How many bizjet "types" do u fly?

[msw]

In the airline world, PIC's are not generally assigned to more than one "type"of aircraft. Are there similar rules in the bigger coporate flight depts? For instance, if your flight dept flies Lear 24's and Lear 55's, can you be PIC in one of them one day and in the other the next day? If you fly Falcons for your corporate flight dept, can you be assigned to fly just one model, or can you fly all? Is it somewhat dependent on what different "types" are covered under one type rating? Can you fly anything you are type rated for? How "many" types is the max? For bigger flight depts with helos and jets, is it common to find a PIC assigned to both? I know this probably varies somewhat from dept to dept, but I'd like to hear what some of the different experiences are, and the reasoning behind them.

 

[banned username 2]

In our Flight Department everyone flies both Falcon 900EX's and Falcon 50EX's (they are both the same FAA Type Rating but there are plenty of differences).... We limit our guys to PIC on 2 Types (FAA Types)

When I flew Charter I was PIC on a Lear 35, Falcon 10 and Falcon 20 all concurrently....

Due to the wide variety of aircraft a flight department might have you will generally see people assigned to several different types of aircraft...

A Flight Department might have a King Air 200 for "Local" trips, a Citation VII for Domestic longer-range trips and a G-IV for International Trips... In this case I would see pilots being reqired to fly 2 of the 3 aircraft... You could have 2 King Air PIC's who also act as SIC on the Citation VII, and 2 Citation PIC's who also act as SIC's on the G-IV, and 2 G-IV PIC's who could be co-rated on one of the other 2 aircraft each... I would say this would be a bare minimum staffing for a light-duty flight department. If they were a busy department, or the G-IV was doing a lot of longer trips, I would say you would need 3 more pilots to balance the load (1 more G-IV PIC and 1 more Citation VII PIC/G-IV SIC and one more King Air 200 PIC/Citation VII SIC)...

Just my opinion...

Fly Safe!

 

[CL600Pilot]

Ahhhh - what it must be like to work for a real flight department! At my first corporate job we were flying 3 and a half airplanes(King Air 90, 350, Starship, and the half airplane was a Bonanza that was a very light duty plane) with 2 full time Captains, 1 full time FO, and one of the owners of the company was also current as a Capt on all types so he flew his trips. We were very busy - we averaged probably 700 hours a year per pilot. Like Falcon Capt said from what I've seen being PIC on 2 airplanes in fairly typical - anymore than that it can get to be too much to keep straight. In our situation our aiplanes were all from the same 'family' but were different enough that it could be tough to stay up on everything for each airplane. I definatley put in my time at FSI's Beech Learning Center at Wichita!!!!!

CL

 

[501261]

Back when I was flying 135 I was concurrently a PIC on Westwind, Jet Commander, Lear 35, Lear 25, Lear 24, King Air 200, King Air 90. I was also an SIC on a Hawker.

Fortunatly now I only fly a Citation 91.

 

[JetPilot500]

This is no longer the case, but at one point I was flying:

1. Falcon 20s
2. Citations
3. King Airs

To break it down even further, there were different models of each thrown into the mix. Each had some very different procedures, limitations and flying characteristics. Here is the further breakdown:

1. Falcon 20 C
2. Falcon 20 F
3. Citation I
4. Citation II
5. King Air C90
6. King Air F90
7. King Air 200

Oh, and yes, I was PIC on all of them. Also, I was a Flight Instructor on the Citations and King Airs, and a Ground Instructor on the Falcon 20s. Gotta love Part 135 operations. It was a great experience, and really helped my career, but I wouldn't want to do it again.

JetPilot500

 

[LJDRVR]

I've commonly heard of corporate operators who limit their pilots to no more than two types. I fly a single A/C type (LR JET) On any given day though, I may fly a 25d, 35a 31a or 55. Two different FMS's, 3 differents RNAVS, and very little standardization in the cockpit layouts. (Nine AC)

It's not difficult to safely jump around various models of a single type. Two things help though, lots of experience in the various models and a concerted effort on your part to study differences. I attend recurrent only on the 35, so I have to constantly study the particulars to remain safe and effective. One has to be on the lookout for subtle nuances. For instance most Lears are easy to keep the C.G. in limits on. (Fore & aft) On a 31 with full seats however, if you land at IFR minimums, you'll be forward of limits. Just an example.

So much of the airmanship model is made up of non-aircraft specific concepts such as flight discipline, skill, judgement, situational awareness, knowledge of self/environment/team/risk and mission. The only componets remaining are proficiency and knowledge of aircraft. A disciplined pilot such as yourself should easily be able to determine how large a bite you are able to safely take.

CHEERS!