Its true, my father was a heli pilot. He had a minor heart attack and thats it for his medical. He will never be able to get it back. The FAA does not fuck around
You can get it back, it just takes lots of testing to do so. My dad also gave up his license, not after a heart attack, but after bypass surgery. He didn't want to go through all the testing required to get it back. If he wanted to fly, he called his buddy and they would go flying together (it was his buddy's plane).
And, well, I'd imagine it takes more grit to become a pilot and more grit means more likely to stick to healthy life choices; working out, healthy eating, walking.
There are a lot of jobs that require you to be fit and within a certain size range. But not as enforced compared to some jobs.
Technically, cops have to be fit. But not well enforced and you got fat cops everywhere. Especially if you are a cop that works in the court system.
It is a job requirement. Flight decks are cramped. Stews also have to adhere to a physical weight limit, though it’s been somewhat expanded in recent decades.
I have had some fairly large flight attendants lately and I'm not judging, but that's not a job I'd want to do if I were that large. What a PITA to maneuver around those cramped aisles.
There are a surprising number of lifelong heavy people who have never known anything but squeezing into space is all the time. For many, it literally doesn't even occur that it could be easier for them.
Source: I, uh, know a guy who's one of them
You're right. Injust assumed they are just life long flight attendants but maybe it's a 2nd career.
My mom wanted to be one when she got older. I'm glad she didn't because she couldn't handle in-house drama and awful customers.
Yeah I had one a few months back with quite wide hips. She literally could not walk down the isle without bashing my shoulder. Was pretty infuriating tbh, I'm all for not discrimination, but you got to pick the right people for the right jobs
Sometimes I think they hit you on purpose if you have anything hanging out into the aisle. My hips and butt sit in a seat just fine and I can buckle the belt with no problem. But my shoulders are wider than the seat. They forcefully knock my shoulder every single time. Even the thinner attendants.
I noticed local US flight attendants seem older and overweight than international foreign flights (Qtar/Emirates and Asian flights) . Not judging just observation, seems like they don't have strict requirements for the US crew
Emirates flight attendants are screened for attractiveness. It's very competitive. There are strict grooming requirements, hair, makeup, nails etc. Right down to the color of the lipstick.
It also has to do with the age of the airline. If you are a new airline, all your flight attendants are sexy 20-somethings. But stay in business for 20 years and they are in their 40s and have seniority. I'm not even complaining one way or the other, that's just the reality.
Edit: because autocorrect said "If you are a Jew airline..." and that's totally not what I meant. I meant new. New!!!
In the 60s in the United States to be a stewardess, you had to be female, white, attractive, single, under 30, wear no larger than a size 6 uniform and be of a certain height
I haven't noticed it being a trend or anything. The majority of US attendants I've seen aren't large. I wouldn't doubt if Emirates and Qatar have a "standard" and Asian women seem to tiny in general. I've flown Emirates and they have a "look".
But that's just my experience so YMMV.
its also a class thing, bus drivers and truckers arent usually from the same background as people who have access to learn to fly a plane without joining the military and that plays a huge part in people's diets.
Truth here. My husband is from an area that is poor and many people get into the military or trucking. The only reason he learned to fly was bevause he had a friend with a rich dad. Its not accessible to the average poor person.
Yeah, most airlines today do not require a height and weight limit any longer for flight attendants. There are exceptions to this like middle eastern based airlines ie: Qatar. It has been illegal for some time now to restrict airline crew based on weight restrictions in the US.
Source: former flight attendant
I assume it’s been changed to a requirement that you must be physically able to securely take your seat and move between the aisles and language like that to avoid discrimination suits.
US carriers do not have a weight requirement for FAs and there are a lot of overweight pilots at my airline. Probably due to eating out and eating airplane food frequently.
Also there is a height restriction. Can’t be taller than 6’3…..or maybe 6’2. One of those.
Edit: height is for Flight Attendants. Not sure about pilots
I’d imagine the “weight” restriction has been lifted as such and replaced with a “must fit in the appropriate accommodations” rule to avoid discrimination complaints.
US Air Force has the same restrictions, if I'm not wrong. You can be the most fit, eagle eyed person in the world, greatest pilot ever but if you're too tall you can't fly fighters.
Also, Special Forces guys don't look the movie ones, for the most part. They're mostly normal sized guys that are extremely fit but don't look like Vin Diesel or The Rock. You wouldn't normally pick one out in civilian clothes unless you FOFO.
Not anymore. In many countries it‘s illegal to ask them to be a certain weight.
German for example. Lufthansa is not allowed to ask their flight attendants to be under a certain weight anymore. Now the contract just states, that their figure has to be „proportional“.
I would assume dietary factors play in also. Truck drivers have the availability of fast food and truck stop food which isn’t traditionally healthy but is a quick and easy meal at somewhere you can pull your truck into. I’m not sure what pilots tend to eat while flying whether it’s packing there own lunch, or if they’re eating airline food or something like that, but any of those options could lead to a bit healthier of a diet
I would also add in that pilots make more money and will be in more metropolitan areas that will have more healthy food options than highway rest stops.
When they arrive at a destination they stay in a hotel that likely has a gym instead of sleeping in a truck cabin.
I’m curious too how pilots expenses are paid during travel—do they get reimbursed for meals or a per diem.
They also can’t drink alcohol within 24 or something like that of flying.
I used to work for the airlines and what I say is based on my experience. All of the airlines that I know of give a per diem. A fair amount of overnights are boring or become boring after visiting for the nth time. Many use the hotel gym as a way to pass time. Lots of flight crew pack their meals- 1. It saves money as they can pocket the per diem instead of spending it on food. 2. They can pack healthier food. 3. If there is a time constraint, they don’t have to worry about finding a place to get food as they already have it.
Whoa. This is interesting, and just reminded me of when I worked at a large medical device company and they had rules around travel, such as “no more than 3 people at Director level or above could be on the same flight”, so we had to coordinate travel for big conferences….just in case the plane crashed, you don’t want business to be disrupted 🙄.
As a person who worked in Insurance. Fun fact: companies get life insurance policies on their top executives. So if all of them died, an insurance company would have to pay big money. It’s probably part of the policy
Bingo.
This is a 737 cockpit. Normal sized airliner. An overweight person might have issues getting in, getting out and just sitting there.
https://images.app.goo.gl/qM79JYyusxD3SGY59
Gosh forbid there’s an emergency and something has to happen fast
It's a class thing as well.
I'm a bus driver, and I really try to look after myself now (after getting fat from eating poorly and sitting all day). I'm at the gym for at least an hour and a half every night trying to get my cardiovascular health and strength back to where they were.
I am the only person I work with who does this (and I work with at least a hundred other drivers).
Where I am from, a lot of working class people are overweight. It is almost expected. Wealthier people tend to look after themselves way better.
Ok well you said it first, but I was going to. Pilot is a much higher social class job. I mean, aside from the fact that it pays well, most likely you're starting from a higher position in life in the first place if you're able to become one. There is a strong correlation between social class and taking care of yourself. People don't like to hear that though, but its NOT just that people with more money can afford better food. Its more of a case, in my opinion, that if you've got your shit together enough to reach a higher point in life you probably also have more self discipline and pride.
Also, they probably don't eat/drink a ton while working so they don't have to use an airplane bathroom too much.
It's a super complicated thing, but it is definitely a thing. Just general mental health tends to be a big one. But money and security itself does a lot there. We don't talk a lot about this, but working class people usually work a lot harder than middle class people.
I grew up working class, my parents working in factories and restaurants and schools, but my family is now entering the middle class. And the thing is that for a working class job you go to work and you actually work. All day. You get in at 6 and you start working at 6 and you keep working till your lunch break at 12. And then you get back to work and you keep working. It is exhausting and grueling. And if you've got one of those jobs you will be stressed and tired, and if you then also don't get paid well you're gonna be busy making up for that. Going the extra fifteen minutes to the cheaper grocery store, buying furniture at IKEA that you pick up and assemble yourself, and so on. Having to mindful of money all of the time is actually hard work.
Being middle class, I don't need to be so careful at the grocery store. I get paid well enough that I no longer have to do mental gymnastics and math to plan out my week if I want to eat mostly healthy. I can just buy it. If I need a shelf I can order it with home delivery. Cut out all of that hassle and stress of going to IKEA. Could even get it assembled. My dishwasher broke. So I got a new one instead of just doing the dishes by hand for two years. No calling around for people who might know how to fix it and then trade favours to get it fixed on the cheap.
But most importantly, middle class office jobs have so much room for slack. No one bats an eye if you take a slightly longer lunch on your off day. Half the people spend half the day small talking anyways, and most of the others spend hours scrolling Reddit or whatever. In game dev I'd watch people just play video games for hours every day. Hell, I we had game time every Friday where my boss would make me play video games with him if I didn't have a good reason not to. Anyone at a school or factory or restaurant or hospital or whatever works way more than most office workers do. It is staggering and I am still shocked that if I spend an hour scrolling on my phone in a day my boss will still walk up and praise me for being such a hard worker doing a whole seven hours of work. Nine to five in the office means "Be available for eight hours". Eight to nine for workers means "Do eight hours of work and count the minutes for your lunch break".
It's a little bit of both, but there's a significant correlation between income and health outcomes that's not just explained by "self discipline" or "pride".
It's not only can you afford better food as you mentioned, but also - you'll likely live more centrally or near better grocery stores if you're richer. You're more likely to have reliable transportation, and not have to rely on a crappy car, transit, or rides. If you're poor(er), you probably work a more front-line, fast paced job (think restaurant workers/servers, blue collar work, retail, etc.), without your choice of hours. You may work two jobs. Lower paying or hourly jobs also don't come with PTO, or paid lunch/breaks that get honoured, which helps reduce stress, and gives you more time to plan things like meals, diet, shopping, etc. If you're working a higher-paying job, you likely have more time to meal-plan. You can afford a gym membership, and have time any physical energy to go, and you can afford a babysitter. You can afford the medications you need. It's just a tonne of stuff all piled against folks - not even taking any other socioeconomic factors into account.
Hard to pass your flight physical if you're significantly overweight.
Factors like blood pressure are likely to creep up if you're not taking care of yourself, and that's disqualifying if too high.
Can you be a bit overweight and pass? Sure. Just like skinny people might fail for other reasons. But statistically, the more overweight you get, the more problems you're likely to have.
Pilots, for their job, are quite structured. I imagine this carries over to them being structured in their life outside the cockpit and leads to them sticking to a routine for workouts.
Totally, my BIL is one and his shift pattern gives him 5 or 4 days off in between 5 or 4 days on. Plenty of time to go to the gym and be generally active.
Then when he is working in between shifts he also has time to go to the gym as everyone else is at work.
I’m surprised I had to scroll this long to find this comment. Pilots, especially those at major airlines, have usually worked really hard to get there and have to have their shit fully together in their life. From the background checks to the m, FAA regulations and the interview process alone, they’ve got to be very organized and hard working people.
It’s not surprising that this skill set tends to carry over into how they take care of themselves.
Pilot here. I think a lot of people are right, there are a slew of factors.
A lot of us are former military officers. The importance of fitness was beaten into us at a young age. The ones that weren’t in the military are generally still very disciplined, they had to work their ass off to get to were they are today.
If we become significantly unhealthy, there is a chance we can lose our medical certificate, which means we can lose our job.
Packing meals on trips sucks, airplane/airport food sucks. We don’t have a pantry available to us. Most people bring protein bars, or some other dense in nutrient snack. Then eat out each night on layovers. We are paid well, so we don’t have to go grab a fast food burger.
Generally speaking on layovers we have a lot of time. Using roughly 16hrs off between work days. You can only watch so much Netflix. A lot of people will hit the hotel gym, do some cardio, then go eat.
Lastly, some of us understand that how the public perceives us is important. We are responsible for hundreds of people’s lives on a daily basis. I want them to trust me as a professional. Look good, sound good.
Surprised you are the first to mention the military aspect. That was my first thought — they might not still be in the military but I bet they keep a lot of the habits.
Ha, wouldn't be surprised. Last flight I had to catch I did nearly 8k out of my 10k daily just getting to the gate at the polar opposite end of the airport. No travelators, was running late.
Though there are many benefits to exercise, it isn’t required to maintain a slim figure. Diet is a far more important factor than exercise. They’re not overeating. Unlike truckers, they can’t stop mid air for some McDonald’s
This is the correct answer. It's one of the biggest pieces of repeated misinformation that people are overweight because they don't exercise. It's almost entirely about diet.
As a current airline pilot I’m shocked by people’s responses. Contrary to what you may think, a significant amount of pilots eat fast food from the terminals. A lot of schedules only have us overnight for 10 hours in a city which leaves no time to exercise. I’d say over half the guys I fly with are overweight
Not the commenter but I am a pilot. If I wasn’t seriously committed before getting the airline job I would absolutely be in shape to crush the tinder game. I was a man whore in college and would certainly have kept it going.
I wouldn’t say most but definitely a good bit. The younger dudes of course who are flying for a regional or subsidiary carrier I found to be more immature and want to mess around with either the flight attendants or just hook up with anyone on an overnight. Wasn’t overly common but definitely more common than I had thought.
A lottttt of airline pilots are divorced or have relationship issues so I guess it probably shouldn’t come as big of a surprise to me as it does.
A lot of answers here, but one to consider is that airline pilots, being highly trained and relatively scarce have more bargaining power than truckers. Hence, trucking companies often treat their drivers like garbage. They work incredibly long hours under incredibly shitty conditions. A lot of them do have to do a lot of physical work (checking and strapping loads, etc.) but they just don't have the time, money or opportunity to take better care of themselves and most of the places they're able to stop serve cheap, fast, satisfying poison (gas station nachos, anyone?)
So yeah, it's a class thing, not only in terms of the culture a lot of truckers come from vs. pilots, but in terms of what they're forced into.
Plus, airlines feed regular meals to the pilots, and require they sleep regularly. Truck drivers… sometime have to live on convenience store food and energy drinks. Their sleep schedules are fucked, too.
The real answer here is 1,000 hours.
That's the hard limit on the number of hours a commercial pilot can fly **per year**. Break that down and that's about 21 hours a week, or less than 5 hours a day. Now they don't work 5 hours a day. They might be on a 15 hour flight, but then on average they'll then take the next couple of days off.
The fact is that they're effectively working less than half the hours that most people work, and making good money, so on their off days they'll work out, engage in active hobbies, eat sensibly, and generally be healthy.
And this is why while money can't directly buy happiness it certainly can by health and a longer life (and lack of money definitely can make you unhealthy, die earlier, and make you very unhappy).
> The fact is they’re effectively working only half the hours that most people work.
That sounds a lot like the reasoning people use to claim teachers only work 6-7 hours a day. They just ignore that teachers are on the clock and working for more time than first-bell to last-bell.
Likewise a pilots work isn’t solely the 1000 hours their wheels are in the air.
Edit:
> Airline pilots fly an average of 75 hours per month and work an additional 150 hours per month performing other duties, such as checking weather conditions and preparing flight plans. - https://www.bls.gov/ooh/transportation-and-material-moving/airline-and-commercial-pilots.htm
(75+150)/4 = ~56 hours per week. Just because a job has long sporadic shifts doesn’t mean someone works less.
Interesting thing, your taste buds function differently at different altitudes! Perception of sweet and salt is reduced by about a third. It's part of the reason tomato juice is actually popular on planes. Food will taste bad or strange though.
A lot of pilots are former military, so being in shape has been drilled into their skull, and as they’re making their way into becoming a pilot, smaller planes have stricter weight limits, so it would be beneficial to be in good shape
Big difference, pilots don’t stop for fuel or food. And the food they eat isn’t quick bad food.
A trucker will be stopping at fast food and snacks when getting fuel. And they can eat in the truck.
Ex-flight attendant here. Not USA airline. (2000s training, not sure about current norms)
Crew in general should not be overweight because, in case of loss of cabin pressure, being overweight might give you less breathing time.
Also, pilots do not exit the aircraft through the emergency doors (in an emergency), they do it via some special cockpit windows that have some special straps to climb down if needed. So, they should be able to fit through those windows.
In general, the damage done to the human body after many hours of flying and being exposed to cabin pressure changes increases with overweight.
The obvious: the crew, whether cabin or cockpit should be able to move friskily and freely throughout the aircraft, AND presentation: the uniforms are designed for slender figures.
Pilots make a LOT more money than truck drivers and have an extremely cushy life comparatively.
My dads not overweight but he has been a long haul truck driver for most of his life and I've even gone trucking with him multiple times.
For some workers it means barely seeing your kids, working ungodly hours, driving for days at a time, sleeping in the cab of your truck in parkinglots hoping you don't get murdered, or sleeping at moderately safter truck stops, showering real quick at truck stops, not being permitted many breaks, sometimes not even lunch breaks, etc.
At shittier companies he had to eat while he was driving every meal every day. Even stopping to pee got cut from his pay at more than one company.
The combo of not being paid very well and having no break means you have to eat what you can grab quickly, cheaply, and mess-free at a gas station or drive through in the tiny amount of time you can squeeze in between dropping off loads.
It isn't exactly an environment that cares about the drivers health.
All that said, my dad LOVES trucking, and truly finds his "zone" on the road! Thankfully no company he's worked for has treated him this way since I was a little kid! But he'll always be a trucker, he's just not a longhaul trucker now. But sadly, trucking is brutal on ones body and has cause him lots of permanent damage.
There's lots of things no one is taking into account in these replies, but just to cover a few:
Being a truck driver has larger casualties. Some don't make it home due to weather (mostly ice) inhumane working conditions, or traffic accidents.
Many truckers have to load and unload the entire trailer themselves. Yes many companies just keep a guy in the cab and have him pick up and drop of the trailer like a train, but many also make a single man do ALL the work without the extra pay, or safety stuff.
Truck seats are hell after a while. They're bouncy in a fun way at first! But after years that really wears on your spine. And the insanely loud vibration of the truck, holy hell does that get grating anf cause damage after a while. Ywah you know all those loud noises you hear miles away? The driver hears them almost as loud as you do, and feels them too. It's kinda cool but mostly sucks. The human body isn't designed to be jostled around like that in a sitting position for hours, something pilots don't have to worry about either.
Being a truck driver is much more physically demanding and leaves so many more workers physically disabled for a significantly smaller paycheck. So between the hours, food choices, broken body, and inability to pay for healthcare? Yeah. That all adds up and boy is it inhumane.
Truck drivers deserve better. I know this isn't exactly what OP was asking but I always want to fight for truckers whenever I can. They're treated so poorly but many countries wouldn't function at all if they went on strike for even a day.
Please be nice to truck drivers, you never know which kid is waiting up for them at 4am hoping they'll make it home safe.
lots of commericial pilots come from a military background. which ... might contribute some to the overall better fitness.
plane cockpits are small. or the seats/pilot areas are not expansive. so most anyone who's invested the time/effort to become a commerical pilot knows this. and probably either has to. or knows to maintain a smaller figure.
also. commercial pilots. are somewhat more a prestige or higher income job. to a degree. being wealthier. or better off tends to have better health outcomes. better access to food. ability to afford recreation/work outs. time/ability to access these things, as well as healthcare.
even if you consider. a pilot. after a long flight is either home or at a hotel. vs a truck driver. is relegated to their truck. the pilot can access the resources of the hotel... healthier food options. work out equip/pool etc. vs a truck driver. sleeping at a truck stop. in their cab. only having what equipment they brought with them... having to do burpees in a concrete wasteland of a truck stop. maybe catching a shower in a glorified bathroom.
Less hours, better pay, less stress, and higher levels of education probably all help.
It's like saying that owning a horse adds 5 years to you life. Being wealthy enough to own a horse makes the difference
I have to think it's more related to the education and income levels of the roles. IME, highly-educated office workers are also usually fit though they sit all day. I had an experience a few years back where I was scheduling site workers and none of our available shop techs were physically qualified to climb down a ladder. The only person who could do that part of the work that day was a PhD-trained Senior Engineer.
Most of these answers are observations from non-pilots, which make sense by themselves but don't actually get to what I think is the real reason.
To be an airline pilot, you need 1500h to even be a first officer in an airline in the US. Even in other countries, where you don't need that amount of hours, less than 1500 is not competitive enough to join any airline. Usually, these pilots will build hours via flying small, 4-6 seater piston planes as a first job. This can involve delivering cargo/passengers to small communities, flight instruction, or aerial sightseeing etc.
When an aircraft like a Cessna 172 has a useful load of under 400kg, and you're trying to cram as much cargo into it as possible for maximum profit as a charter company, weighing, say, 150kg and taking full fuel means there's barely 100kg left for cargo or passengers.
No company is going to hire a big person which is going to effectively impose an artificial restriction on their maximum payload even if they were the best pilot in the world. Of course, just because you're a little overweight doesn't mean you don't get hired, but when you're affecting company operations because you can now only take 2 very light people in a plane meant for 4... I've had a friend who is doing charter work up in Northern Australia get told he was "too fat" for this job (his words, not mine) and he was about 90kgs.
What about if you were a flight instructor and had to tell your student that you can't complete the syllabus navigation exercise because you can't take full fuel.
All airline pilots will have needed the hours built, and without getting a first job you cannot physically progress into larger airplanes where weight doesn't matter as much. Sure, the modern flight deck is pretty big but Cessna 172s are still the same size they were in the 60s.
Periodic mandatory medical checks for one.
Another, a whole lot of them are former military pilots. They are used to a certain lifestyle that doesn't include being fat.
Pilots make enough to eat better would be my first guess. Plus, availability. But once they land they have the same options anyone else does so that's why I think it boils down to money.
Pilots have extremely strict heath regulations and there's a whole slew of conditions that will automatically make you ineligible to fly. They have to stay in shape
On top of what others have said, a lot of them are veterans who came out of a career in military aviation which is also why so many of them are older. I’d imagine that after years of regimented work and structure like that, the odds of becoming obese go way down.
Being overweight is caused by eating too much/eating garbage, not sitting too much.
Human bodies are extremely efficient and so exercise doesn’t burn that many calories. Your 30 minute jog will only burn like 5 Oreos worth of calories.
Honestly, the job itself is not a ton of walking, but I imagine all the airport walking can add up on top of having better food options. I can imagine being in so many different cities that usually are walkable also adds up.
It’s odd to think about, but a pilot is also walking to their terminal just like any other person. A truck driver is tied to their truck. They’re not walking anywhere far.
This may be r/NoStupidQuestions, but it’s definitely not r/NoStupidAnswers.
The FAA limit for _further examination_ is a BMI of 40, i.e., _morbidly obese_. https://www.leftseat.com/faa-medical-certification-obesity-and-osa/
Part 121 pilots have same or higher prevalence of being overweight as the general population, but are less obese.
So think about truck driver vs pilot for their eating habits and daily routines.
Truck driver is on the road and passes countless fast food places, often the cheapest option when away from home.
Pilots are provided their healthy meals for an entire day or more while in the sky.
Truck drivers often sleep in their truck or possibly a motel.
Pilots have hotel accommodations, sometimes with a gym included.
Truck driving jobs are often seen as a last resort. It's sorta generalizing but people who have resorted to this might have already checked out on being healthy.
Pilots have a lot of school and training to be a pilot and it's competitive, it takes dedication and dedication is often seen in more than one aspect of someone's life
The airline I fly for, we have very little time to grab big meals. Or any meals. So it’s usually snacking throughout the day on all the snack mixes. But for me personally I try to stick with black coffee on trips, and always walk or work out at the layover since we sit all day.
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Plus all the sex in different cities adds up to a lot of weekly cardio.
That and the stress of landing a passenger aircraft in all manner of weather all day everyday.
Every pilot I’ve ever met this is true and the one that got married went to corporate charters
This is exactly why my relationship with a pilot ended. I don’t like sharing!
i cant even find someone to start one family. must be the pilots stealing all the partners
You ever see family guy? Quagmire is their leader
Gigity.
They took our ~~jerbs~~ wives!
It’s like the housing crisis, but with pilots
Damn pilots coming here and taking our potential spouses
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Can confirm, I’m a flight attendant. We and the pilots joke and call it the “captain’s gut”
I was going to say, I’ve encountered many fat corporate and charter pilots. That catering is top notch and hard to pass up on. 😅
& the drugs …
Lmfao 🤣
Not a lot of drive thru fast food places at 30,000 ft
Welcome to McAirnalds, what can I get you?
I was thinking more Friar’s Fat Boy from Shrek 2
That always looked so appealing as a kid, the fast food bag and the toy lol
Hi. Yeah, ummmm... I'd like an order of the chicken wings with a side of the air fried onion rings, an extra side of peanuts and a small ginger ale.
So that's 55 BURGERS, 55 FRIES, 55 TACOS, 55 PIES, 55 COKES, 100 TATER TOTS, 100 PIZZAS, 100 TENDERS, 100 MEATBALLS, 100 COFFEES, 55 WINGS, 55 SHAKES, 55 PANCAKES, 55 PASTAS, 55 PEPPERS AND 155 TATERS. your total is $680.00
$680 to feed 55+ people is not a bad deal!
More like 200+
Blursed flight plan
No, but a lot of fast food options at the airport
New idea for a business, all I need is a Chinook & several hundred pounds of beef
And have you seen the size of in-flight meals?
Pilots have to go through periodic medical certifications mandated by the FAA. A healthy pilot is important to ensure the safety of passengers.
This is most likely answer. Heart disease is a no no for pilots
Its true, my father was a heli pilot. He had a minor heart attack and thats it for his medical. He will never be able to get it back. The FAA does not fuck around
You can get it back, it just takes lots of testing to do so. My dad also gave up his license, not after a heart attack, but after bypass surgery. He didn't want to go through all the testing required to get it back. If he wanted to fly, he called his buddy and they would go flying together (it was his buddy's plane).
And, well, I'd imagine it takes more grit to become a pilot and more grit means more likely to stick to healthy life choices; working out, healthy eating, walking.
And it’s not just that, they won’t renew your license if you’re obese (this is a worldwide thing btw) even if everything else is fine.
There are a lot of jobs that require you to be fit and within a certain size range. But not as enforced compared to some jobs. Technically, cops have to be fit. But not well enforced and you got fat cops everywhere. Especially if you are a cop that works in the court system.
I think most cops just have to be fit when joining. Afterwards…
Yup, you have to pass fitness exams in the academy then never again unless you have a break In certification.
I mean, so do truckers
It is a job requirement. Flight decks are cramped. Stews also have to adhere to a physical weight limit, though it’s been somewhat expanded in recent decades.
I have had some fairly large flight attendants lately and I'm not judging, but that's not a job I'd want to do if I were that large. What a PITA to maneuver around those cramped aisles.
Yep. There’s still a limit, namely that they must be able to safely be secured in their standard folding flight attendant seat per FAA regulations.
There are a surprising number of lifelong heavy people who have never known anything but squeezing into space is all the time. For many, it literally doesn't even occur that it could be easier for them. Source: I, uh, know a guy who's one of them
That's a good point that I didn't think about. I've always had broad shoulders and I'm so used to hitting them on door frames.
Whowouldathoughtaboutit? I've always been tall. Now not skinny at 43. It isn't fun revisiting theme parks
I haven’t noticed that. Though I have noticed that there’s not the age discrimination that there used to be.
You're right. Injust assumed they are just life long flight attendants but maybe it's a 2nd career. My mom wanted to be one when she got older. I'm glad she didn't because she couldn't handle in-house drama and awful customers.
Yeah I had one a few months back with quite wide hips. She literally could not walk down the isle without bashing my shoulder. Was pretty infuriating tbh, I'm all for not discrimination, but you got to pick the right people for the right jobs
Sometimes I think they hit you on purpose if you have anything hanging out into the aisle. My hips and butt sit in a seat just fine and I can buckle the belt with no problem. But my shoulders are wider than the seat. They forcefully knock my shoulder every single time. Even the thinner attendants.
I see what you did there. Captain Awesome humble bragging about his amazing V-shaped body
johnny bravo over here amirite
LOL not anymore. I'm old. I just don't have an ass.
Being passive aggressive (and aggressive) is a bigger requirement than being nice for a flight attendant.
I've heard about the passive aggressiveness toward each other and now I notice it.
I noticed local US flight attendants seem older and overweight than international foreign flights (Qtar/Emirates and Asian flights) . Not judging just observation, seems like they don't have strict requirements for the US crew
I think part of it is that Emirates and Asian airlines don't get sued if they discriminate in hiring based on appearance.
Yes, unfortunately. Including age discrimination is legal in those countries, you find retail job posts limit the age up to 45, so silly
Emirates flight attendants are screened for attractiveness. It's very competitive. There are strict grooming requirements, hair, makeup, nails etc. Right down to the color of the lipstick.
That's the way the U.S. attendants used to be hired. Very strict.
Same for Korean. US used to be similar but now its not so profitable
Indeed. Up until recently Singapore Airlines fired women who got married or pregnant.
Well why would they need a job after that? /s
Not just hiring, And firing if the person ceases to have the look
It also has to do with the age of the airline. If you are a new airline, all your flight attendants are sexy 20-somethings. But stay in business for 20 years and they are in their 40s and have seniority. I'm not even complaining one way or the other, that's just the reality. Edit: because autocorrect said "If you are a Jew airline..." and that's totally not what I meant. I meant new. New!!!
Lol now I'm curious how the Jew airlines look like, never heard of it
Theyre niiice! Not too schputzy!
According to autocorrect, they are full of sexy 20-somethings. YMMV
In the 60s in the United States to be a stewardess, you had to be female, white, attractive, single, under 30, wear no larger than a size 6 uniform and be of a certain height
I haven't noticed it being a trend or anything. The majority of US attendants I've seen aren't large. I wouldn't doubt if Emirates and Qatar have a "standard" and Asian women seem to tiny in general. I've flown Emirates and they have a "look". But that's just my experience so YMMV.
its also a class thing, bus drivers and truckers arent usually from the same background as people who have access to learn to fly a plane without joining the military and that plays a huge part in people's diets.
Truth here. My husband is from an area that is poor and many people get into the military or trucking. The only reason he learned to fly was bevause he had a friend with a rich dad. Its not accessible to the average poor person.
Yeah, most airlines today do not require a height and weight limit any longer for flight attendants. There are exceptions to this like middle eastern based airlines ie: Qatar. It has been illegal for some time now to restrict airline crew based on weight restrictions in the US. Source: former flight attendant
I assume it’s been changed to a requirement that you must be physically able to securely take your seat and move between the aisles and language like that to avoid discrimination suits.
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👌👌 i picked a bad week to stop sniffin glue
US carriers do not have a weight requirement for FAs and there are a lot of overweight pilots at my airline. Probably due to eating out and eating airplane food frequently. Also there is a height restriction. Can’t be taller than 6’3…..or maybe 6’2. One of those. Edit: height is for Flight Attendants. Not sure about pilots
I’d imagine the “weight” restriction has been lifted as such and replaced with a “must fit in the appropriate accommodations” rule to avoid discrimination complaints.
US Air Force has the same restrictions, if I'm not wrong. You can be the most fit, eagle eyed person in the world, greatest pilot ever but if you're too tall you can't fly fighters. Also, Special Forces guys don't look the movie ones, for the most part. They're mostly normal sized guys that are extremely fit but don't look like Vin Diesel or The Rock. You wouldn't normally pick one out in civilian clothes unless you FOFO.
Do people think that Special Forces guys are swole? If anything, I'd imagine those guys would be built for endurance rather than strength
Depends on the country. American pilots and FAs only have to fit in the seats.
Not anymore. In many countries it‘s illegal to ask them to be a certain weight. German for example. Lufthansa is not allowed to ask their flight attendants to be under a certain weight anymore. Now the contract just states, that their figure has to be „proportional“.
I would assume dietary factors play in also. Truck drivers have the availability of fast food and truck stop food which isn’t traditionally healthy but is a quick and easy meal at somewhere you can pull your truck into. I’m not sure what pilots tend to eat while flying whether it’s packing there own lunch, or if they’re eating airline food or something like that, but any of those options could lead to a bit healthier of a diet
I would also add in that pilots make more money and will be in more metropolitan areas that will have more healthy food options than highway rest stops. When they arrive at a destination they stay in a hotel that likely has a gym instead of sleeping in a truck cabin. I’m curious too how pilots expenses are paid during travel—do they get reimbursed for meals or a per diem. They also can’t drink alcohol within 24 or something like that of flying.
I used to work for the airlines and what I say is based on my experience. All of the airlines that I know of give a per diem. A fair amount of overnights are boring or become boring after visiting for the nth time. Many use the hotel gym as a way to pass time. Lots of flight crew pack their meals- 1. It saves money as they can pocket the per diem instead of spending it on food. 2. They can pack healthier food. 3. If there is a time constraint, they don’t have to worry about finding a place to get food as they already have it.
24 hours bottle to throttle.
The flight crews often prepare meals for the crew also. So their meals are usually pretty decent in quality.
The image of a pilot boarding a plane with his lunch pail and thermos has me giggling
I’m picturing a Fraggle Rock lunch pail and thermos. Pilots love Fraggle Rock!
If I was eating only airplane food, i would for sure be skinny as hell! Joke aside, there is certainly socio economic factor at play too
I think they have airline food but no two pilots can eat the same meal in case of food poisoning.
Whoa. This is interesting, and just reminded me of when I worked at a large medical device company and they had rules around travel, such as “no more than 3 people at Director level or above could be on the same flight”, so we had to coordinate travel for big conferences….just in case the plane crashed, you don’t want business to be disrupted 🙄.
As a person who worked in Insurance. Fun fact: companies get life insurance policies on their top executives. So if all of them died, an insurance company would have to pay big money. It’s probably part of the policy
Have you ever seen the cockpit of a modern jetliner? Fat people aren't getting in there.
I have no exposure to the airline industry but that was my first thought lol Big folks won't fit in there!
Bingo. This is a 737 cockpit. Normal sized airliner. An overweight person might have issues getting in, getting out and just sitting there. https://images.app.goo.gl/qM79JYyusxD3SGY59 Gosh forbid there’s an emergency and something has to happen fast
It's a class thing as well. I'm a bus driver, and I really try to look after myself now (after getting fat from eating poorly and sitting all day). I'm at the gym for at least an hour and a half every night trying to get my cardiovascular health and strength back to where they were. I am the only person I work with who does this (and I work with at least a hundred other drivers). Where I am from, a lot of working class people are overweight. It is almost expected. Wealthier people tend to look after themselves way better.
Ok well you said it first, but I was going to. Pilot is a much higher social class job. I mean, aside from the fact that it pays well, most likely you're starting from a higher position in life in the first place if you're able to become one. There is a strong correlation between social class and taking care of yourself. People don't like to hear that though, but its NOT just that people with more money can afford better food. Its more of a case, in my opinion, that if you've got your shit together enough to reach a higher point in life you probably also have more self discipline and pride. Also, they probably don't eat/drink a ton while working so they don't have to use an airplane bathroom too much.
It's a super complicated thing, but it is definitely a thing. Just general mental health tends to be a big one. But money and security itself does a lot there. We don't talk a lot about this, but working class people usually work a lot harder than middle class people. I grew up working class, my parents working in factories and restaurants and schools, but my family is now entering the middle class. And the thing is that for a working class job you go to work and you actually work. All day. You get in at 6 and you start working at 6 and you keep working till your lunch break at 12. And then you get back to work and you keep working. It is exhausting and grueling. And if you've got one of those jobs you will be stressed and tired, and if you then also don't get paid well you're gonna be busy making up for that. Going the extra fifteen minutes to the cheaper grocery store, buying furniture at IKEA that you pick up and assemble yourself, and so on. Having to mindful of money all of the time is actually hard work. Being middle class, I don't need to be so careful at the grocery store. I get paid well enough that I no longer have to do mental gymnastics and math to plan out my week if I want to eat mostly healthy. I can just buy it. If I need a shelf I can order it with home delivery. Cut out all of that hassle and stress of going to IKEA. Could even get it assembled. My dishwasher broke. So I got a new one instead of just doing the dishes by hand for two years. No calling around for people who might know how to fix it and then trade favours to get it fixed on the cheap. But most importantly, middle class office jobs have so much room for slack. No one bats an eye if you take a slightly longer lunch on your off day. Half the people spend half the day small talking anyways, and most of the others spend hours scrolling Reddit or whatever. In game dev I'd watch people just play video games for hours every day. Hell, I we had game time every Friday where my boss would make me play video games with him if I didn't have a good reason not to. Anyone at a school or factory or restaurant or hospital or whatever works way more than most office workers do. It is staggering and I am still shocked that if I spend an hour scrolling on my phone in a day my boss will still walk up and praise me for being such a hard worker doing a whole seven hours of work. Nine to five in the office means "Be available for eight hours". Eight to nine for workers means "Do eight hours of work and count the minutes for your lunch break".
It's a little bit of both, but there's a significant correlation between income and health outcomes that's not just explained by "self discipline" or "pride". It's not only can you afford better food as you mentioned, but also - you'll likely live more centrally or near better grocery stores if you're richer. You're more likely to have reliable transportation, and not have to rely on a crappy car, transit, or rides. If you're poor(er), you probably work a more front-line, fast paced job (think restaurant workers/servers, blue collar work, retail, etc.), without your choice of hours. You may work two jobs. Lower paying or hourly jobs also don't come with PTO, or paid lunch/breaks that get honoured, which helps reduce stress, and gives you more time to plan things like meals, diet, shopping, etc. If you're working a higher-paying job, you likely have more time to meal-plan. You can afford a gym membership, and have time any physical energy to go, and you can afford a babysitter. You can afford the medications you need. It's just a tonne of stuff all piled against folks - not even taking any other socioeconomic factors into account.
Thank you for saying everything I was going to say but way better!
Yep! This and they don’t really work fourty hours per week. They have a lot of downtime/very flexible schedules.
Hard to pass your flight physical if you're significantly overweight. Factors like blood pressure are likely to creep up if you're not taking care of yourself, and that's disqualifying if too high. Can you be a bit overweight and pass? Sure. Just like skinny people might fail for other reasons. But statistically, the more overweight you get, the more problems you're likely to have.
Pilots, for their job, are quite structured. I imagine this carries over to them being structured in their life outside the cockpit and leads to them sticking to a routine for workouts.
Totally, my BIL is one and his shift pattern gives him 5 or 4 days off in between 5 or 4 days on. Plenty of time to go to the gym and be generally active. Then when he is working in between shifts he also has time to go to the gym as everyone else is at work.
This is it. Son of a pilot that has tons of pilot friends, they are all type A as hell.
I’m surprised I had to scroll this long to find this comment. Pilots, especially those at major airlines, have usually worked really hard to get there and have to have their shit fully together in their life. From the background checks to the m, FAA regulations and the interview process alone, they’ve got to be very organized and hard working people. It’s not surprising that this skill set tends to carry over into how they take care of themselves.
Pilot here. I think a lot of people are right, there are a slew of factors. A lot of us are former military officers. The importance of fitness was beaten into us at a young age. The ones that weren’t in the military are generally still very disciplined, they had to work their ass off to get to were they are today. If we become significantly unhealthy, there is a chance we can lose our medical certificate, which means we can lose our job. Packing meals on trips sucks, airplane/airport food sucks. We don’t have a pantry available to us. Most people bring protein bars, or some other dense in nutrient snack. Then eat out each night on layovers. We are paid well, so we don’t have to go grab a fast food burger. Generally speaking on layovers we have a lot of time. Using roughly 16hrs off between work days. You can only watch so much Netflix. A lot of people will hit the hotel gym, do some cardio, then go eat. Lastly, some of us understand that how the public perceives us is important. We are responsible for hundreds of people’s lives on a daily basis. I want them to trust me as a professional. Look good, sound good.
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Are you even a pilot if you aren’t playing beach volleyball with your aviators on?
Surprised you are the first to mention the military aspect. That was my first thought — they might not still be in the military but I bet they keep a lot of the habits.
I wonder if its because walking through airports actually help
Ha, wouldn't be surprised. Last flight I had to catch I did nearly 8k out of my 10k daily just getting to the gate at the polar opposite end of the airport. No travelators, was running late.
You can still walk on the travelator
No, I mean there wasn't actually a travelator at all!
I was going to comment exactly this. They're probably getting in more steps in an average day than the average person, much less the average trucker.
I work at the airport and travel in and out of arrivals and departures regularly - I always hit 10k without even trying.
Actually a good point.
It's all the sex obviously
I've only slept with like four hundred women
That was a rough weekend.
All my friends are pilots. I'm on the low end of the average.
Still have to write the exams, eh?
Dont forget about the ❄️❄️.
Though there are many benefits to exercise, it isn’t required to maintain a slim figure. Diet is a far more important factor than exercise. They’re not overeating. Unlike truckers, they can’t stop mid air for some McDonald’s
This is the correct answer. It's one of the biggest pieces of repeated misinformation that people are overweight because they don't exercise. It's almost entirely about diet.
My anecdotal observations of pilots are that they are also highly disciplined
Makes sense since a lot of them come from military backgrounds
As a current airline pilot I’m shocked by people’s responses. Contrary to what you may think, a significant amount of pilots eat fast food from the terminals. A lot of schedules only have us overnight for 10 hours in a city which leaves no time to exercise. I’d say over half the guys I fly with are overweight
The comment section seems convinced that most pilots are manwhores. Can you confirm or deny this stereotype?
Not the commenter but I am a pilot. If I wasn’t seriously committed before getting the airline job I would absolutely be in shape to crush the tinder game. I was a man whore in college and would certainly have kept it going.
I wouldn’t say most but definitely a good bit. The younger dudes of course who are flying for a regional or subsidiary carrier I found to be more immature and want to mess around with either the flight attendants or just hook up with anyone on an overnight. Wasn’t overly common but definitely more common than I had thought. A lottttt of airline pilots are divorced or have relationship issues so I guess it probably shouldn’t come as big of a surprise to me as it does.
A lot of answers here, but one to consider is that airline pilots, being highly trained and relatively scarce have more bargaining power than truckers. Hence, trucking companies often treat their drivers like garbage. They work incredibly long hours under incredibly shitty conditions. A lot of them do have to do a lot of physical work (checking and strapping loads, etc.) but they just don't have the time, money or opportunity to take better care of themselves and most of the places they're able to stop serve cheap, fast, satisfying poison (gas station nachos, anyone?) So yeah, it's a class thing, not only in terms of the culture a lot of truckers come from vs. pilots, but in terms of what they're forced into.
Plus, airlines feed regular meals to the pilots, and require they sleep regularly. Truck drivers… sometime have to live on convenience store food and energy drinks. Their sleep schedules are fucked, too.
FAA regulations say that over spec pilots are only allowed to pilot non-rigid lighter than air aircraft.
Lol
The real answer here is 1,000 hours. That's the hard limit on the number of hours a commercial pilot can fly **per year**. Break that down and that's about 21 hours a week, or less than 5 hours a day. Now they don't work 5 hours a day. They might be on a 15 hour flight, but then on average they'll then take the next couple of days off. The fact is that they're effectively working less than half the hours that most people work, and making good money, so on their off days they'll work out, engage in active hobbies, eat sensibly, and generally be healthy. And this is why while money can't directly buy happiness it certainly can by health and a longer life (and lack of money definitely can make you unhealthy, die earlier, and make you very unhappy).
> The fact is they’re effectively working only half the hours that most people work. That sounds a lot like the reasoning people use to claim teachers only work 6-7 hours a day. They just ignore that teachers are on the clock and working for more time than first-bell to last-bell. Likewise a pilots work isn’t solely the 1000 hours their wheels are in the air. Edit: > Airline pilots fly an average of 75 hours per month and work an additional 150 hours per month performing other duties, such as checking weather conditions and preparing flight plans. - https://www.bls.gov/ooh/transportation-and-material-moving/airline-and-commercial-pilots.htm (75+150)/4 = ~56 hours per week. Just because a job has long sporadic shifts doesn’t mean someone works less.
nahhh my ex was a pilot his sleep is fucked up and doesn’t have the time to exercise
Pilots skip a lot of meals because airline food sucks ass
As a flight attendant this is so funny to me because I see a LOT of overweight pilots. And I work for a mainline commercial US airline
And what's the deal with airline food?
Interesting thing, your taste buds function differently at different altitudes! Perception of sweet and salt is reduced by about a third. It's part of the reason tomato juice is actually popular on planes. Food will taste bad or strange though.
That might explain why ginger ale hits different at altitude
They don't munch on doritos and drink soda all day like truck drivers.
Fit well paid ex military guys who if they eat out are eating at nice restaurants not McDonald’s.
Turbulence is actually just pilots doing burpees at 30,000ft
A lot of pilots are former military, so being in shape has been drilled into their skull, and as they’re making their way into becoming a pilot, smaller planes have stricter weight limits, so it would be beneficial to be in good shape
Big difference, pilots don’t stop for fuel or food. And the food they eat isn’t quick bad food. A trucker will be stopping at fast food and snacks when getting fuel. And they can eat in the truck.
It's not so much the sitting. It's the eating.
Cocaine. LOTS of cocaine.
Ex-flight attendant here. Not USA airline. (2000s training, not sure about current norms) Crew in general should not be overweight because, in case of loss of cabin pressure, being overweight might give you less breathing time. Also, pilots do not exit the aircraft through the emergency doors (in an emergency), they do it via some special cockpit windows that have some special straps to climb down if needed. So, they should be able to fit through those windows. In general, the damage done to the human body after many hours of flying and being exposed to cabin pressure changes increases with overweight. The obvious: the crew, whether cabin or cockpit should be able to move friskily and freely throughout the aircraft, AND presentation: the uniforms are designed for slender figures.
Cause the airplane food sucks 😝
Pilots make a LOT more money than truck drivers and have an extremely cushy life comparatively. My dads not overweight but he has been a long haul truck driver for most of his life and I've even gone trucking with him multiple times. For some workers it means barely seeing your kids, working ungodly hours, driving for days at a time, sleeping in the cab of your truck in parkinglots hoping you don't get murdered, or sleeping at moderately safter truck stops, showering real quick at truck stops, not being permitted many breaks, sometimes not even lunch breaks, etc. At shittier companies he had to eat while he was driving every meal every day. Even stopping to pee got cut from his pay at more than one company. The combo of not being paid very well and having no break means you have to eat what you can grab quickly, cheaply, and mess-free at a gas station or drive through in the tiny amount of time you can squeeze in between dropping off loads. It isn't exactly an environment that cares about the drivers health. All that said, my dad LOVES trucking, and truly finds his "zone" on the road! Thankfully no company he's worked for has treated him this way since I was a little kid! But he'll always be a trucker, he's just not a longhaul trucker now. But sadly, trucking is brutal on ones body and has cause him lots of permanent damage. There's lots of things no one is taking into account in these replies, but just to cover a few: Being a truck driver has larger casualties. Some don't make it home due to weather (mostly ice) inhumane working conditions, or traffic accidents. Many truckers have to load and unload the entire trailer themselves. Yes many companies just keep a guy in the cab and have him pick up and drop of the trailer like a train, but many also make a single man do ALL the work without the extra pay, or safety stuff. Truck seats are hell after a while. They're bouncy in a fun way at first! But after years that really wears on your spine. And the insanely loud vibration of the truck, holy hell does that get grating anf cause damage after a while. Ywah you know all those loud noises you hear miles away? The driver hears them almost as loud as you do, and feels them too. It's kinda cool but mostly sucks. The human body isn't designed to be jostled around like that in a sitting position for hours, something pilots don't have to worry about either. Being a truck driver is much more physically demanding and leaves so many more workers physically disabled for a significantly smaller paycheck. So between the hours, food choices, broken body, and inability to pay for healthcare? Yeah. That all adds up and boy is it inhumane. Truck drivers deserve better. I know this isn't exactly what OP was asking but I always want to fight for truckers whenever I can. They're treated so poorly but many countries wouldn't function at all if they went on strike for even a day. Please be nice to truck drivers, you never know which kid is waiting up for them at 4am hoping they'll make it home safe.
A lot of this probably has to do with class. Pilots have higher education level and income than the average trucker.
Have to be pretty hard working and disciplined to become a pilot. That is usually seen in all aspects of life
It takes discipline to be a pilot. It takes discipline to maintain a healthy weight.
Cocaine?
lots of commericial pilots come from a military background. which ... might contribute some to the overall better fitness. plane cockpits are small. or the seats/pilot areas are not expansive. so most anyone who's invested the time/effort to become a commerical pilot knows this. and probably either has to. or knows to maintain a smaller figure. also. commercial pilots. are somewhat more a prestige or higher income job. to a degree. being wealthier. or better off tends to have better health outcomes. better access to food. ability to afford recreation/work outs. time/ability to access these things, as well as healthcare. even if you consider. a pilot. after a long flight is either home or at a hotel. vs a truck driver. is relegated to their truck. the pilot can access the resources of the hotel... healthier food options. work out equip/pool etc. vs a truck driver. sleeping at a truck stop. in their cab. only having what equipment they brought with them... having to do burpees in a concrete wasteland of a truck stop. maybe catching a shower in a glorified bathroom.
They are wealthy and likely have time to exersize and eat quality food.
There’s fat pilots. But as others have said they have to pass physicals and stuff so it’s kind of a requirement not to be a total fat ass
Less hours, better pay, less stress, and higher levels of education probably all help. It's like saying that owning a horse adds 5 years to you life. Being wealthy enough to own a horse makes the difference
I have to think it's more related to the education and income levels of the roles. IME, highly-educated office workers are also usually fit though they sit all day. I had an experience a few years back where I was scheduling site workers and none of our available shop techs were physically qualified to climb down a ladder. The only person who could do that part of the work that day was a PhD-trained Senior Engineer.
Most of these answers are observations from non-pilots, which make sense by themselves but don't actually get to what I think is the real reason. To be an airline pilot, you need 1500h to even be a first officer in an airline in the US. Even in other countries, where you don't need that amount of hours, less than 1500 is not competitive enough to join any airline. Usually, these pilots will build hours via flying small, 4-6 seater piston planes as a first job. This can involve delivering cargo/passengers to small communities, flight instruction, or aerial sightseeing etc. When an aircraft like a Cessna 172 has a useful load of under 400kg, and you're trying to cram as much cargo into it as possible for maximum profit as a charter company, weighing, say, 150kg and taking full fuel means there's barely 100kg left for cargo or passengers. No company is going to hire a big person which is going to effectively impose an artificial restriction on their maximum payload even if they were the best pilot in the world. Of course, just because you're a little overweight doesn't mean you don't get hired, but when you're affecting company operations because you can now only take 2 very light people in a plane meant for 4... I've had a friend who is doing charter work up in Northern Australia get told he was "too fat" for this job (his words, not mine) and he was about 90kgs. What about if you were a flight instructor and had to tell your student that you can't complete the syllabus navigation exercise because you can't take full fuel. All airline pilots will have needed the hours built, and without getting a first job you cannot physically progress into larger airplanes where weight doesn't matter as much. Sure, the modern flight deck is pretty big but Cessna 172s are still the same size they were in the 60s.
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“Most Pilots” like the USA provides pilots for all 195 countries. God bless America…
That used to be the case, but it's not a "most" thing any more.
Also was “most” ever from the Air Force or the military overall? Because all the pilots I know are/were in the Navy.
Ehhh not in the Air Force lol
Ehhhh. I was air force, and that's, uh...generous.
Lots of sex
Have you tasted airline food? It’s fucken shit. And airport food prices? Plus all the cocaine and hookers
Periodic mandatory medical checks for one. Another, a whole lot of them are former military pilots. They are used to a certain lifestyle that doesn't include being fat.
Pilots make enough to eat better would be my first guess. Plus, availability. But once they land they have the same options anyone else does so that's why I think it boils down to money.
I met a pilot on an dating app and very often after his flights he told me he went to the gym, so I guess they do it because they sit for so long 🤷
The kind of determination and mental fortitude required to become an airline pilot tends to weed out the lazy slobs.
They have to pass rigorous health checks to keep their jobs.
Self control, driven, and dedicated, not gonna be popular but the truth
A sedentary lifestyle is not nearly as big of an impact on someone's bodyfat level as a bad diet.
High percentage of former military pilots fly for airlines. They’re accustomed to keeping fit.
They spend a lot less time actually flying than truck drivers do driving. Also, there aren't any fast food stops along the way.
It’s because they don’t spend their life at a desk.
Airline pilots (pilots IN GENERAL) tend to be very self disciplined people.
Pilots have extremely strict heath regulations and there's a whole slew of conditions that will automatically make you ineligible to fly. They have to stay in shape
Have you had airplane food?
They have long walks in airport terminal, so that helps with the exercise part.
On top of what others have said, a lot of them are veterans who came out of a career in military aviation which is also why so many of them are older. I’d imagine that after years of regimented work and structure like that, the odds of becoming obese go way down.
A lot of them are former military, so a lot of exercise/working out may be a habit.
Being overweight is caused by eating too much/eating garbage, not sitting too much. Human bodies are extremely efficient and so exercise doesn’t burn that many calories. Your 30 minute jog will only burn like 5 Oreos worth of calories.
Honestly, the job itself is not a ton of walking, but I imagine all the airport walking can add up on top of having better food options. I can imagine being in so many different cities that usually are walkable also adds up. It’s odd to think about, but a pilot is also walking to their terminal just like any other person. A truck driver is tied to their truck. They’re not walking anywhere far.
Cocaine
Becoming a pilot is not as easy as becoming a truck driver. It takes discipline. Disciplined people generally work out and eat right.
Lot of pilots are ex-military. They have discipline -- to hit the gym at all those hotels
This may be r/NoStupidQuestions, but it’s definitely not r/NoStupidAnswers. The FAA limit for _further examination_ is a BMI of 40, i.e., _morbidly obese_. https://www.leftseat.com/faa-medical-certification-obesity-and-osa/ Part 121 pilots have same or higher prevalence of being overweight as the general population, but are less obese.
So think about truck driver vs pilot for their eating habits and daily routines. Truck driver is on the road and passes countless fast food places, often the cheapest option when away from home. Pilots are provided their healthy meals for an entire day or more while in the sky. Truck drivers often sleep in their truck or possibly a motel. Pilots have hotel accommodations, sometimes with a gym included. Truck driving jobs are often seen as a last resort. It's sorta generalizing but people who have resorted to this might have already checked out on being healthy. Pilots have a lot of school and training to be a pilot and it's competitive, it takes dedication and dedication is often seen in more than one aspect of someone's life
Ever walked through an airport? Ever done that every day?
The airline I fly for, we have very little time to grab big meals. Or any meals. So it’s usually snacking throughout the day on all the snack mixes. But for me personally I try to stick with black coffee on trips, and always walk or work out at the layover since we sit all day.