Corporate Aviation Schedules

[darling pretty]

Today, I was interviewed for a position with a sizeable corporate flight department (2 hawker 80 xp's/ 1 falcon 900 ex) and the chief pilot said the schedule was essentially a 24/7 on call. However, only usually only working 3-4 days a week, no "hard days" off.

Is this no "hard days" off normal for a corporate job, or did I somehow misunderstand the interviewer?

 

[AbOvo]

That's exactly how the chief wants you to understand the position. The last thing he/she wants is to have someone thinking they are entitled to a certain number of days off per month.

Here's the situation put in front of me by a friend....Chief calls at 2am on Christmas day to call you out for a trip. All he/she wants to hear is "ok no problem I'll be right there". The chief doesn't want to hear how it's Christmas, or how it's 2am etc.. Of course the chief knows that stuff, he/she has probably been on the receiving end of that situation themselves. If it's a good flight department you'll know that they wouldn't be calling you out like that unless it was pretty important but the person doing the hiring wants to know you are going to work with the ebb and flow of corporate aviation.

That does bring up the question of enjoying an adult beverage in the comfort of your own home. How do corporate flt departments deal with that situation? It used to be an excuse used to get out of junior man trips when working for a 121 carrier.

"Hello Captain we have a junior man assignment Edmonton turn followed by a 3 hour sit and then one leg to Toronto."

"Sorry I just had a beer"

"It's 8AM"

"I know, my job drives me to drink"

 

[Gulfstream 200]

Today, I was interviewed for a position with a sizeable corporate flight department (2 hawker 80 xp's/ 1 falcon 900 ex) and the chief pilot said the schedule was essentially a 24/7 on call. However, only usually only working 3-4 days a week, no "hard days" off.

Is this no "hard days" off normal for a corporate job, or did I somehow misunderstand the interviewer?

we dont have "hard days" but we have a pilot doing our schedule. You can ask for trips that work around things you want to do...80% of our flying is International and is pretty scheduled 60-90 days out. Its pretty easy to work around things.

In addition we get 4+ weeks vacation at start and have 2 "xdays" per month where you will be the last to be scheduled, and if nothing comes up the day beofre..you are off...perfect for that wedding not worth taking vacation, etc..

We are on 4 hr call out during the week daytime 8-6. Weekends are all yours, we have one crew on stby - again daytime only. 6pm? have abeer if you desire.

Friday 6pm and no trips? do what you want for the weekend, just answer your phone in a reasonable time incase something Monday changed, etc.

Its a pretty easy schedule, nobody cries for "hard days"...but we also make a real effort not to work people ragged.

Shop carefully. 3-4 days a week can add up quick depending on the trips.

 

[Flyby1206]

we dont have "hard days" but we have a pilot doing our schedule. You can ask for trips that work around things you want to do...80% of our flying is International and is pretty scheduled 60-90 days out. Its pretty easy to work around things.

In addition we get 4+ weeks vacation at start and have 2 "xdays" per month where you will be the last to be scheduled, and if nothing comes up the day beofre..you are off...perfect for that wedding not worth taking vacation, etc..

We are on 4 hr call out during the week daytime 8-6. Weekends are all yours, we have one crew on stby - again daytime only. 6pm? have abeer if you desire.

Friday 6pm and no trips? do what you want for the weekend, just answer your phone in a reasonable time incase something Monday changed, etc.

Its a pretty easy schedule, nobody cries for "hard days"...but we also make a real effort not to work people ragged.

Shop carefully. 3-4 days a week can add up quick depending on the trips.

Wow very nice schedule!

 

[semperfido]

Today, I was interviewed for a position with a sizeable corporate flight department (2 hawker 80 xp's/ 1 falcon 900 ex) and the chief pilot said the schedule was essentially a 24/7 on call. However, only usually only working 3-4 days a week, no "hard days" off.

Is this no "hard days" off normal for a corporate job, or did I somehow misunderstand the interviewer?

First, there is no normal. Usually, if the Dept is staffed well, there would be an opportunity for scheduled time off. On Balance, Three Aircraft +10 pilots = scheduled time off. Any less and probably not so good. At least, that has been my experience over the last 25 yrs.

 

[Gulfstream 200]

Wow very nice schedule!

dont get me wrong...when we work we work hard....7-10 day Asia trip a few times a year each pilot is the norm....Europe trips 4-6 days also...ocasional around the world in 6 days. Not easy.

BUT...a long trip like Asia will likely be your month, with maybe day trip or two also

Average pilot flies 10-14 days.

I think this is industry norm for active Fortune 100?



staffing is key - 4 aircraft / 17 pilots and thats a little short right now, hope to get that up.

 

[Hugh Johnson]

How many pilots and how busy? Do you have to be at the office when you're not flying? When the planes and crew are scheduled, if you're not up, your off. We've got two planes and 7 pilots and its not unusual for both planes to be on multi day trips. We're don't have hard days off, but the planes are scheduled a month at a time, so you can plan around your time off and unless someone gets sick or hurt your off. Lastly, in todays pilot market, is that kind of scheduling a deal breaker for you?

 

[Fly91]

Today, I was interviewed for a position with a sizeable corporate flight department (2 hawker 80 xp's/ 1 falcon 900 ex) and the chief pilot said the schedule was essentially a 24/7 on call. However, only usually only working 3-4 days a week, no "hard days" off.

Is this no "hard days" off normal for a corporate job, or did I somehow misunderstand the interviewer?

Sounds like a Part 135 type of job. And for Part 91, NO its not normal. I've never heard of a Part 91 being 24/7 "on call".

We get our schedule at the beginning of the month, for the entire month, and the days we are not "on" to fly are the hard days "off". A normal month is to do a 1-2 day trip to one of our 5 destinations that we go to, come home and then 4-5 days "off". Then another trip will be for either an out-and-back or another 1-2 day stay somewhere and come home, then the next 4-5 days "off". 8-10 days a month of flying is about all. The company hasn't had a pop-up in 4 years. Every evening at 6pm if a pop-up hasn't occured, we're "off" for the night and can have a drink with dinner if we want to. At 6pm on Friday if nothing has popped-up for the weekend we can be released for the whole weekend. My last company and this company always have open accounts with Net Jets in case an emergency comes up and the plane or crew isn't available or if the other company aircraft isn't available. Its a Gulfstream V and operates the same way, except after a trip the crew is simply changed out and the original crew knows they are now "off" for at least 10 days while the plane is gone in Asia, Europe or S. America.

We only get 2 weeks vacation per year, but when you average 20-22 days off per month thats ok. I like being home alot more than I'm away so this is the perfect job for me.

24/7......Kind of have zero QOL if you can't even have a few beers and watch a football game or go to a BBQ on the weekend, or take a trip out of town to visit friends or family in another city. They'd have to pay me HUGE money to do that. 24/7 sucks the fun right out of flying.

 

[AA717driver]

My former department had 4 hard days off (unless they had to move them--virtually never happened unless a personal emergency) and 2-4 "blank" days. You would be the last to go if on a blank day.

You could request what days you got off a couple times a year if it didn't conflict with someone senior to you, you generally got your request. However, at that time, the 4 days were ALWAYS Thu.-Sun. A weekend off used to be precious so that's how that evolved.

The rest you were on call but after 1730L, you could crack a beer and not worry. TC

 

[G100driver]

G200 ... nice new avatar ... BTW what kind of DORK keeps pictures of FL510!