Why do you like to fly bizjets?

[Gulfstream 200]

Get Him A Tissue!!!

Whats next? Is his angelo amore girlfriend gonna chime in and say what a special fella he is??!!

.

 

[SkyBoy1981]

I had a really crude comeback for this one, but for the sake of practicing what I preach about preserving these boards I'll just let it go. Have a nice day all.

 

[wahoo250]

i do have to say that i have been asked why i scroll a 2500 ft/min decent to a 500-1000' prior to leveling off at the airline. some things i have seen would get the big no no when you have the same faces in the back day after day. the other is the use of the throttles. they are small things but it polishes the technique. I think its all personality though. when you dont get commented on after every flight by the person paying your bills I guess some get a little complacent. I am no chuck yaeger though...

 

[Gulfstream 200]

i do have to say that i have been asked why i scroll a 2500 ft/min decent to a 500-1000' prior to leveling off at the airline. some things i have seen would get the big no no when you have the same faces in the back day after day. the other is the use of the throttles. they are small things but it polishes the technique. I am no chuck yaeger though...

when asked why.....you may want to reply to your highly experienced Captain...."DRVSM"....

see if he gets it...

 

[SkyBoy1981]

Wahoo, I agree...its like the guys that hit the FLC button to start an initial descent from cruise altitude....it'll throw everyone up out of their seats almost. I don't think it matters whether you're flying corporate, airlines, or fractionals, some have better flying techniques than others. My roots were in corporate, so like you trying to keep a smooth ride for the folks in the back is always on my mind. Some don't think this way though, I'll admit that.

 

[wahoo250]

ha ha.. will do. yeah ive noticed the people who have come from corp do have a little better techniques, or they are just a little more vigilant at using them. FLC change...whats that? JK

 

[GEXDriver]

yeah.....riiiiiiiight....that is what a lot of guys say when they get their feet wet in the corporate/airline world! but be sure to plan for the day when the sky will fall. have never met retired pilot who hasn't had at least a few jobs during his/her career!

i would be interested to poll how many guys at swa left for corporate jobs.....and vice versa????? anybody taking bets?????

I've been in my job nearly 20 years, we continue to buy new airplanes and the compensation continues to increase as the company prospers. I'd say it's stable.

Why would you want to go to Southwest? A senior captain flying six segments a day only makes about $170k plus profit sharing (whatever that might be, Southwest is only profitable right now because of fuel hedging) and has no retirement other than a 401k.

 

[English]

i would be interested to poll how many guys at swa left for corporate jobs.....and vice versa????? anybody taking bets?????

Ok, I'll chime in. Granted, it wasn't SWA, but I left Aloha for a Citation gig. But, last year I left a Citation gig for Aloha. Go figure.

 

[cforst513]

Ok, I'll chime in. Granted, it wasn't SWA, but I left Aloha for a Citation gig. But, last year I left a Citation gig for Aloha. Go figure.

just out of curiosity, how senior were you when you left aloha airlines, english? and when you went back, did you get the same seniority number or start off at the bottom of the pile again?

 

[SkyBoy1981]

Unless I misunderstood him, he only left Aloha once. Citation to Aloha then back to Citation. I could be wrong though.

 

[English]

When I write that I left, I mean I LEFT. Resigned. I wasn't very senior - only a little over a year. But I had lots of pilots below me in seniority.

 

[av8tortype]

When I write that I left, I mean I LEFT. Resigned. I wasn't very senior - only a little over a year. But I had lots of pilots below me in seniority.

Will miss the banter between you and the Aloha gang. Kinda felt like I was living the Aloha dream vicariously through you, Hugh, et al.

 

[English]

They're all still my friends, just long distance now.

 

[Smoothflyin]

In my corporate travels, I enjoy flying to exotic places like Kansas City and Wichita (and occasionally Dallas and St. Louis).

 

[User546]

In my corporate travels, I enjoy flying to exotic places like Kansas City and Wichita (and occasionally Dallas and St. Louis).

I second that, and lets not forget the honorable mention of Bristol, TN and Bowling Green, KY! Now those are some memorable places!

 

[GVFlyer]

yeah.....riiiiiiiight....that is what a lot of guys say when they get their feet wet in the corporate/airline world! but be sure to plan for the day when the sky will fall. have never met retired pilot who hasn't had at least a few jobs during his/her career!

i would be interested to poll how many guys at swa left for corporate jobs.....and vice versa????? anybody taking bets?????

Gulfstream has received a couple of applications from pilots at JetBlue...and has pilots onstaff that have left the majors (principally Northwest) to fly corporate.

GV





~

 

[Lead Sled]

I second that, and lets not forget the honorable mention of Bristol, TN and Bowling Green, KY! Now those are some memorable places!

Hey don't forget Corsicana, Texas. I think that if you had to give Texas an enima you would put it in Corsicana.

Enough of that. What are your favorite destinations? For me, I always enjoyed flying to Seattle, Atlanta, Boston, Anchorage, Salt Lake City and San Diego. (I ended up moving to San Diego.) Internationally, my favorites are Santiago Chile, Quebec City, London, Paris, Madrid, and Bali.

'Sled

 

[Lead Sled]

Gulfstream has received a couple of applications from pilots at JetBlue...and has pilots onstaff that have left the majors (principally Northwest) to fly corporate.

I worked at a place for nearly 15 years. We had 4 ex-major air carrier pilots and 3 others that told us they would resign their seniority if we'd hire them.

'Sled

 

[crudeoilpilot]

Because I work with people; you cant place a marker on that. I'm in NoDak tonight and the people her admidre us, this is the oil business and when the big people ( god I hope pilots mean something) come to share a sense of gratitude with the underlings it huge.

I do miss the international flying, as in 121 freight dog but my personal and co. BENEFITS far out weigh my previous endevours .

Far different world then before and if your lucky you'll get one too.

I play with all the dept's in the company, being golf, fishing,, hunting or skiing.

Oh yeah by the way, 45 year old flight dept , first new guy in 25 years. This is not an easy egg to crack but if you find one Great for you.

I always want to go fly bigger equipment like a G5 international or so ,which would really fit my true alter ego but I'm pretty happy here and so it shall be, we buy more when it's needed , with cash, which is unlike most Co's. Working with very private ultra cons, shall I say the word millionaires is a misnomer.
They do not like the limelight. Sometimes it's pretty disheartning when you park next to me with a big as@ tool but I have to remember I get paid a whole lot more than most guy's and my long term bennies are far exceed an airline career.

Yes I eat my pie and it tastes good.

 

[AA717driver]

I passed on a JetBlue interview a couple of months ago. Too much uncertainty. Besides, I had Christmas and Thxgiving off this year without calling in sick . I didn't know what to do. I kept waiting for Crew Sked to call...

I'm in Nagoya, Japan now sucking down a couple of Asahi's preparing to go bouncing around China the next couple of days. Beats laying over in CID six times a month.

As I've stated here before that I'm very lucky to have this job but if you can get a stable (in an unstable business) corporate job and have deccent QOL take it and run.

When I updated my log book last year I was appalled at how many holidays and birthdays I had missed in my 15 years of airline flying. I wouldn't trade my time at TWA for anything--but that's because of the people, not the schedule. But even this isn't perfect (the kid is barfing and my wife needs to be at a funeral out of state and I'm on the other side of the world. STBM. )

Find what makes you happy and go with it. Good luck.TC

 

[FurloughedAgain]

AMEN! Good post AA717driver.

All my life I wanted to be an airline pilot... after 3 furloughs (+ one that never materialized), 6 airlines, 8 airplanes, 9 domiciles, and countless holidays and special occasions missed (including scheduling calling to junior-man me on my honeymoon...yeah right) I found myself at my first corporate job.

I've never been happier. I cant believe what i've been missing all these years.

 

[Gulfstream 200]

Im home more than most airline pilots - for sure - but everything still seems to break or go to $hit when Im in someplace like China or India.

murphys law is that?

 

[banned username 2]

Im home more than most airline pilots - for sure - but everything still seems to break or go to $hit when Im in someplace like China or India.

murphys law is that?

Join the club, the only time my Hot Tub goes on the blink is when I am on a trip, I swear the thing knows when I am out of town... And leaving it sit INOP outside in the middle of winter is not an option... Whatcha gonna do?

 

[GVFlyer]

Im home more than most airline pilots - for sure - but everything still seems to break or go to $hit when Im in someplace like China or India.

murphys law is that?

"You could talk your principal into selling that Global to the Chinese or local Maharaja (as appropriate to location of failure) and buying a Gulfstream for it's superior reliability," said GVFlyer while donning his flak jacket and steel pot.

GV

 

[Lead Sled]

"You could talk your principal into selling that Global to the Chinese or local Maharaja (as appropriate to location of failure) and buying a Gulfstream for it's superior reliability," said GVFlyer while donning his flak jacket and steel pot.

Or even better, take the money and use it to buy a Falcon 7X.
'Sled

 

[GVFlyer]

Or even better, take the money and use it to buy a Falcon 7X.
'Sled

Which would certainly be an option if he had only a short distance to fly and could wait until 2007 for delivery and wanted to help Dassault complete Falcon 7X development as the aircraft encountered inevitable entry into service problems.

GV

 

[banned username 2]

"You could talk your principal into selling that Global to the Chinese or local Maharaja (as appropriate to location of failure) and buying a Gulfstream for it's superior reliability," said GVFlyer while donning his flak jacket and steel pot.

GV

I think he meant things going to sh!t or breaking at home, not the airplane...

 

[GVFlyer]

I think he meant things going to sh!t or breaking at home, not the airplane...

I know, I just couldn't help myself.

GV

 

[pa56pa]

Originally Posted by wndshr
yeah.....riiiiiiiight....that is what a lot of guys say when they get their feet wet in the corporate/airline world! but be sure to plan for the day when the sky will fall. have never met retired pilot who hasn't had at least a few jobs during his/her career!

i would be interested to poll how many guys at swa left for corporate jobs.....and vice versa????? anybody taking bets?????




Honestly, I don't think there would be too many SWA pilots leaving that successful company (unless they've F'd up and/or are retired... ) for a corporate position. In fact most SWA pilots I know have stayed til retirement and continued to run their own successful businesses, some in aviation and some in non-aviation fields... But I am willing to bet there would be a high number of "non SWA" airline pilots switching over to the corporate environment, like GV says i.e., Northwest...

the question is, how many of them carry over their airline mentality to the corporate sector?? I do know the two don't mix ..

 

[con-pilot]

There are some really good and interesting posts from everybody that has replied on saviboy question.



It is interesting to note that the most negative comments on corporate aviation comes from a relatively low time co-pilot flying regional jet equipment for a regional airline. There is of course nothing wrong with his views; it would just be interesting to hear his/her opinion 10 years from now.



When I started in this (aviation) business many, many years ago the airline captain was GOD. One never heard of an airline going out of business. Sure there were some buyouts and takeovers, but overall once one made the airlines one had a job for life earning a great salary with fantastic retirement.



Pam American World Airways ruled the international airways. Being a Pam Am captain was past god; on RONs the captain got his own taxi. Domestically TWA, Eastern, Braniff, Continental, American, Delta and United ruled the skies. US. Air came later. For all practical purposes there were no regional airlines. Oh yes there was the old Frontier, Central and Trans Texas airlines to mention a few, however, those airlines did not consider themselves just a regional airline. No they figured that they were just a small airline waiting to grow into a major.



Then came de-regulation. The airline world changed forever. Pam Am gone, TWA gone, Braniff gone, Eastern gone. Those were just the majors. U.S. Air pilots taking massive pay cuts and looking at little or no retirement, Delta same shape, United same shape. I read an article in the ‘Wall Street Journal’ that said that Continental is losing $1.5 million dollars an HOUR.



Okay, now on the corporate side of this issue. At my age I feel that I have had a fairly typical non-airline pilot’s career. My first corporate job was flying a Navajo starting in 1972. Following is my career.



Navajo, aircraft sold, company went out of business.

King Air 90 (a straight 90) aircraft sold.

Free lanced for 2 years

MU-2 and Jet Commander, I quit to go to work for another company.

Jet Commander, West Wind II, Sabre 40, DC-3, I was chief pilot but the oil industry went down the old crapper and the flight department was shut down. (Wife divorced me.)

Freelanced for one year.

West Wind, left to go to work for the Government.

Boeing 727 captain for the government for ten years. Left go back to corporate aviation.

Sabre 65, Falcon 900EX, Falcon 50EX chief pilot currently and my boss has guaranteed that this is my last flying job and after I stop flying I can still manage the flight department until I decide to retire.



So, am I lucky, good or just in the wrong place at the wrong time? I have friends that fly for Fed Ex and they love their jobs and are making a very good salary. I could have gone to work for Fed Ex, but that is whole different subject (it’s called being stupid). I have friends that are very senior with American and they are always complaining.



My salary is equal to a senior SWA captain, I do have an average of 4-5 RONs a month and we are now starting to increase our international flying. As a matter of fact I leave this month on a around the world trip.



As far as fringe benefits we stay in Marriott’s or better, rental cars if we desire, no questions asked on food expenses and on long trips our spouses join us. (And yes, a week in St. Marrten does not suck!)



However, if I could have gone to work for United Airlines in 1972 and now be a senior B747-400 SFO based captain I don’t think I would have missed corporate aviation a bit.



But I’m not complaining. Its been a good life.