Strikefinder
Captain Backfire
- Joined
- Jun 11, 2002
- Posts
- 114
Though I've only flown for the regionals in the airline world, and flown some, although limited, corporate flying, I don't entirely agree that airline flying is "easier", though I will admit that the challenges are different in this environment than than in the corporate environment.
Though at the regional I work for we do have the vast majority of the flight planning done for us, it's frequently incorrect, or at the least, inefficient. I'd say that 1 of every 5 flights that needs an alternate doesn't come with one, often we get out of date weather with the package, minimum fuel doesn't take into consideration appropriate MELs (fuel pump inoperative, for instance) or reasonable thought (200 lbs to taxi in LGA in with EDCT times running 1:30?). In corporate flying, I would have to do most of the flight planning on my own (where I worked, anyhow), but I generally wasn't doing 20 minute turns with an aircraft swap. And I could look at the WSI machine myself instead of calling a dispatcher who can't read a TAF and asking them to interpret the radar (who told a friend of mine recently that there was no forecasted or reported icing in Boston while they were in the middle of a snowstorm).
Just like corporate, your passengers get just as angry about things that are out of your control. I heard a guy in the front of our aircraft yelling at our flight attendant so loudly while we waited over an hour for a place to park on a sunny day that I could hear him through the bulletproof door and my headset, and I was on the border of having him forcably removed from the aircraft. Passengers leave dirty diapers on the planes, urinate all over the floor in the bathroom, have their kids grind granola bars into the floor. I had a passenger in PIT threaten to beat me up in the terminal when we cancelled his flight because our medical kit was expired. I had no control over any of this, but I got blamed for it. In the time I spent flying corporate, I never dealt with anybody equally as unreasonable (nor did I generally deal with people who left dirty diapers on the plane or did I have to wait an hour for a place to park).
Depending on where you fly corporate, there may be more thorough maintenance done and less "ops checked okay" on serious items. The aircraft simply have more downtime and the cost pressures, while still high, might not be as cutthroat as in this business. You also have a much higher standard with ramp personnel, aircraft fuelers, and so forth. In corporate flying I found that when you requested a lavatory service, you got it. When you requested to get fueled, you got it. In PHL, these things are often seen as "discretionary".
Finally, any sort of professional jet pilot position involves a lot more than the motor skills to fly the plane. What do you do when the book doesn't address a situation? When you feel something "weird" in the controls but maintenance tells you it's fine (control cables rubbing against the grommits in the fuselage due to binding against aileron bellcranks, as we found out seven hours later)? When the book says "consider landing at the nearest suitable airport" and dispatch says "we think it's okay"? When you take a delay and get a call from the chief pilot for getting more fuel (we're the only of seven aircraft to reach our destination after holding, and still *I* get the phone call!). Flying the plane is easy. The decisions, personal skills, CRM, and so forth is the hard part. I love the challenge, but "easy" isn't what I'd describe it as.
Though at the regional I work for we do have the vast majority of the flight planning done for us, it's frequently incorrect, or at the least, inefficient. I'd say that 1 of every 5 flights that needs an alternate doesn't come with one, often we get out of date weather with the package, minimum fuel doesn't take into consideration appropriate MELs (fuel pump inoperative, for instance) or reasonable thought (200 lbs to taxi in LGA in with EDCT times running 1:30?). In corporate flying, I would have to do most of the flight planning on my own (where I worked, anyhow), but I generally wasn't doing 20 minute turns with an aircraft swap. And I could look at the WSI machine myself instead of calling a dispatcher who can't read a TAF and asking them to interpret the radar (who told a friend of mine recently that there was no forecasted or reported icing in Boston while they were in the middle of a snowstorm).
Just like corporate, your passengers get just as angry about things that are out of your control. I heard a guy in the front of our aircraft yelling at our flight attendant so loudly while we waited over an hour for a place to park on a sunny day that I could hear him through the bulletproof door and my headset, and I was on the border of having him forcably removed from the aircraft. Passengers leave dirty diapers on the planes, urinate all over the floor in the bathroom, have their kids grind granola bars into the floor. I had a passenger in PIT threaten to beat me up in the terminal when we cancelled his flight because our medical kit was expired. I had no control over any of this, but I got blamed for it. In the time I spent flying corporate, I never dealt with anybody equally as unreasonable (nor did I generally deal with people who left dirty diapers on the plane or did I have to wait an hour for a place to park).
Depending on where you fly corporate, there may be more thorough maintenance done and less "ops checked okay" on serious items. The aircraft simply have more downtime and the cost pressures, while still high, might not be as cutthroat as in this business. You also have a much higher standard with ramp personnel, aircraft fuelers, and so forth. In corporate flying I found that when you requested a lavatory service, you got it. When you requested to get fueled, you got it. In PHL, these things are often seen as "discretionary".
Finally, any sort of professional jet pilot position involves a lot more than the motor skills to fly the plane. What do you do when the book doesn't address a situation? When you feel something "weird" in the controls but maintenance tells you it's fine (control cables rubbing against the grommits in the fuselage due to binding against aileron bellcranks, as we found out seven hours later)? When the book says "consider landing at the nearest suitable airport" and dispatch says "we think it's okay"? When you take a delay and get a call from the chief pilot for getting more fuel (we're the only of seven aircraft to reach our destination after holding, and still *I* get the phone call!). Flying the plane is easy. The decisions, personal skills, CRM, and so forth is the hard part. I love the challenge, but "easy" isn't what I'd describe it as.
