Sentient Jet

[psysicx]

Is there any difference between Santient Jet and a charter company? Do they offer more variety of aircraft or is it easier to set up a flight? And do people choose fractionals instead for safety?

 

[English]

The difference is in the pay and QOL.

 

[Flechas]

Haha, you beat me to it!

 

[rice]

Is there any difference between Santient Jet and a charter company? Do they offer more variety of aircraft or is it easier to set up a flight? And do people choose fractionals instead for safety?

Sentient Jet is a charter company. They bought Atlantic Aviation Flight Services a few months ago if I remember correctly. Basically they operate just as EJM, Jet Aviation, TAG, etc do. Own the charter certificate and manage a number of clients airplanes under that cert.
As for Safety, my guess is that most clients have no idea what constitutes safety in aviation. Most are given the polished sales line "we've never had a serious accident" or the proverbial "two captain" thing ala NJA or the "our pilots exceed all FAR requirements and are the most expeienced" blah blah blah. I bet very few actually pay for an impartial third party safety audit whether they decide to go with JoeBob's Jets or a fractional.

 

[psysicx]

Thanks for the info. Definitly would be good to have a third party safety audit. I didn't know Sentient had any aircraft. It seems like a good idea. You don't have to commit to one type of aircraft. But its just like buying a card for so many hours at Tag.

 

[English]

Many charter operators these days benefit from third party safety audits. Wyvern, ARG/US and IS-BAO all do these audits.

The fractionals do as well.

 

[jergar999]

For what it's worth, a certain FBO based out of Lincoln, NE that I will not mention has at least one aircraft that is contracted to Sentient.

 

[Eagle-ista]

Sentient sub-contracts all of their flying. I don't believe they own even one aircraft. The purchase of Atlantic will change that, but I would wait and see how they handle maintenance issues and other ownership hassles they have never had to deal with.

 

[rice]

Sentient sub-contracts all of their flying. I don't believe they own even one aircraft. The purchase of Atlantic will change that, but I would wait and see how they handle maintenance issues and other ownership hassles they have never had to deal with.

Agreed, but so does JA, EJM, TAG, AIRGroup (subcontract). Most if not all of their fleets are owned by other entities which these charter/management companies then use on a contractual basis to derive revenue. Sentient essentially just bought their way in by aquiring AAFS an doing essentially the same thing. IMO their success will be determined by how well the execute the program with the owners and the charter clients.

 

[Stealthh21]

Many charter operators these days benefit from third party safety audits. Wyvern, ARG/US and IS-BAO all do these audits.

The fractionals do as well.

and the requirements are stupid. For Wyvern someone with 4000 TT in a cessna 172 is more quilified then someone with 3500TT with 2000 hours in a Learjet.

 

[English]

I was referring to safety audits, not flight time minimums.

 

[psysicx]

Is Blue Star jets the same thing?

 

[Snakum]

Is Blue Star jets the same thing?

Is that the flight department for that ointment company?

Minh

 

[Snakum]

Has anyone else noticed what a good sport psysicx is about all the 'pay and QOL' ribbing?

I'll bet he has a huge MS Excel spreadsheet with detailed information on every corporate and charter operator in the country, and an MS VBA program behind that spits out the absolute very best choice of employer. One day he'll make his move and wind up with a 'career job' and the rest of us corp geek wannabes will be jealous as we bounce around from job to job.



Minh

 

[AZ Typed]

and the requirements are stupid. For Wyvern someone with 4000 TT in a cessna 172 is more quilified then someone with 3500TT with 2000 hours in a Learjet.

This is correct. Wyvern and Argus (spelling?) are 90% business scams sold to people - folks buy into their sales pitch of their audits. Safety is increased - but it's also degraded. I've flown with people who meet the audit requirements but have no business being in a cockpit. I've flown with people who don't meet the requirements and could fly single pilot...safely. In the end these two audits are schemes sold to morons with more money than brains. The bottom line, however, is that we are now forced to live with them.

AZT

 

[psysicx]

Haha I can take a joke. I have pretty thick skin when it comes to ribbing it doesn't bother me. I do keep all the information I get even though its not on a spreadsheet. Research is key to me and thats why I ask all the questions.

 

[pilotmiketx]

I was referring to safety audits, not flight time minimums.

Crew qualifications is ONE of the things they audit. And the standards, unlike an accounting audit, are completely arbitrary and...looking for the right word...retarded.

 

[pilotmiketx]

This is correct. Wyvern and Argus (spelling?) are 90% business scams sold to people - folks buy into their sales pitch of their audits. Safety is increased - but it's also degraded. I've flown with people who meet the audit requirements but have no business being in a cockpit. I've flown with people who don't meet the requirements and could fly single pilot...safely. In the end these two audits are schemes sold to morons with more money than brains. The bottom line, however, is that we are now forced to live with them.
AZT

An external audit is often required by investors and creditors. Unless the major accounting and management firms start performing aviation specific audits, you're stuck. The auditors only seek to compare the company's policies and practices with a set of standards that they (the auditor) have set. Then they make recommendations to management based on their findings. Management can choose to follow the recommendations or not, provided they can provide a good enough reason to the board not to. Wyvern can no more ensure that a pilot with a 10K hrs and 2 moon landings isn't a dangerous, drunk, tool, than KPMG can ensure that the CEO of a public company isn't going to run it into the ground.

I hope I don't sound too pro-audit. I think the Wyvern standard for pilot requirements is ridiculous (by the time I'm Wyvern qualified, I'm looking for a better job!) Unfortunately audits are a neccessary evil when doing business at that level. In a previous job, I spent so much time answering pre-audit questionaires, responding to auditors ?s during audits and giving rebuttles as to why we didn't do something their way after the audits that I didn't have time to actually do my JOB!

 

[pilotman121]

Sentient Jet is nothing more than a fractional bottom feeder, who finds 135 charter companys without there own business.I flew numerious flights for them the last three years and my next job will not include flying for them.

 

[BOZO]

pilotman121 hit the nail on the head. Furthermore...those "audits" by various money-grabbing firms are a joke.