Furloughees in 135

[Deftone45075]

I believe he does look at the whole picture, but you also need to understand that hiring a corporate pilot is as much about personalities as flight time.

Exactly! And you won't have a clue about the guy's personality until you give him an interview. There may be a few "airline" pilots who would not fit with a corporate operation, but it doesn't take all that much to make the adjustment. I agree that personality matters, especially when hiring for a corporate flight department, but experience matters as well. Considering that most furloughed airline pilots have a very high level of skill and experience, and have recieved some of the best training available, I think they at least deserve an interview so that they can show their personality would fit.

And this whole idea of how much more is involved in corporate flying is a bit blown out of proportion. The abscence of dispatchers is a non issue. I serioussly doubt that any pilot at the professional level will have a problem with flight planning and reviewing weather. And as far as having to also toss some bags and ensure that catering is onboard, well none of that takes much effort, and if the pilot is well paid, they won't have a problem with that.

Finally, this business about customer service. It doesn't take a genius to know how to be polite and social with pax. It doesn't take years of "corporate" experience to know how to work with the pax and provide the service they want. Too many people try to make it out as if its some amazing task that only a "corporate" pilot can handle, and thats a load of c***. I have flown with plenty of furloughees who had no prior corporate/charter experience and picked it up just fine.

I have also seen pilots who had always worked for charter and private companies who didn't have a clue how to treat a passanger.

 

[Rick1128]

The gentleman that introduced me to corporate aviation has been through at least 5 companies that shut down the flight department because it was starting to cost them too much.

I went through it once. The Chairman hired a new captain that was a Learjet charter pilot, was trained by the military and was airline oriented. While he was a technically good pilot, he was hard on the equipment. Just little things, brake wear went from over 400 landing to about 100. The O2 masks were dropped several times during his landings. Maintenance costs went way up after he came on board. And before you say it, The boss insisted that the airplanes be maintained properly. The department last a year before being closed down.

Being told you are under budget, helps you keep your job in this business. And while when you talk about 5 or 25 million, $25K doesn't sound like a lot. There are a lot of other costs that one doesn't normally take into consideration. The cost of hiring a person and the training that you don't directly pay for. About the department, the company and its business and people. Policy. Clients. And so on. It takes a year or more for a corporate pilot to really start to get to know the prime people and their needs and wants.

Yes I have seen charter pilots that don't know how to treat their passengers. They don't seem to last too long though. As for corporate pilots, I haven't seen one yet that has lasted who doesn't. A lot of the treatment you see depends on the people involved. I have had people who insist I call them by their first name and carry their own bags. And others that want to hear 'Yes, Sir' and 'No, Sir'. Just depends.

 

[Freight Dog]

Underdog and Rick, I can understand and relate. Here is a question for you right now. Let's say that a CURRENT airline pilot who is not furloughed wants to leave his airline and come work for you. Would you toss him out on account that he is an airline pilot? From what I gather from your posts underdog, any airline past or potential and it's a round file.

 

[Freight Dog]

OK, I'll buy off on that. It's just that in your original post, you said:

"Any resume I get (and I get a lot) which indicates airline experience is immediately canned. In fact, a resume indicating a FE rating is also disqualified."

That was what originally got me ticked.

 

[WrightAvia]

thats funny you should mention FEDEX

I just talked to a guy from my old 141 flight school. He is flying for FEDEX. He said that they are not in a hiring mode for furloughed airline pilots. Said they got hosed the last time, when a bunch they hired went back to what ever 121 carrier they were working for recalled them. This is what he said...argue with him. They are doing some hiring at FEDEX and they are not taking furloughed 121 guys.


Kind of another funny story on the spend the money on the new hire angle. At this one 135 operator I worked for, they were real reluctant to let you get into the tubine aircraft, for fear you would get your 1,500 turbine twin pic time and leave for the airlines. So they would hire from the outside and pass over guys that had worked inside for atleast two years or more. So I had to smirk when one of our conquests was in the hanger getting looked at by engineers FROM CESSNA. The wing skins were wrinkled on top and bottom, the props had been replaced after a little ground strike action and there were some nose gear issues. Seems that one of our long time charter pilot's dad retired from evergreen or whatever. Had almost 20,000 total time in turbines, most of those hours being in large planes. He winds up wheel barrowing the conquest's props into the runway, the first week on the job. I never met the guy...so I can only assume that he got embarased and quit. So the different aspect on this high time, large aircraft, moving into charter thing...isn't always a RECALL issue. Sometimes it's a different issue all together.