Expectations of Corporate Flying

What Is Life Like Flying As A Corporate Pilot?

Whether It’s called Corporate, Fractional, Charter, Private, or Business aviation, it is flown under the rules specified in CFR Part 135 or Part 91. This category of aviation encompasses a wide range of flying to include flying for a private company like Pepsi or Costco, it includes flying for a Charter business where a client rents the aircraft for a time, and it includes Fractional companies where clients own a part of an aircraft (like a timeshare) and they can schedule use of it throughout the year.

It can be a small scheduled operation, like a mini airline in a business jet flying the same route weekly, or it could be similar to the majority of these companies and be an on-demand operation. It also includes flying for a family business.

Either way, the primary job of the pilot is to move generally wealthy passengers in comfort whenever and wherever they ask.

Training

To fly for a Part 135 company, you will need to be sent for specific aircraft training using that companies Ops Specs, checklists, call outs, etc. This is typically accomplished via a Part 142 training facility, such as Flight Safety or CAE, and encompasses ground and flight training with a checkride at the end.

To fly for a company that operates only under Part 91, then only a specific type rating is required.

Orientation

Typically once hired, you will complete company wide training and orientation to familiarize yourself with the overall operations. The rules and regulations of flying for that company will come from their Operations Specifications (Ops Specs) and their FAA approved General Operations Manual (GOM). A Part 135 company will have an IOE training schedule that you must follow.

Schedules

There are good and not-so-good aviation companies to work for and each one is different in their operations. Generally, you are on the hook a certain number of days each week or month, such as 15/13, 12/10, 9/4, 7/7, etc (days on vs days off) or you work for a company that expects on-call service and you will have random drop down flights. These operations can have you home most nights or they could keep you on the road for the entire 7 days you are on the schedule, it varies with each company. At some operations, you could fly your butt off and may have a very busy lifestyle, but these companies generally have really good benefits.

There are some companies that have great QoL and only fly a portion of the On-Days. For example, you may have an 8/5 schedule and during your 8-days On, you sit reserve at home and only fly when scheduled to. That means when you are not scheduled, you are getting more days off at home. Often companies as well offer scheduling that is planned months in advance, so planning your life around your work days becomes much easier.

How much control you have over your schedule is company dependent.

Pay & Benefits

These companies may pay close to airline pay and benefits and try to stay competitive.

Some companies pay via salary and others pay only via hours flown. The salary gigs are some of the best, especially if the owner/company doesn’t fly that often.

With the right type ratings and experience, you can find some great jobs out there that pay really, really well and you are gone a minimum number of days a year. Some of these gigs pay greater then senior airline pilot pay or they come with great benefits such as the ability to use the jet at your own convenience. Some companies allow home-basing and will pay to fly you to the aircraft and back when your schedule is over.

You don’t have to show up with a type rating anymore either. The need for pilots is so great right now, most companies are paying for your type rating training but many are now requiring some kind of training contract.

CAUTION: Training contracts are something that must be considered. Attaining a type rating on a business jet is expensive for the company and can be very lucrative to you. For that reason, and understandably, they would like some assurance that you are not going to get qualified and run somewhere else. MPT believes that a 1-year employment contract is the most anyone should agree to, and only for the initial training.

Quality of Life

Crewing a business jet can be a lot of fun and the job can bring so many interesting opportunities. The clients can be a business owner, a wealthy family, or a celebrity. Often, your wealthier clients may even hand you a tip for a job well done. These tips often range from $50-$400. You may fly the same clients week after week or you may fly different ones each day. Unless you fly for the larger corporations, you should get to know your fellow pilots pretty well which will hopefully lead to strong CRM in the cockpit. Private jet owners enjoy the ability to vacation to nice places, so you can pretty much guarantee you will see the mountains and the islands often. If you fly for one of the hundreds of smaller Part 135 companies, you should get to enjoy those locations as well, as you are likely to stay where you clients are until it is time to fly back. Flying for the larger fractional companies like NetJets or JetLinks may require that you keep moving to get the next client instead of staying with the ones you just moved.

Corporate companies may have a flight planning department if they are a larger operation or the flight planning could be completely up to the crew to complete. The crews often work directly with the clients, so they may carry baggage, pick up food and drinks, clean up after the clients and generally cater to the passengers. Unless you are flying the larger cabin corporate aircraft (Challengers, Gulfstreams, Globals, etc), you will probably not see a cabin attendant. Pilots who fly the small to mid-size aircraft generally enjoy the close contact with the clients and the hands on aspect of the flying operation. Larger aircraft enjoy the benefit of having a cabin attendant onboard that not only serves the passengers, but also serves the pilots food and drinks. This benefit to the pilots is huge and most love it.

Charter/fractional operations buy and sell aircraft all the time and so there is often safety in these operations because a pilot can be moved from one aircraft to another instead of losing their jobs. There is generally no union support for these kinds of operations (except for NetJets).

If you fly for a family or a specific business alone, you can have a much more personal relationship with the owners but you rely 100% on the owners for the job. This means that if something happens to them, the business has troubles, the economy dumps, etc, your job could be in jeopardy.

Flying for a Charter or Fractional has more job safety because you don’t fly for a single owner. Your job should not just disappear if an owner passes away.

PROS

You have a set schedule that makes your life more predictable.
You are able to have a closer relationship with company leadership instead of just being a number.
The operations may have a lot of day trips which means you get a lot of nights at home.
You may have long periods off work at a time.
You work with a known group of pilots that you can get to know and build relationships with.
You get to live wherever you want most of the time.
You have more say over flight operations and decisions made as the Captain.
Typically there is a Flight Control of some kind to assist in preparation and dealing with the clients requests.
You get to meet interesting clients to include the rich and famous.
Pay is typically pretty good and upgrades to Captain happen faster.
You will see lots of locations and fly to vacation spots.
You may not fly in bad weather as often as Part 121 operations because there is often less of a time restraint on the aircraft and clients like to fly in good weather.
You may fly with Cabin Attendants that feed you and care for you while flying.
Clients sometimes offer significant $$ tips.
Attaining a type rating through the company makes your resume better and may allow for contract flying on the side.

CONS

There are a lot of rules to follow as a Charter Part 135 operator.
Your schedule may have you working non-stop for 7-11 days straight during busy times.
Some operations will have you on the road for all work days resulting in a lot of time away.
If there is no Cabin Attendant, all the client interaction is the responsibility of the Captain.
Clean-up of the cabin after a flight often is the job of the crew.
Clients are often late for departure but you wait for them nonetheless.
Planning of the flight rests on the crew completely. Sometimes hotels and rentals are managed if working for the larger companies.