2 Guys, one FAR/JAR25 airplane, OPS mainly in EUR, EEUR, AFR, sometimes ASIA.
1. I've been told that corporate pilots fly a lot less than airline pilots. Roughly, how many hours a month are people averaging out there?
This year we will be doing 360hrs. We do an average of 1,75hrs/leg. We often have one or two overnights in one sortie. The guys in the next Hangar do 150hrs annually and stay almost exclusivly in EUR.
2. Loading and balance - are there dispatchers or is the loadsheet task done by the pilots?
I do all the flightplanning including W&B. The main difference for our ops is, that we know who/what (we donīt do any cargo) is flying. We don`t see LMCs often.
3. Ground handling, are the pilots generally organizing fuel from themselves, ie contacting the refuellers and paying the bills, or are there ground handlers that do this?
That depends on where we fly to, there are airports without handlers, there some which have mandatory handling. As for fuel, we have a fuel broker, we get info on the various suppliers and their prices, rest we do ourselves. We usually pay either by invoice or company creditcard. In AFR we get cash to work our way. I get all invoices to review and okay them to accounting.
4. Catering, again are there ground handlers that do this?
As before, sometimes yes, sometimes no. In Afrika we usually stay in the best hotels and take catering from them.