Crewing vs Flight ops Career

[HeliTigg]

I'm interested in getting into the operations side of aviation. Can you guys, with the benefit of experience tell me whats truely involved in the areas of crewing and flight ops.

Can people also give me advice on whether , if i start with an airline in a crewing position, i can get involved in ops later in a career, or whether they are separate areas of the business.

Also, whats the best way to get into these areas. At the moment i am looking at building up experience in the industry, starting to work my way up the ops ladderwith an airline (if i can get in!!). Is this the only way to go about it, given a lack of experience and an unimpressive recent history in higher education?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Tigg

[MriyaDream]

:) Tig Hi,

There are many different ways of doing this!

It would not be a bad thing to get experience in both crewing & Ops. The charter airline I worked for, crewing & Ops were both H24 next to each other & worked hand in hand with each other. Where I work now we do not have a crewing dept, just Ops (as we are simply a UK agent):ugh: It really depends on the individual airline as to how the set up is between Ops & crewing, & how easy it is to start in one & transfer to the other. If you really want to get into Ops I personally would go with crewing first, then when you have the experience try the transfer over to Ops (as crewing dept' usually won't want to let you go this may take time!:oh: )....

To gain experience you could try a handling agent, although the pay is not normally good, it is a good starting point for experience. Ops wise you don't really need to have any fantastic qualifications, just be switched on:= You could look into doing the City & Guilds courses in Aviation & Advanced Aviation Studies which covers Ops & Flight Dispatch. If in the future you want to aim at being a Flight Dispatcher you could aim towards doing an FAA Flight Dispatchers course in America (although this is not easy, it is an ATPL course without the flying). I hope I have helped in some way, any further help post me a note....

Brgds MriyaDream :ok:

[Select Reverse]

Working for an ops or crewing department can be great fun and a brilliant way to learn the "in's and out's" of the functions of an airline and is a brilliant grounding for an aviation career, particularly if you are young and keen on aviation.
However it can also lead to opportunities to side step into other departments after a time, maybe even pursue a flying career, and broaden your horizons.

The downside to aiming and working solely for ops/ crewing is that you are bound to peak at some point in the future and you will find yourself with nowhere to go as not many senior positions in ops/ crewing tend to exist as people tend to hold on to those for career duration, particularly ops/ crewing managers although you maybe lucky and yours might just retire or find a better offer - it could be a long wait though. To guard against this trap it is well worth studying other related subjects at college and be prepared to jump departments in the future in order to "get on" if indeed that is what you want.

I speak from experience and I'm sure many in the industry know of the bitter, disappointed, aged and tired ops controller going nowhere, dreaming of retirement and who's body is beyond coping well with the endlessly long night shifts. I for one know of such people and I asked myself, "Is this what is to become of me one day ? ". Needless to say that I side stepped and following the economic decline of the industry, have now left aviation to be succesful in another field, without having side stepped first such a move would have been impossible.

A career ops/ crewing person leaves you with nowhere to run when the going gets tough!

Enjoy whatever you decide !!!

[Fiction]

What Select reverse has said is absolutely true.

Careers progression in ops/crewing is very limited, but is great fun...you are very much at the sharp end making it work.

There will always be more opportunities in ops.....crewing is too specialised, but to really advance with an airline most of the top people have a marketing/commercial planning background.

Get into the commercial side of the business to go right to the top.

Ops/crewing for the fun time and experience, but DO NOT stay too long.

[no sig]

HeliTigg

Mryia/Select/Fiction all offer very sound advice. See Ops/Crewing both as an apprenticeship rather than a stepping stone. You do need to study if you want to make the leap into management, get the best technical training you can, then ensure you do a comprehensive course in management such as BTEC or the Open University. I'm biased here, but I recommend you find a course to the level of the ICAO Flight ops/Dispatcher licence, the FAA Licence is a good alternative. City and Guilds is a good place to start but don't stop there. Plan to spend 6 years in ops with at least two diffreent airlines and then cast your net.

Good Luck.

[im going in]

no sig

What courses do you recommend? I have looked on the City and Guilds web site but can't find any aviation related courses. I have 5 years crewing and ops experience and wondering where to go next.
Thanks

[Taff Lad]

Hi

You could check out Flightstudy (http://www.flightstudy.co.uk) . They offer various courses which may be of interest to you:ok: