Welcome to Flightinfo.com

  • Register now and join the discussion
  • Friendliest aviation Ccmmunity on the web
  • Modern site for PC's, Phones, Tablets - no 3rd party apps required
  • Ask questions, help others, promote aviation
  • Share the passion for aviation
  • Invite everyone to Flightinfo.com and let's have fun

Sentient Jet

Welcome to Flightinfo.com

  • Register now and join the discussion
  • Modern secure site, no 3rd party apps required
  • Invite your friends
  • Share the passion of aviation
  • Friendliest aviation community on the web
Av8tortype,

You should be able to get a reputable charter outfit in the PDX area to do that trip for pretty close to that cost. Certainly if you were to sign some sort of hourly commitment with them. For the three days they will probably charge a 2hr minimum/day but even @ $2000/hr for a lear 31/35 that is only $12,000 plus ovenight fees and it gets closed to $14,000. The upside to this is you know the operator, plane, pilots, and such. Plus if you decide to get a plane you already have a relationship with a 135 certificate holder if you want to put it on charter.

It's all about negotiating.

If I were an operator in PDX I'd be all over this.
 
The other good new is that they have sold so much that they are also having to use those of us that will NOT discount to them. When we fly for them it is full rate of $1950 per hour for us. Same price anyone else would get. Not even a 5% broker discount.

CAPT HUFF is bang on By the way!
 
While we're on the subject of brokers, what kind of a commission do they typically get? 5%? 10%?

A broker recently told me she could get us a wholesale rate of $1500 or !550 per hour for our Westwind, whichimplies about $400 per hour profit to her. That seems a little high.....
 
Like I say ... brokers are scumbags. They own nothing and profit just for themselve while undercutting the certificate holders. Try operating a Westwind for $1500 an hour today and make a profit. Yea right!

BTW she was not kidding. She has found a $hitbag certificate holder with a pile of pooo Westwind that is willing to drive the market down. She is then going to hold it over more reputable operators heads until they start to say yes to trips.

Best thing you can do is accept and screw her over at a tech stop (on the way home of course) in Salinas, KS.

Just say "NO"

BTW 400A good for you and your flight department. I am glad to see you are holding a higher standard when dealing with these guys.
 
G100driver said:
She has found a $hitbag certificate holder with a pile of pooo Westwind that is willing to drive the market down.
Hmmmm... KVNY comes to mind.:D

Sentient seems to drive the crews pretty hard. Most of my contract work over the past year has been relieving spent PT135 crews who've been stuck in KTEB for weeks-on-end doing multi-leg Sentient trips.

As for Sentient only using a "reputable provider with a well established history of safety and customer service", I disagree. A few years ago I worked for an operator that was far from reputable, safe or service oriented. Sentient was itching to get us on board.
 
HMR said:
Hmmmm... KVNY comes to mind.:D

Sentient seems to drive the crews pretty hard. Most of my contract work over the past year has been relieving spent PT135 crews who've been stuck in KTEB for weeks-on-end doing multi-leg Sentient trips.

As for Sentient only using a "reputable provider with a well established history of safety and customer service", I disagree. A few years ago I worked for an operator that was far from reputable, safe or service oriented. Sentient was itching to get us on board.

I second all of that. Sentient actually called the FBO at our departure airport and asked the girl behind the counter what we were wearing. They had absolutely no reason to do this, because we had always been professionally dressed.

As for HMR's statement about "reputable provider", again I agree. I worked for a Sentient provider who employed less-than-safe pilots and mechanics (the biggest reason I left). Sentient seemed more concerned with the appearance of the interior than anything safety-related.

I hate to bad mouth the company, though. They do work hard to satisfy their customers, but I think they do so at the cost of better safety.

HMR...Love the avatar. Where is that? Makes me want to sit on a porch and drink a good bourbon.
 
av8tortype said:
Thanks for the feedback ... both positive and not. FlexJet is also offering a jet membership program similar to Sentient but I don't have the details yet. The plan is to fly a group of 3 execs down from PDX to SJC on Tues am and return them back Thurs pm. This would be a weekly evolution. Could be something an Oregon charter company might be interested in. Cost with Sentient ~$14K week.

Sir,

I believe you suggest spending $56K/mo or $672K/yr. For such an investment you CAN get far more than a weekly round trip to SJC. If you want no concerns rather than writing a check, go forward. But if money matters, and you are willing to devote a bit of effort to the whole transportation issue, a significant savings, tax benefits and more familiar service is available. It's called shared ownership and for many travelers it makes sense.

A.
 
aeolian said:
Sir,

I believe you suggest spending $56K/mo or $672K/yr. For such an investment you CAN get far more than a weekly round trip to SJC. If you want no concerns rather than writing a check, go forward. But if money matters, and you are willing to devote a bit of effort to the whole transportation issue, a significant savings, tax benefits and more familiar service is available. It's called shared ownership and for many travelers it makes sense.

A.

We're evaluatiing various ownership options. The 2 that I mentioned earlier were fractional and outright purchase. What we've tried to stay away from is having to explain the corporate jet to a room full of angry shareholders. Jet membership or charter is a big expense compared with hopping on Alaska for $250 r/t PDX-SJC-PDX but maybe there's something to be said for a "Capitalist Tool" as Malcolm Forbes called his jet. I'm just covering all the angles so that the new giuy knows the cost we will be incurring to get him to work. We should all have this problem.
 
If you are looking for reasons why charter/private air travel makes sense, a few things you might consider:

1) The time savings over airlining is significant, when you consider the time used up for check in, security, retrieving bags on the other end, etc. You're looking at probably an hour and a half on each trip.

2) In the Portland area, there may be a more convenient airport than PDX for your passenger. In particular, look at Aurora and Hillsboro. There may be a considerable time savings there as well.

3) A guy I used to fly for, CEO of a public company, once told me, "If the shareholders and the board want me to stick around, they'll pay for the airplane. If they don't want to pay for the airplane, they can find someone else." A valid point-- if this guy generates enough shareholder value and an airplane is required to keep him happy, it's a sound investment.
 

Latest resources

Back
Top