but seen plenty of amazing ones instead, with London City airport and Cape Town being particular favourites.

What really cemented this idea was on the way home, we had a female pilot as part of the crew, and I don’t remember seeing many female pilots when I was younger. 

So the combination of seeing the work being done and also seeing someone who looked at least a bit like me doing it, made me realise that I could do it and I really wanted to.

Times have changed, and a couple of weeks ago I was part of an all-female crew on a flight to Milan. 

How did you get from being that determined 10 year old to now, a successful First Officer with a commercial airline, essentially living your dream as a pilot? 

It’s been a journey! But essentially, I got my Commercial Pilot's Licence via an intense 18-month course and training, six months of which are theory, with 14 different subjects to pass exams in.

Then it was a year of flying, starting on single engine light aircraft, then twin engine propeller aircraft. From there, I worked for a private jet company before joining a commercial airline in 2016.

I’ve now done four different type ratings, which means I’ve flown four different types of passenger jet. For each one you do further training specifically on that aircraft type, which takes around a month to six weeks and that covers, again, more theory, lots and lots of simulator practice and then training in the aircraft as well. 

Alongside this initial training, we have flight simulator training every six months, as well as regular safety and emergency procedures training. 

Lastly, for anyone who is nervous to Get on the Plane, what would you say to support them? 

As pilots, and the airlines in general, safety is our number one concern. It governs everything and there is so much safety built into the system. 

Contingency options are also considered at every stage. For example, when we’re planning, we always need to have not just our destination but alternative options too, and we always carry enough fuel to be able to get to those alternatives too.

There's lots more we'll be asking Claudine to cover for us and explain, so if you've got any questions you'd like us to ask, add them in the comments below.