FBO staff

[havoc]

Not sure if this meets the requirements for here, interesting site:

http://www.fbohotties.com/page3.html

[Head Turner]

I'm not sure whether you're interested to know that some FBOs are very good and help and assist in a way that gets you in and out of an airfield with little or no stress. However there are some, and I have to say it, in Italy that have little or no idea what being an FBO is all about. My recent flight to Greece and back showed just wide the gap is between the good and the bad.
Lack of preparation and lack of foresight and generally untrained are the hurdles that I faced when landing to get a refuel. How refreshing it was to return to UK airspace and have professionals in the FBOs.

[verticalhold]

Ah, but Mr Turner;

Didn't you stop in Grossetto on the way? The young lady who deals with all the GA flights has had my heart for a number of years. She looks bloody good in a bikini too:E

VH

[Oogle]

Go via Olbia Airport in Sardinia. Very nice "scenery" :E

Naples Airport - forget it. Try and suck in enough fuel to make it to Rome :ugh:

[Head Turner]

The 'scenery' in Olbia IS very attractive and good at the business side of things. Perhaps if there is time to savour the 'scenery' then perhaps the continentals have it. However, when there is work to be done and tight scedules then give me brains every time, I'll forego the 'scenery' as I have mine at home.
Just out of interest my ratings for country FBO are;
1. UK, they don't always have the smartest buildings but do have the best staff with forethought and flexibility.
2. Sweden, cool efficiency and very confident people.
3. Finland, pretty efficient with no frills.
4. Greece, they do a good job and they work to get requests sorted asap.
5.The Nederlands work diligently and are very pleasant and prompt.
6. Germany, 'Wo ist der papier' unfortunately these FBOs are dedicated to the forms and protocols and are very expensive.
7. France, pretty middle average.
8. Spain are well behind the times, and again spoilt by the documentation process of all and everything.
and at the bottom, excepting Olbia, the Italians are the worst.
The Italians trying to be FBOs is exactly like the British hotel staff trying to be waiters/waitresses.

[Head Turner]

And further to my rantings above,
Nice is the most ignorant and totally off handish and Naples the dirtiest and equally as slow as Nice to react to requests. But off course I am only the pilot of a helicopter and not a big shiny corporate jet. That's where there is a difference.

[verticalhold]

Naples should be used as a nuclear test site.

Brindisi is good, most of the Corsican airfields excellent, but Mr Turner you are so right, Nice treat us with contempt, but, Cannes is an utter F***ING disgrace.

VH

[Head Turner]

Verticalhold, do you think that these FBOs you mention regard helicopters and their crews as second class citizens? It certainly is my impression.

What gets my goat is that these handling agents/FBOs have been set up on airfields which have insisted (mandated) that all aircraft are to be handled by an FBO organisation. It's a recipe for poor standards and high prices.

[verticalhold]

Mr Turner;

We are singing from the same hymn sheet. Customer service is utterly non-existent at most "mandatory" FBOs. You and I fly the same type, we pay obscene amounts for handling and get treated as an utter inconvienience.
Our aircraft cost as much as some of the shiny jets (in fact my new one more than most) and yet we are still the "poor" side of the industry. Our ops now know to ask me where I want to route, asking me that saves the blood and thunder which follow anytime I have to deal with contemptuous/contemptible FBOs.

The way we pilots are treated is bad enough, but if you have passengers on board.................

VH

PS I thought you were supposed to be finished now. Haven't seen you in my local environs for a while. AC sends love JH