Longer hauls…

“I don’t know how you guys do it…”

It is a commonly expressed sentiment by cabin crew when they see two pilots in the confines of the flight deck. A cramped space, hours of sitting and perceived inactivity. To cabin crew members, who are frequently run off their feet, it sometimes seems like a sedentary sentence that borders on torture. To the flight crew, the difficulties can lie in less obvious places.

It is also a question that is set to be asked more frequently as the range of airliners continues to extend and new route structures are set to keep passengers and crew aloft longer than ever before. Their door-to-door time to arrive at their destination may well be slashed as enroute ports are overflown, but ultra long haul flying is set to reinforce the challenges that currently exist.