About
Airline life, from the left seat.
Radar Contact is an independent magazine about what airline flying is really like as a job and a life.
Most of what gets written about airline pilots is either a recruiting brochure or a headline. The day-to-day reality sits somewhere in between: reserve phones ringing at 5 a.m., bid packages, layovers in cities you didn’t pick, checkrides every year, and a schedule that rearranges family life around a seniority number.
Radar Contact exists to explain that reality clearly and honestly, from the left seat, for aspiring pilots, working crews, their families, and curious passengers.
What we cover
- Schedules & Seniority. Bidding, reserve, holding a line, PBS and how a seniority number shapes every month of a pilot’s life.
- Layovers. Hotels, crew rooms, overnights, and what actually happens on a 14-hour stop in a city you didn’t choose.
- Ops Explained. Why your flight was delayed. How fuel, weather, dispatch and maintenance decisions really get made.
- Incidents Decoded. Calm, careful explanations of the aviation events in the news, without the sensationalism.
- Training & Checkrides. Sims, checkrides, upgrades, recurrent training, and what it takes to keep the job year after year.
- Life at Home. Commuting, crash pads, missed holidays, family, and the trade-offs behind the uniform.
How we write
- From experience. Stories are written by people who do the work, not from press releases.
- Accurate over exciting. When we explain an incident or a regulation, we stick to what is known and say what isn’t.
- Respectful of crews and passengers. We don’t publish confidential company information or details that could identify colleagues or passengers.
- Independent. Radar Contact is not affiliated with any airline, union or manufacturer. Views are the author’s own.
Who’s behind it
Stay in touch
The best way to follow along is the newsletter: new stories land in your inbox when they publish.
Story ideas, corrections or questions: support@radarcontactmag.com.