Originally Posted by
Kelly Hopper
I originally came from a Bizjet background, spent a few years in the Airlines and then went back to Bizjets. It really pissed me off when at an airline interview I was asked many times by a tainted interview board (or so I thought) why they should give a "proper" job to "cowboys" that fly small jets?
So I'll just let that question settle for a while?
KH.
I too came from a (UK) biz jet background to the (UK) airlines. The biz jet operation was top-notch, Public Transport, multi-crew and taught me a lot. I then contemporaneously instructed and examined on Citations/CJs while flying 737, 747, A320 and 787 as copilot and eventually captain and trainer in the airlines. My experience showed me that the ratio of “cowboys” to “professionals” was much higher in the (UK) biz jet world than in the (UK) airlines. Why was this? In one word: discipline.
I used to advise my biz jet friends who seemed to be set on a career in that world, “Spend five years in a UK airline. You’ll learn to fly properly; might even get a command. Then you can come back to the bizjet world and recognise the cowboys.”
Ex-forces and ex-airline pilots in the biz jet world generally were far better pilots/operators than those without that experience. Obviously there were exceptions, but that was my experience.