Airlines verses Corporate

[pattle]

As with many, the high fuel price debacle has meant I have been spat out at the end of training with few ideas where to go next. I am becoming increasingly interested in the business jet world. Can anyone tell me what the main differences are between your average airline pilot and corporate jet pilot and what makes someone choose one over the other or are they the same beast.

What I am really trying to get at is what can be said to a prospective business jet employer at interview to persuade him that you are corporate through and through and not just someone who has exhausted all of his airline options.

[INNflight]

I guess the very vast difference is what kind of lifestyle you want.

A bizjet guy typically doesn't get a rooster, but are on call if the boss / client feels like flying somewhere.

Usually it's schemes like 7on/7off etc....but can also be 1 month on 1 month off. Vast difference of lifestyle (not saying better or worse!!) compared to airline.

Plus, I'm sure with bizjets you'll see more places, not just the usual airline routes.

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I think it's not easy to get hired into corporate jets though.... most jobs are not even advertised, but people who know people recommend pilots. Very hard to get in as a low-timer I guess. Important clients want experienced crew usually :{

[redsnail]

There's several areas of corporate flying.

You have your straight charter work. Depending on the company you're with you will have to be very flexible and usually quite experienced.

There's working for 1 person. This could be the cruisiest or the toughest gig depending. You'll be on a blackberry/phone 24/7. Connections are vital as is experience and ability.

Then there's the managed flight operations. That is, some one owns the jet but "lend" it to a managed operation. There's a few of these around. TAG is one of them. Here you along with your team set your roster and pay. Occasionally they do hire low houred pilots but see below.

Fractional operations are well known in the US but there's only a few in Europe. The main or biggest one is NetJets. Low houred pilots only come from their cadet scheme.

Most rarely take low houred pilots. If they do, it's the person they're after so what you need to bring to the table is maturity, dependability, a high degree of independence and flexibility as well as very well developed customer skills. You do need to network, you'll need to get out and meet and greet. You might need to get a job in an FBO to learn customer handling.

One option that a few take is to do some instructing with an operator that also does charters.

Good luck. It's great flying. :ok:

[MIKECR]

Redsnail sums it up nicely. Corporate isnt really a low hours first time job. Most companies, as well as private owners with their personal pilots want experienced crew.

Particularly for '1 person ops' as redsnail says, its long hours and fairly demanding at times. 24/7, 7 days a week, its you and your laptop and your broadband dongle, pretty much at the beckon call of the boss. I have some experience(albeit fairly little) of that side of flying and can confirm its certainly a far cry from airline flying. Cleaning the aroplane, flight planning, fuel planning, catering, de-icing, carrying passenger bags, booking client accommodation, aircraft management and maintenance, the list go's on......flying the aeroplane probably only accounts for a very small percentage of the actual job. The annual flying hours will probably be less than the average airline pilot too.

If you've got an ops dept then great... if not, your on your own!