Leaving Delta for Corporate

[semperfido]

Being based in ATL we get a lot of calls from DAL pilots wishing to make the transition to corporate flying. They usually call our Chief Pilot and say things like, "I am furloughed from DAL and need a job, so I was wondering if I could come over and fly your little airplanes until I get recalled". The guys that are about to retire usually say something like, "Hey, I am about to retire from DAL with 10,000 hours flying the B-767, so I thought I would like to come fly your little planes, as long as it doesn't get in the way of my golf game on Tuesdays".

You may want to try these techniques as well. It has worked so well for your fellow DAL pilots, as my boss can hardly resist the opportunity to have some DAL pilots tell us how we have been doing things wrong for so many years. Every corporate flight department in America could use a few furloughed or retired DAL pilots to do the same thing for them.

hey sleepy,

airline pilots are people too! it's good to get a different perspective on the way we do things. value added. nothing should stay the same. i would look at everyone and not exclude anyone.


s/f

 

[Spooky 1]

Does anybody have any tips about how to get qualified for a goodcorporate job. I've got tons of time, but no small jet types and nocorporate experience.

Thanks

T.

As you can see there are just about as many opinions regarding airline pilots going corporate as there are models of corporate aircraft and many of them are right on target. If you have not been corporate somewhere in your life prior to the airline gig then it can be tough, if not at times depressing.

As for the guy who does the PFT thing on a G1V and then thinks he is going to contract somewhere..............don't hold your breath! Ditto for the jerks who think they will market themselves to the world at some rate below the going standard. Corporate is a different business with some very unusual personality traits peppered throught it's ranks. It can be a very pleasent experience, but you should be prepared for the worst.

Have an aquaintence that bought a GV rating after bailing out of USAir several years ago. He had more bells and whistles in his resume than 99.9% of the pilots on this board and I don't that he has done any significant flying as a contractor in the last three years, so watch out for this venue. Looks good on the surface but is filled with possible issues that can only be overcome with significant dollars. i.e., recurrent training for instance.

PM and I will share some interesting facets of life after Delta. I worked there myself for a number of years.

 

[snow-back]

Being based in ATL we get a lot of calls from DAL pilotswishing to make the transition to corporate flying. They usually callour Chief Pilot and say things like, "I am furloughed from DAL and needa job, so I was wondering if I could come over and fly your littleairplanes until I get recalled". The guys that are about to retireusually say something like, "Hey, I am about to retire from DAL with10,000 hours flying the B-767, so I thought I would like to come flyyour little planes, as long as it doesn't get in the way of my golfgame on Tuesdays".

You may want to try these techniques as well. It has worked so well foryour fellow DAL pilots, as my boss can hardly resist the opportunity tohave some DAL pilots tell us how we have been doing things wrong for somany years. Every corporate flight department in America could use afew furloughed or retired DAL pilots to do the same thing forthem.

Sleepy,

One thing I've learned during that my career is that if you have 10000pilots on the list, you have 10000 different personalities. Mostpilots fit into a fairly similar mold, but there are a few who are inand even beyond the fringes. Fortunately the processes we use forhiring pilots filter most of the latter types out, however, there aresome who squeeze through. I'm happy to know that our filterprocess worked for you.

If you actually took the time to read my posts in their entirety,except the parts that said "delta pilot to corporate", you would haveseen that nowhere I made an assumption of being hired as a GV Captainbecause I'm a Delta pilot. I'm taking a very humble approach tothis venture and my decisions will affect my family and me for the restof our lives. If you're so close minded as to automaticalllyexclude a pilot simply because of where he/she has worked, you're luckyyou find anyone to work for you.

T

 

[slowto250]

The fraternity......can't you just feel the love ? And we wonder how management has so successfully exploited our proud profession .

 

[sleepy]

hey sleepy,

airline pilots are people too! it's good to get a different perspective on the way we do things. value added. nothing should stay the same. i would look at everyone and not exclude anyone.


s/f

I was at two airlines before I came to my senses. I don't have anything against airline pilots. These DAL pilots crack me up though.

 

[sleepy]

Sleepy,

One thing I've learned during that my career is that if you have 10000pilots on the list, you have 10000 different personalities. Mostpilots fit into a fairly similar mold, but there are a few who are inand even beyond the fringes. Fortunately the processes we use forhiring pilots filter most of the latter types out, however, there aresome who squeeze through. I'm happy to know that our filterprocess worked for you.

If you actually took the time to read my posts in their entirety,except the parts that said "delta pilot to corporate", you would haveseen that nowhere I made an assumption of being hired as a GV Captainbecause I'm a Delta pilot. I'm taking a very humble approach tothis venture and my decisions will affect my family and me for the restof our lives. If you're so close minded as to automaticalllyexclude a pilot simply because of where he/she has worked, you're luckyyou find anyone to work for you.

T

I have nothing against you sir. I was simply telling you what didn't work for some of your co-workers (and I wasn't making this up either). It sounds like you have the right attitude, you need to network.

 

[G100driver]

airline pilots are people too! it's good to get a different perspective on the way we do things. value added. nothing should stay the same. i would look at everyone and not exclude anyone.


s/f

That is a mighty progessive statement there, semperfido For all we know you could live in the Pac NW.

You are correct though, everyone is different and all should be given a chance. Speaking as a progressive though.

 

[semperfido]

That is a mighty progessive statement there, semperfido For all we know you could live in the Pac NW.

You are correct though, everyone is different and all should be given a chance. Speaking as a progressive though.

LOL...now that's funny

 

[AA717driver]

The toughest thing I had to adjust to was the feeling that when I started sending out resumes (initially to airlines, NJI and cold calling corporate outfits) was that the world would beat a path to my door because I was a captain for a major and had a bunch of zeros after all my flight time.

WRONG!

Once I quit waiting for the phone to ring, I started networking and deciding where I wanted to end up.

Again, the problem for those transitioning from airline to corporate is that our predecessors were, in many cases, real a$$holes and made it doubly difficult for us to make the transition. It will take a long time for airline types to not be viewed as temp workers in corporate.

You need to cultivate relationships in corporate departments so they know you and you're not just another resume. You also need to prepare a "schtick" to use when talking to people in a corporate department. You can't just walk up and say "well, since the airlines suck right now, I think I'll try corporate". This has to be a well-reasoned decision and, while the airline's downturn pushed you over the edge, you've been considering this move for a long time. You've articulated your reasoning here but just flesh it out and make it conversational.

Being relatively senior won't hurt in that they will know you aren't just looking for a furlough avoidance program.

This is a pretty good place to start your change of career--it never hurts to get the b!tchslapping out of the way early! It toughens you up for those rejection letters. TC

 

[CatYaaak]

...The only problem is he has put himself on the market to the local guys as being willing to do the job for less money, because he already has his pension ect. He makes me want to puke. Here is a guy who had a great career, made a few bucks and walked away with a good pention. This probably the same kinda guy who rallied against the RJ's and B scale pay. He is now flying as a Hawker 800XP PIC making $50,000/year. This guy is the modern day SCAB in corporate aviation. I hold nothing but contempt for him and his type.
QUOTE]

I had a flashback and puked just from just reading your example....a big 'ole hairball, and it wasn't pretty. You know, the "p" in the word "pilot" has always stood for Prostitute, but I can't stand filthy whores like this.

When I ran a small flight department for a few years it required having a few prospects in mind if we needed somebody to fill-in for temp contract work so I'd spend a little time calling around to flesh out resume info, finding out what they expected to be paid per day, etc. As I recall, crumpling up and tossing-out resumes belonging this type of low-balling airline puke was the only pleasurable paperwork I ever did.

You're right, effectively what they are doing is the same thing they term "scabbing" over in the officially-unionized airline world. I guess these wankers figured nobody would be looking, or that it mattered, if they tried doing it in the real one.

 

[DBCOOPER]

It is amazing to me how judgemental some people can be of other pilots. There is always someone that has a problem with the way another pilot does things. The fact that a retired airline pilot wants to continue flying because he enjoys it so much.....great, BFD. As long as the guy I'm flying with does his job well, and is a pleasure to share the cockpit with....I don't give a crap where they came from.

 

[DBCOOPER]

Oh and Catyaaak, I can't stand scabs either. But you should look up the real definition of one before you start throwing the word out there like that.

 

[CatYaaak]

Oh and Catyaaak, I can't stand scabs either. But you should look up the real definition of one before you start throwing the word out there like that.

I know what the real definition of what a scab is, which is why I didn't lable those in question "scabs" but rather wrote "effectively, what they are doing is the same...".....as in, "having the same effect as". The subject at hand was wages whether they be yearly salary or daily contract rates. Get it? Probably not. And of course I was talking about "lowballing" airline pukes, not airline pukes in general, many who I've flown with both in the corporate aviation and as a dues-paying airline puke myself.

You can call me judgmental all you want on this issue...you're absolutely correct. In a postion of choosing whether to hire someone or not I'll indeed judge between them in various ways, and it matters(ed) to me if someone tried to blatantly lowball their way into a job because they either didn't bother to find out what the industry standard rate was, or worse, because they thought they could pick up a boat payment etc., for a few days work during their off-time from XYZ airlines.

I had no respect for someone offering to do a $500 per day job back then for $150-$200...they were telling me that's how much they thought both they and the job were worth, or just plain too lazy to find their way out of their ignorance as to what they should be asking. It also told me how seriously they would take it..which wasn't very.

Over long years in non-unionized corporate aviation salaries and wages have gone up overall because most people know the whoring route hurts themselves and everyone in the industry. Corporate flying isn't about directly generating revenue so having the cheapest whore up front isn't the goal of the person in back, it's about getting what you pay for, generating loyalty, and getting the job done.

So yes, offering to do the job for peanuts ("whoring") in the non-unionized world does have the same effect "scabbing" does on pay rates in the unionized one. I'll judge that with pleasure.

 

[G100driver]

It is amazing to me how judgemental some people can be of other pilots. There is always someone that has a problem with the way another pilot does things. The fact that a retired airline pilot wants to continue flying because he enjoys it so much.....great, BFD. As long as the guy I'm flying with does his job well, and is a pleasure to share the cockpit with....I don't give a crap where they came from.

DB, you totally missed the point. In a day and age when guys are about to loose their homes and cannot feed there kids doing the job in which they were trained to for a retiree to take a flying job while drawing a full pension is total classless.

It is the same as the guys walking across the picket lines at Eastern and UAL. It is the mentality of, "I got mine, so F U." It is time for these guys to enjoy their retirerment. If they want to fly, go purchase, rent ect. In the mean time, just go home.

 

[semperfido]

DB, you totally missed the point. In a day and age when guys are about to loose their homes and cannot feed there kids doing the job in which they were trained to for a retiree to take a flying job while drawing a full pension is total classless.

It is the same as the guys walking across the picket lines at Eastern and UAL. It is the mentality of, "I got mine, so F U." It is time for these guys to enjoy their retirerment. If they want to fly, go purchase, rent ect. In the mean time, just go home.

complete BS...get real...rose colored glasses...its no diff now than it was back whenever....dog eat dog....can't wait til you get to the other side of 50.