Netjets BBJ - Nice Winglets!

[Heavy Set]

I visited Van Nuys today and saw a gorgeous Netjets BBJ at Raytheon - it was wedged in tight near the passenger area. I really like the look of the winglets - and the pilots looked quite smug in the cockpit as it taxied out to 34 L for a blast-off departure with a left turn to the West.

Questions regarding the Netjets BBJ:

1. How many out of the 1,000+ Netjets pilots fly the BBJ? I know that it is a small fleet at present.

2. Do the BBJ pilots also fly the 7-On-7-Off schedule?

3. What percentage of BBJ flights are domestic vs. international at present?

4. What is a typical 7-day rotation like for the BBJ - do you end up crossing the Pond a few times - any examples of 7-day rotation?


I wish I had joined Netjets years ago. I have good experience, but I think the fractional-type of flying would have appealed to me. I hope the new contract works out for the Netjets guys and the BBJ pilots are paid what they are worth...

Great looking aircraft - and the winglets are cool!


Cheers

 

[Heavy Set]

By the way, the Netjets BBJ I saw today was one of SEVEN BBJs on the field at Van Nuys - it's a haven for big corporate jets....

Any Netjet pilots out there want to respond to my questions above?


Thanks

 

[bizjet737]

1. How many out of the 1,000+ Netjets pilots fly the BBJ? I know that it is a small fleet at present.

there are 24 "netjets" pilots on the roster, and about a dozen contract pilots hired to help get us up to speed on the bird.

2. Do the BBJ pilots also fly the 7-On-7-Off schedule?

7/7 is the only schedule on the bbj

3. What percentage of BBJ flights are domestic vs. international at present?

probably 80% domestic 20% intl

4. What is a typical 7-day rotation like for the BBJ - do you end up crossing the Pond a few times - any examples of 7-day rotation?

typical rotation? airline to the plane, sit in the hotel for 5 days, do a leg, sit a day, airline home - just did that and it's pretty typical. many trips sit in the hotel for 7 days - things are very slow. only flown 200hrs in 2yrs.

 

[Heavy Set]

BBJ Questions - How does it compare...

bizjet737,

I know a number of very, very busy pilots who would prefer your schedule...

Some questions for you: How do you like the BBJ vs. the other great airplanes you have flown at Netjets including the Citation X and the Falcon 2000 - how does it "handle" compared to the others? Which aircraft has been your favorite and why? Has your destination mix changed much from the Falcon which also flies internationally - do you find you are flying much further and really utilizing the max range of the aircraft - any examples?

Looks like a great airplane from the exterior!

 

[bizjet737]

i enjoy flying the bbj. a favorite? hard to say - i enjoyed the hot-rod x, the roomy and great flying falcon, too. the bbj is neat because it's so big.

handling, it flys ok, but nothing like the falcon or x, it's a lot heavier on the controls.

destination mix - NO MORE TEB!!!!! we still take it into 6000' strips, so lots of places most of the other planes go. i didn't know the falcon went international due to it's limited range.

my longest leg so far has been hpn-phog 11.8hrs, with an hour in the tanks on landing. another crew did 12.3 last summer. the hpn-phog is a regular leg for us, however, it's not often we fill the tanks (takes about an hour - the aux's are real slow to fill). since the plane isn't selling, we mostly do upgrades from the other fleets. the ultra owners really love it!

the biggest pain is going to be the new security rules - we have to search bags and wand pax in the fbo before entering the "sterile area" just like the airlines.

 

[mainah]

Can't wait to get far enough into my career where I think the Falcon 2000 is limited range.

 

[rice]

You'll know when that is when you constantly complain about your a$$ always being sore. Just kidding, well sort of.

 

[General Lee]

Bizjet737,

Sounds like a really interesting job. I flew the 737-800 a while back and I loved it. By the way, I am not familiar with PHOG---where is that?

Also, where are some other interesting places you have flown that BBJ? Ever been to Salzburg or Nadi? Do you fly into Farnborough when you go to London? Do you do a lot of Hawaii?
It does sound more fun than the typical airline job.

Bye Bye---General Lee

 

[mobs]

BIZJET 737

BIZ, Must be murder doing 12 hr. legs in the 737(only flew the 200 a good while ago) longest A 330 leg I have done was just at 11 hrs. winter time from LIRF to KPHL with about 142,00 lbs. of fuel. Have never had full tanks 172,000 lbs. 12 hrs. in the 73 would seem longer than some of my marriages. Mobs

 

[NJdispatcher]

PHOG = Kahului , Hawaii

 

[bizjet737]

12hrs is a VERY long time - at least we use an augmented crew (3) and have the couch in the crew rest avail (when it's not full of catering and crew bags). nice thing is you can get up and pace around, or sit and stretch - has the room to do either.

i haven't been too many places - the plane does go to hawaii (phog is maui) frequently since it has the range to go there from anywhere in the usa nonstop. places i've been outside conus: london, kuwait, bahrain, dubai, doha qatar, abu dabi, stutgart - one one trip. another was geneva and nice. that's it for me internationally.

domestic, just about everywhere once it seems.

 

[Heavy Set]

Hey Bizjet737,

When you say you fly that beautiful bird into 6000' strips, does that include Aspen? I always thought that Aspen restricted jets bigger than the GV or Global (besides the Bae-146)? The engines look quite powerful and I could see how you could probably fly well in hot-and-high conditions. Can you give us some examples of 6000' ft strips or specifically-challenging airports you have flown into in the BBJ? How about Jackson Hole, Sun Valley, Katmandu, etc.?

Sounds like a great gig - and a great airplane!

 

[bizjet737]

no, we don't go into ase. ege is the only mountain airport we use - we have a gps approach and "escape manuever" for departrue. pretty cool when you do a v1 cut (in the sim), climb out on the manuever a few thousand feet, remove the clouds, and those mountains are right there, but you're going around them.

 

[C40_Pilot]

not just a commercial beauty

Got to throw in my .02 cents...

The USAF just got their hands on two BBJ's. One in Maryland and one in Hawaii. I got picked up to fly the BBJ in the USAF for VIP transport at Hickam AFB HI. We fly all over the pacific and stateside. Sweet, sweet ride...

Beats cold box lunches and hauling trash during my last assignment.

 

[fokkerjet]

C40_PILOT

Are those the Ford BBJ's from Europe?

 

[C40_Pilot]

The Ford BBJ's went to the Air Guard in DC.

The AF actually purchased two BBJ's for full timers to fly in at both Hickam and Andrews.

 

[cgmason1]

The Navy Reserve also has its equivalent of the BBJ-but they do not have winglets(but they may be added later).
Squadrons at Jax Nas and Dallas NAS have them.
Just got back from getting qualified and had my first flight in it the other day-they are sweet.

Now if that BBJ FO bid would ever come out at NetJets-I would be on it like a Hobo on a Ham Sandwich-I would love to fly the same aircraft for my fulltime and reserve jobs.

Fly Safe
Chuck

 

[Heavy Set]

Yeah, but you get some great variety... Imagine being able to fly a Citation X for two weeks every month for Netjets and then your BBJ every other weekend...


Cgmason1,

How often do you get to fly the BBJ and how far afield do you fly it (any exotic exmaples?)? Sounds great.


Cheers

 

[cgmason1]

Its not a BBJ-but as close as you can get without the lavish interior.
Just got out sim tng and have only flown it once(if you can call it that) for training at the squadron.
Sweet machine-being the lazy man I am I would rather fly both the BBJ and the 737-700 at my reserve job. But thats not going to happen any time soon-the BBJ F/O bid is on the back burner-probably for while at least.

But the Hawker is not a bad second choice.

Fly Safe
Chuck

 

[cgmason1]

I know you are kidding-but there is a little truth in there--the handle bar yoke of the Hawkers is very nice-(especially for the flare)-tough to get used to the regular one again--I am thinking of carring a spare Harley Handle Bar Type Yoke around with me-but I don't think my squadron IP's or Tac's would buy off on letting me use it.

Fly Safe
Chuck
Ps griz can't believe you got rid of the cool AF C-12 pic you had before here and on the NJA board--the C-12 is my alltime fav aircraft--too easy!