Fling Single Pilot CJ's

[nubi78]

Greetings all,

Thank you for the numerous posts a few weeks ago. I wrote about a potential job flying a CJ. (The company owner wants to purchase a CJ and have me fly it.)

I have learned a bit more about the gig and a few things have developed.

The owner understands that it would be best to initially fly the jet with two pilots but fully expects me to fly single pilot when I become qualified.

In the real world are there a lot of corporate flight departments where the operation is single pilot? Your thoughts on how safe that is?

From what I gather, I believe this company owner is being told by the aircraft broker that flying single pilot is safe and is cheaper then a two pilot crew.

Thanks!

 

[SDCFI]

The aircraft broker is the wrong person to be asking. See what the insurance broker has to say. If the difference in premiums is less than what you would be paying a copilot then yes, it would be cheaper. Safety is another matter though. I've flown about 3000 hours now single pilot and I think it's safe, but there's no margin for error when there's only one head in the game. If the owner is that worried about having to pay for two pilots, what else is (s)he going to nickel and dime down the road? There's a reason insurance companies require two pilots for most turbine operators - so they can avoid paying the high cost of incidents/accidents.

 

[blzr]

If your boss wants his jet to be flown by one pilot, he's not playing with a full deck. There is a big difference in "Can it be done", and "Should it be done". Of course it can be done, but why?

 

[G100driver]

nubi78, you should put your prospective in touch with TAG and have him ask them what they recommend for crewing, expirence and projected expenses.

In case you do not who TAG is, they are the industry leaders in aircraft management. They are not a mom & pop operation nickle and diming operators to make a profit. They are not a preditory outfit. The last thing that they want is a CJ to worry about.

What they are, is honest about how to operate an aircraft professionally. I speak from expirence in dealing with them.

I think it might open his eye's to what he is thinking.

http://www.tagaviation.com/aircraftmanagement.htm

 

[KeroseneSnorter]

I flew a Bravo SP for about 3 years. Not an issue unless you are doing Aspen or something like that on a crap weather day. We used Contract F/O's for things like that.

Insurance can be an issue if you are low time jet. For us it was only a $2000 difference in yearly premiums. However I have heard some ops with lower time pilots being a 20k difference.

The entire 500, 550 and 525 series is very easy to fly, much easier than your average light piston twin.

Really comes down to the type of ops that your company plans to run. Back to back to back 10 and 14 hour duty days go with 2 pilots. Normal corporate type operations I had no problem with SP.

 

[Anaconda]

Not to hijack the thread but I'm looking at a similar situation. Very successful owner of his own business recently purchased a CJ1. Have talked to him and the possibility exists of a job flying it single pilot. Here's the kicker, he as admitted up front that it would be temporary as he eventually wants to fly it himself. He has 600 TT in a single so far. I'm curious to know if anyone would even insure him to fly it. I also wonder if he would really be able to cope with the demands of running his business and conducting meetings, etc without the stress of such things.

 

[Pilot Doc]

Does the guy want to fly _with_ you or just have you fly it until he does? If it's the latter, I can't see how it would matter to you. There are plenty of example of successful people flying jets - certainly no more dangerous than people flying Cirri or Barons. The owner might be able to self-insure for the first 100 or so hours as well.

As for the owner who only wants to hire one pilot, unless his concern is payload (which I could imagine being a concern for a CJ1), then I'd agree he's being cheap.

 

[Mickey]

The CJ is easier to fly than a Barron and most people fly Barrons single pilot. Currently a lot of regionals have lowered the experience of the right seat that they are almost single pilot ops. If you like your "alone," time. Flying single pilot could be great.
Take care.


P.S. No offense meant for the regional FOs. There are a lot of great ones out there and it's great that the new ones are gaining experience.

 

[flatspin7]

Not to hijack the thread but I'm looking at a similar situation. Very successful owner of his own business recently purchased a CJ1. Have talked to him and the possibility exists of a job flying it single pilot. Here's the kicker, he as admitted up front that it would be temporary as he eventually wants to fly it himself. He has 600 TT in a single so far. I'm curious to know if anyone would even insure him to fly it. I also wonder if he would really be able to cope with the demands of running his business and conducting meetings, etc without the stress of such things.

If hes only got 600hrs in a single it would take him a long time to get to a point where he could ever get an insurance company to bite off on him flying that thing single pilot.

 

[Metro752]

Not to hijack the thread but I'm looking at a similar situation. Very successful owner of his own business recently purchased a CJ1. Have talked to him and the possibility exists of a job flying it single pilot. Here's the kicker, he as admitted up front that it would be temporary as he eventually wants to fly it himself. He has 600 TT in a single so far. I'm curious to know if anyone would even insure him to fly it. I also wonder if he would really be able to cope with the demands of running his business and conducting meetings, etc without the stress of such things.

How about this. A very far fetched "how about this"

Say he was Donald Trump, but he also went to medical school and was a general surgeon. SOMEHOW, I don't know.

Now if he doesn't stay proficient, and current on all medical practices, likelihood of someone dieing while he was operating would be a bit higher than if he had read all the journals, went to seminars, and stayed proficient.

Now, he is a successful businessman, flying his own airplane, with his own life in his hands. Will he have the time to dedicate to staying proficient so he doesn't end up killing himself, friends, and family?

Secondly, does he have a commercial, or ATP? I personally have no idea how I didn't kill myself before I got a commercial license, with all the knowledge gained. Scarey sh1t flying around, all fat dumb and happy.