Tag Archives: Jet Pilot

Are you ready for the corporate flight department?

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When going through your certifications and ratings you will encounter many challenges that you have learned to overcome. Once you have been flying for a while and have your ATP, a different set of challenges occur. One of our students recently experienced a new challenge he hadn’t experienced and shared it with us. When he came for the C500 series SIC crew member training he was very close to ATP. When finished he had the C500 SIC type rating, a more qualified resume, referral letters, and more knowledge and experience. When he went to interview he was well prepared to be asked questions about the VOR service volumes, how to read weather reports, what the limitations are for the C550 (which is what he was applying for) and many more knowledge items. Well when the interview began, the first question was, “Your’ on a trip and your passengers insist you stay at their home, rather than a hotel.  How would you handle this situation?”

For many of you this may be an exciting question, however as professional pilot, you must be “professional” in all aspects of the relationship, and staying  in the customers home could provide some very awkward situations that may not allow you to maintain your professional demeanor.   In this situation you may also have trouble getting the needed rest to perform you crew duties properly.

Aspects of the interview once you have proven yourself in other pilot positions, are more about whether you can fit into the companies culture, can you get along with the other crew members and passengers, rather than the intricacies of piloting.

So don’t forget to hone up on those people skills. A very good book was written in the 1930s and has sold over 15 million copies. “How to Win Friends and Influence People”. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Win_Friends_and_Influence_People, was the first self help book published and still the most popular. It will help you in all aspects of your life and when you get ready to interview for your Commercial pilot jobs, the principals in it will help you be ready to fit into any culture and get along with anyone. Our lives are meant to be happy and if you are like most pilots, you are flying because you love it. Add to your love of flying the ability to get along with anyone and you will be more successful in the pilot seat and maybe he happiest person on your block.

SIC Responsibilities, Article 2 in a series – The flight plan

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“You are cleared to taxi to runway 27L with clearance to cross the 32 approach zone.  Clear on Left and Right, Turn right sir…” This article is # 2 in a series to help you understand what makes a good Second in Command so that working with the captain you can ultimately be a number one crew.  A SIC officer is very busy from the beginning to the end.  As a SIC, I try to do as much of the preparation for the flight as possible.  Last week a client called and stated he had a business trip to Chicago and requested a quote.  When customers are looking to pay good money for first class travel, it’s important to get them the information they need and quickly.  So the first thing I did was put a quick flight plan in FltPlan.com to get the fuel burn and flight times that allowed me to figure a trip quote which I sent directly to the client.  In the meantime, I didn’t just sit on my laurels and wait for a go-ahead from the client; I went to work getting the complete flight plan ready. IMG_0374 One of the first thing I did was walk over to the shelf where we have the “Trip Envelopes” and brought one back to my desk and filled out what information I knew, then placed a copy of the trip quote in the envelope.  We have found that with every flight there is so much to keep track of from flight plans, plates, receipts, invoices, etc. that these envelopes help us keep track of all this paperwork.

I then set to work perfecting the flight plan.  Today with internet connected PCs and iPads there are many ways to create a flight plan that are light years beyond the student pilot, hand written NavLogs!    Every organization has their own way of planning flights yet 60% of all IFR flight plans were filed through FltPlan.com and that is what we use.  If needed, I use my iPad to visually plan the IFR route; I then plug my route into FltPlan.com and print out the one page plan with so much information on it its boggling.  One of the things we are very aware of and FltPlan.com is good for is determining the best efficiency of the flight plan.  FltPlan.com - ExtraIt shows clearly how direct the flight will be allowing us to know its efficiency.
The priorities for the operation are 1)Safety 2)Finish the mission and 3)Efficiency and this is one way to keep the flight efficient.  A pilot is paid to safely finish the mission and deal with any issues along the way.  He must be an out of the box thinker and be willing to look at many options.  One situation maybe the closest airport is not the best option, due to the lack of good approaches or services.

Well, with out boring you too much the trip did go, which is not always the case, and the client had a succesful meeting and is still a happy customer.  Next we will discuss organizing the flight plan, charts, plates and other IFR required documents.

Talk to ya next time