Like any job, corporate aviation has its good employers and its bad ones. Overall the good ones tend to out number the bad ones. The lifestyle is different. It is not a regular job like a majority of the working public understand a regular job. And to survive it in this part of the industry you must have a love for it.
First of all you do not "fly" airplanes, you fly people. Remember that. You might be the greatest pilot out there, but if your passengers (who directly control your paycheck) are uncomfortable or scared, you are history there. Don't believe me? Spend some time talking with corporate pilots, and you'll hear stories of departments being closed down because a pilot ran an aircraft off the end of a runway with the owner's wife on board, Or the overhead light covers popping down on a hard landing. Or the like.
The corporate lifestyle depends on the company. Some run very scheduled operations. I had one job where I could tell where I was going by what day of the week it was. On the other hand, my present employer, each trip is a new adventure. Many companies you will not fly too far from home. Many will be day trips. Or you could end up going literally around the world. In many companies your regular stops will become like home to you. Or like my present employer, I have been to places like Kabul, Khartoum, Dubai, Sri Lanka, Tucson, Anchorage (in the winter) and what the H*** was the name of that place.
Some departments fly less than 400 hours a year. I have one job where I flew almost a 1000 hours a year. And it was strictly corporate. The average seems to be around 500 hours a year or so.
It seems a majority of the flight departments I have talked with have a pilot for each seat and that is it. For vacations and the like they tend to use contracters. There are spme departments out there that will run one pilot short, as they generally don't run both aircraft at the same time or if a single aircraft operation, don't fly that much and they use contractors to fill in.
As a corporate pilot, you generally are everything, catering, dispatch, maintenance control, scheduling, etc. For an around the world trip, you will spend thre or four days preparing for it. You just can't walk up to the aircraft 30 minutes prior. It is harder work, but to me it seems more rewarding.
At many companies, you will have as much or more face time with the CEO than most company vice presidents. That can work for or against you. There have been stories about pilots being fired because the new VP in charge of the department was afraid of the pilot's preceived power with the CEO. Just be aware of that.
As for equipment. It tends to be much better maintained than most airline equipment. More modern? In many cases, yes. But there are many companies out there running older equipment and quite happy with it. After all, if it is doing the job you bought it for well and isn't causing you any major problems, why replace it?
As for schdules, I know of only a couple of companies that do have schedules. A majority do not. Most will work with you on important things. But I have also been called out with 30 minutes notice. You have to remember, that the flight department is a cost center and it is there to provide a service to the rest of the company. And if the company feels that the department can not provide the service that they want and need, then the department disappears. So as corporate pilots we need to continually sell our depart to the other departments. The more other departments want to use our services the more secure our departments are. It will require you to be more flexible in your planning and scheduling.
And remember, right now the TSA is the best job guarantee we have. If they have any choice, they will only do the airline route once.
With that said, I will get off my soap box.
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