Looking at going corporate!

[BenderGonzales]

"You probably won't leave an airline to a cushy fortune 25 flight department"

A lot of people have. Right place, right time, know the right people, and a little luck doesn't hurt either.

 

[54fighting]

but the way I see it I went to flight school to be a pilot and not a gutter repairman/landscaper/office handyman/etc...

Oh Boy.......

 

[willNOTfly4free]

If you do go to a charter company one thing you won't get is time at home.

I respectfully disagree with this broad statement. There are some pretty good charter operators out there, and I happen to work for one. I've been averaging 50-60 hours, 13-18 days, and 2 RON's each month. I may not log as many hours each month as a regional airline pilot, but I am home more hours and spend more nights in my own bed than if I worked for a regional.

Looking at some charter operators in your area wouldn't a bad idea. Flying 135 is an excellent way to get a type rating and experience in an aircraft.

I'm pretty sure my first Gulfstream job will be flying charter.

 

[snow-back]

"You probably won't leave an airline to a cushy fortune 25 flight department"

A lot of people have. Right place, right time, know the right people, and a little luck doesn't hurt either.

I got on with a Fortune 100 with all the items listed above. No previous corporate time and 10+ years of airline stink to boot!

 

[bbond]

A friend of mine said once that a GOOD corporate job will last 3 years, and a GREAT corporate job will last 5. A good luck finding the few and far between that actually have job security.

 

[Ty Webb]

You've got one good thing going for you already- you have a job. That gives you the ability to be selective, and to "interview" prospective corporate employers, just as they will interview you.

As Spaceball1 once said, "There are a few GREAT corporate jobs, there are some GOOD corporate jobs, and there are a bunch of "Shelters for Battered Pilots" . . . . . A GREAT corporate job, or a GOOD corporate job is worth leaving your current job for, but you don't want to leave for the aforementioned "shelter for battered pilots", so you need to learn the intelligent questions to ask so that you can separate #1 and #2 from #3.

I would offer this partial list, and current corporate guys can add to it:

1) Staffing- how many piltos per airplane? For domestic, anything less than 2.5 pilots per plane will not allow anyone a semblance of a schedule, and vacation and requested time off will almost certainly be a problem.

2) Jet usage- how much of it is for the company, and how much personal use? This ratio, along with the weekday/weekend flying ratio will determine your Misery Quotient.

3) Training- will you be typed in the aircraft right away? How often will you be going to recurrent training (91 only REQUIRES the PIC to go once per year). Better departments pay for more frequent training, IMHO. Never go to an operation that requires you to pay for your type. If they skimp on training, they'll skimp everywhere else, too.

4) The best job, IMHO, is at a real, bona fide corporate flight DEPARTMENT, and the worst job, again, IMHO, is the "rich guy with his own jet". That is the job where your personal life/family life doesn't mean squat, and you at his beck and call . . . . worse than being on reserve. That, and "Air Ambulance" are the jobs to avoid, at all costs.

Keep the list going, guys . . . . . .

 

[pilotyip]

The personal use of the company airplane is not only bad for scheduling; it makes the airplane the easiest thing to get rid of if the company experiences as slow down. Part 91 only requires a 61.58 PC every 24 months in type. My company only sent me to the sim every two years, because I was taking PC in the Navy reserves for my 12 month inst. Prof. ck under 61.58. So a 12-month sim visit is not all that bad

 

[Ty Webb]

Part 91 only requires a 61.58 PC every 24 months in type. My company only sent me to the sim every two years, because I was taking PC in the Navy reserves for my 12 month inst. Prof. ck under 61.58. So a 12-month sim visit is not all that bad

.

I rest my case. If you are only going for training for the airplane you are flying once every 24 months, that is probably a crappy company.

Also, at the "Shelter for Battered Pilots", the guy who is willing to do the stuff no one else is (fly broke airplanes, fly in questionable weather, fly fatigued, skimp out on training costs) usually ends up being promoted to Chief Pilot, and then they expect everyone else to do those things.


.

 

[pilotyip]

Not mention, wash the airplane, carry the bags, cabin service in flight, be available any time I want you and drive the rental car to the hotel to drop them off. Fly the airplane for their "friends" who are paying the owner money to use his airplane. But if you are building time it is part of paying your dues. I had already paid my dues. So I turned down Domino’s Pizza when I was unemployed, and when back picking USNR Active Duty