Airline Pilot Forums

I've been asked to help set up a flight department for a Part 91 operator with a single turboprop under 12,500 lbs. What is the going rate for something like that? How much should I tell him I charge?

What I am being asked to do:

Set up an attorney to handle a leasing agreement
Find the aircraft
Find pilots
Find hangars
Set up fuel accounts
etc.

How much do you value an hour of your time? All too often companies will try to get you to do all this for free, especially if they're an acquaintance of yours. Estimate how many hours it's going to take you to complete everything and let that guide you. Finding the airplane from them falls under the sales commission which is usually around 5%. If you've never brokered an aircraft sale I would highly recommend you team up with an experienced broker and they will split the commission with you. I always give 33-50% of the commission to the person who gave the referral depending on how much a part of the deal they want to be. The last consultation I did I charged $3000 to provide the company with a feasibility study, find potential aircraft and hangars, crew etc. That ensures that I make money for my work even if they do not purchase an aircraft. If they do buy the plane I then earn the commission for the work associated with that.
If you have any other question regarding this I'd be more than happy to help. PM me if you'd like.
Ryan

Whatever you do establish your price up front. Have them sign a contract with you that outline your pay structure, this way you will know if they are pulling your chain or just sounding serious about this endevor. I have seen people waste a lot of time and effort over the years trying to set up flight departments over the years when the primary owner wasn't all that serious (yet sounded convincing). Remember most successful business people have the enhanced ability to lead and sell, after all that is usually what made them successful. Besides that Idahoflyer’s post offers some great advice as well.

I did the same thing about a year ago. I received $4500/month as an independent contractor.

Have an independent contractor agreement drafted up first listing every single thing from dates/term, names, scope of work, pay rate, expenses, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, termination, etc.

I am happy to review this agreement for you before you present it to this person.

Ugg. That's like hiring a consultant to consult you consultants. A single engine turbo-prop, so TBM or Pilatus? Just have the CEO’s assistant call me and I’ll do the rest as the “Director of Aviation” What you have listed is what the company’s pilot should do.

What you have listed is what the company’s pilot should do.

why? because that's what you are used to doing and all your buddies did it that way? what do you care if this guy makes some extra money? what if the CEO doesn't want his pilots to be bothered with this stuff.

Have you every run a medium size project before?

This flight department setup is probably going to be one of the most complex things you have every done.

I just spent one month looking for seaplane insurance for an air tour operation. I got denied by about 7 companies while I worked through one broker. . I did notice insurance was not on your list so you need to add it. Beware that most policies are written for $1mil and if your directly lease a hangar on say a state owned airfield the state may want $5mil of liability. SWF even demand $20mil when I was looking to do business with them over 10 years ago. Insurance companies do not like to deal in hypothetical situations. You may not get a quote until you have identified a pilot and have an N number. You can find an aircraft you like from one of the sales websites and use that N number.

I would recommend have an operations manual and a training manual. You can present those items to the insurance company as it shows you are serious about the operation. Perhaps even a SMS manual/program can be helpful. Also, it lets pilots know upfront what is required of them. Do you have a list of TMAAT questions your can ask at the interviews?

Project pointers:

I say build a task list. It can be on a spreadsheet. Revise it as necessary or add items as they are needed. Leave space for notes on the spreadsheet for each task item. Have a cell on the spreadsheet for the date the sheet was last updated.

On the spreadsheet your can have columns for start and times estimates for each task.
MS Project Plan can be useful but I’m not a big fan of it as the spreadsheet is more flexible.