Care of Reddo, Pipex aren't co-operating.
A day in the life of an exec jet pilot.
We’re half way through the tour and have just shut down on our final sector for the day. One of us will escort our passengers off the aircraft and unload the bags etc. While this is happening, I am usually writing down the numbers and working out our flight time, fuel burnt etc. Time to switch on the Blackberry and see what’s happening. I used to call in the numbers immediately but nowadays I wait for the captain to add his bit if required. Occassionally there’s an operational thing he needs to explain.
So after the passengers have gone it’s time to tidy the cabin. Throw out the rubbish and tidy the seat belts. Get the vacuum cleaner out and give the floor a once over. Wipe down the surfaces and restock if we can. The captain returns and starts the paper work. Now I scamper outside and put the pins in and the covers on. One of us has sent in the numbers and got the next day’s duty. No point in cheering or grizzling about the duty, it will change.
Off to the hotel and grab a beer or some food or just crash out depending on the start.
Tidy bag so there isn’t much to do in the morning.
Alarm goes off usually far too early the next day. Check Blackberry for any changes. Shower, dress and pack and head down for breaky (if it’s open). Check out and meet n greet the captain. Jump in the taxi or crew bus and go to aircraft. If it’s a positioning flight, we get an hour to prepare. If it’s a revenue flight we get 90 minutes.
Depending on the airport, get scanned and passport perused or just wander through the gate. Find handling agent and pick up the mountain of paper work. Note the changes
Check in with the Blackberry and get an updated briefing. Sort through the flight plans, wx and notams. Make sure we have the Flygprestanda details for the airports required.
Off to the aircraft. Sort out fueling, toilet service (if req’d) and catering (if revenue). Take out all the pins and stow the covers. Fire up the APU as soon as we can.
Fish out all the Jepps for the day’s schedule and file them in the day book. We carry a full set of European charts up the front and Africa/Rest of Europe and world in the back. (Maybe not USA). Captain sorts out the tech log and so on while I do the external.
Do the daily checks and load up the FMS. Do the performance calcs (in the QRH/Tab data. That’s the old Honeywell avionics, now using Collins Proline 21s. It’s all in the magic box) and sort out the clearances. At 30 min to go, one of us will go to handling agent meeting point to fetch the passengers. With luck, they’re on time. We use the Blackberry for release or phone Dispatch for remote release and lead passenger info. Escort the passengers through customs etc (if req’d) and help them onto the aeroplane. Load bags. Brief them as you’ve seen a million times on an ordinary flight.
Hop in the front and then do the pilot thing. We give a detailed brief about the start, take off and any emergency procedures plus the normal departure. Get the start and taxi away.
While taxiing, play the standard safety brief over the IFE.
From then on it’s like any routine flight. Only for us, chances are we’ve never been here before or it was a while ago. Keep a beady eye on the taxi charts or with luck, follow the car
Take off. Admire view once the flight is under way. (ie all calls done, checklists done, initial paperwork done) If we’re close enough to the Alps take a piccie. Take a piccie of anything that looks interesting. Collect up the departure aerodrome charts and file them away.
Whilst in the cruise, do the paperwork, load up the FMS with the next plan and make sure the passengers are happy. If time and so inclined, wander down the back and check on them. Follow the flight on the charts and have a look at the Pilot’s Atlas for more info if required.
At around 300-200nm to go, start fishing out the arrival charts. Look at the metars and see what the trend is. Do a fair bit of anticipating. Try and get the ATIS and work out what was said. Work out the sums, load up the FMS. Brief the non flying pilot. While on descent, play the Landing briefing over the IFE. Do the approach and land the wee beasty. Taxi in. Again, chances are we’re not familiar with the place so out comes the taxi chart or better, a Follow Me car.
Occassionally on a ferry leg the Sat phone will ring with an inflight diversion. They some how always pick the descent to call us. We then quickly do an inflight plan to check the fuel required, see what’s in the tanks and say “yae or nae”.
Shut down and repeat. Disembark the passengers and escort them to their ground transport. Before leaving, quickly check the cabin to make sure they haven’t left any thing such as children, pets and so on. Scoot back to the aeroplane and see how long we have before departing. If we have a while, shut down the APU and eat some food. If not, tidy up the cabin, do a quick clean. (Although, if in some places we have cleaning crews that come in and do a thorough clean and restock too)
Send in the numbers, make sure we have the latest wx and slot details. Prepare for the next departure. Repeat this routine for 2-4 times a day, 4-6 days in the tour. Often our schedule is changed completely. However, it’s no real biggy. We go where we’re told to go. So long as we have the aerodrome details, it’s fine. All we do is keep an eye on our duty times, we can only do 55 hours duty per tour.