Charter lifestyle question

[Blackshirt]

Hello all you charter flying boys & girls.

Plse, tell me about the charter flying lifestyle, for example, what the Dickins do you do all winter?

Also, I know they work you hard in the summer - exactly how hard is hard?

[fireflybob]

It's a while since I flew charter but I doubt whether much has changed!

With most companies you can now expect to fly at least 80 hours per month and probably more - long gone are the days when you flew fairly hard between May and Sept and then had the winter off "resting".

In the peak of the summer season expect to be working every weekend and you will certainly do your fair share of night flights.

In my experience and from anecdotal evidence from colleagues who still fly charter, the "buggeration" factor is high. As most companies will not employ any more pilots than they can get away with then when something goes wrong (ATC delay, A/c tech, sickness etc.) the whole roster "tumbles" and you will find that what you do bears little relation to the plan. Any idea of planning a social/family life around this scenario is just a joke.

Expect to be rung up on your days off and be told "you are the only one we've got!" - an answerphone or some sort of call screening system is an essential bit of kit.

Expect stand by to be used as a way to "re-roster" your next day!

Expect to spend a fair amount of time being positioned around by road transport (taxi) - a few hours on the M25 in a non air conditioned vehicle on a Friday evening after a long day sets you up well for the rest period!

Expect all the turnrounds to be a mad frantic rush because the flights are all running late due to a combination of over optimistic scheduling and ATC delays.

On the plus side, once the wheels are off the ground it's great fun but hard work. Don't let anybody con you into thinking that it's "all automatic". Try landing at some of the Greek islands on your third night flight in the middle of a thunderstorm!

Hope this helps - I always said I would write a book on charter flying but trouble is nobody would believe it>



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[FireDragon]

FireFlyBob

If you write the book, can I have a copy?
Ta!

FD

[Blackshirt]

Thanks FireFlyBob!

You've added a bit more to my Wannabee mental picture of the flying lifestyle.

Cheers!

[standby1]

fireflybob
"With most companies you can now expect to fly at least 80 hours per month and probably more - long gone are the days when you flew fairly hard between May and Sept and then had the winter off "resting"."

In jmc, i have flown less than 500hrs in the last 12 months, during the winter i only averaged 3 days work a month, the 320 guys and girls got even less! Now the summer is here i will be expecting to be a little busier, and a good share of night flights will be heading my way

[fireflybob]

standby1 - thanks for your input - can I have a job with JMC!?

All I can say is make the best of it because in the harsh commercial world in which we now live I doubt whether your situation will last for long!

I think all I was saying is that it is better to expect to do 80 hours a month and if you do anything less then it's a bonus.

With any company there will be periods where an individual pilot's workload is less, especially when sectors are needed for line training new pilots.

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[standby1]

I think you are correct bob, last winter at jmc was the exception not the rule. As a new airline there has been an exceptional amount of training.

[JB007]

Bob,

Funny, I do remember talking to your answerphone alot during Company X !!!!!!

Ahh, Happy Days..!!!

Well, you haven't put me off - licence should be issued by November and the charter sector is what I know best and where I would most like to be !!!

See you soon,
Cheers
Rich

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Regards JB007!
[email protected]
Flight Ops,Crewing and Dispatch Moderator

[fireflybob]

JB007 - Yes thanks for that and yes, happy days!

My remarks were not intended to put anyone off - flying charter is very rewarding so long as you enter into the spirit of it all!

A few seasons in charter will give you the grounding to do almost anything in commercial aviation.



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[Night Las Palmas]

I can agree with standby1, my last 12 months with jmc have produced a whole 500 hours. Although I also agree that it probably won't last.