What To Look For In A Chief Corporate Pilot
03-04-2006, 09:16 PM
#11
Guest
Posts: n/a
First I want to thank all of you for taking the time and effort to steer me in the right direction.
I am currently seeking a release from our Security Department, as to give you as much details as I am allowed, so I hope that you folks understand. I hope to have that clearance within a day or two.
But perhaps I need to find out your ideas on three more important issues.
The first would be concerning certifications/ licenses, etc. While there may be real flying involved with the position (I hear it's not easy to get a real flyer to fly a desk all of the time), it would seem to me that this is a concern that shouldn't be avoided. Take it easy on me fellas, I'll need to know the long version of what those licenses and certifications are. Please let me know what you see as the most advanced certifications for the most advanced instrument ratings one might see in either advanced transport aircraft or even search & rescue aircraft. I’m thinking something like ground following technology. I think this is important, so that our Pilots and aircraft have the best technology available and a Chief that knows the value of new technology.
Wing walking was cool at one time, but...
The second issue would be how many years and or hours of experience you would suggest a Chief Corporate Pilot should have as a minimum, to be as well rounded, knowledgeable and skilled, as to run an aviation department that will be working in anything but optimal conditions most all of the time. Tactical combat missions I doubt, can be compared to, or equated with normal commercial aviation. But what am I missing? We want to be fair, but we certainly want the best of the best. The same will be true of all of our Pilots and associated aviation personnel.
And finally...... A subject I know will bring a smile on your wind swept faces... “MONEY”. Let me start by saying that we have an idea of the wages that we would offer our first year pilots and the Chief Pilot. But then, so did NWA, TWA, etc. Somewhere in between, is reality. I notice the terms, “Monthly Guarantee” and “Reserve Guarantee”. While I understand the terms as used in this field, I do require some help in figuring out how that plays with a department that is essentially on standby (for the next disaster), except for training and VIP transport. As we want to be the last company our pilots will have to work for (because you’d love us so much), we will offer:
Full medical, dental and vision, for not only the pilots, but their families.
Yes, we will have a 401K program, but one that means something to you, the pilots. We will offer a 401K matching plan, up to $2,500 per year.
All of our people will have not only profit sharing, but a real piece of the company. Every year you are with us, that piece gets sizably bigger. No slick schemes, no fancy dancing.. just real honest to goodness equity.
So, what are we left with? Wages.. right! I’d love to have you give me your ideas on wages for not only the Chief Corporate Pilot, but Captains, FO, SO, FE, CM, as required. For those that may be concerned with your answers, please feel free to drop me an email. If you could break it down by type of aircraft (that I listed above), that would be even better, although we think all Captains are equal in many ways.
I am currently seeking a release from our Security Department, as to give you as much details as I am allowed, so I hope that you folks understand. I hope to have that clearance within a day or two.
But perhaps I need to find out your ideas on three more important issues.
The first would be concerning certifications/ licenses, etc. While there may be real flying involved with the position (I hear it's not easy to get a real flyer to fly a desk all of the time), it would seem to me that this is a concern that shouldn't be avoided. Take it easy on me fellas, I'll need to know the long version of what those licenses and certifications are. Please let me know what you see as the most advanced certifications for the most advanced instrument ratings one might see in either advanced transport aircraft or even search & rescue aircraft. I’m thinking something like ground following technology. I think this is important, so that our Pilots and aircraft have the best technology available and a Chief that knows the value of new technology.
Wing walking was cool at one time, but...
The second issue would be how many years and or hours of experience you would suggest a Chief Corporate Pilot should have as a minimum, to be as well rounded, knowledgeable and skilled, as to run an aviation department that will be working in anything but optimal conditions most all of the time. Tactical combat missions I doubt, can be compared to, or equated with normal commercial aviation. But what am I missing? We want to be fair, but we certainly want the best of the best. The same will be true of all of our Pilots and associated aviation personnel.
And finally...... A subject I know will bring a smile on your wind swept faces... “MONEY”. Let me start by saying that we have an idea of the wages that we would offer our first year pilots and the Chief Pilot. But then, so did NWA, TWA, etc. Somewhere in between, is reality. I notice the terms, “Monthly Guarantee” and “Reserve Guarantee”. While I understand the terms as used in this field, I do require some help in figuring out how that plays with a department that is essentially on standby (for the next disaster), except for training and VIP transport. As we want to be the last company our pilots will have to work for (because you’d love us so much), we will offer:
Full medical, dental and vision, for not only the pilots, but their families.
Yes, we will have a 401K program, but one that means something to you, the pilots. We will offer a 401K matching plan, up to $2,500 per year.
All of our people will have not only profit sharing, but a real piece of the company. Every year you are with us, that piece gets sizably bigger. No slick schemes, no fancy dancing.. just real honest to goodness equity.
So, what are we left with? Wages.. right! I’d love to have you give me your ideas on wages for not only the Chief Corporate Pilot, but Captains, FO, SO, FE, CM, as required. For those that may be concerned with your answers, please feel free to drop me an email. If you could break it down by type of aircraft (that I listed above), that would be even better, although we think all Captains are equal in many ways.
Last edited by VBS13; 03-04-2006 at 11:18 PM.
03-05-2006, 12:04 AM
#12
Guest
Posts: n/a
Originally Posted by HSLD
It's not a common practice primarily due to manpower and training costs. If you agree with the premise that safely comes from proficiency, it will be difficult for pilots to maintain proficiency across such a wide array of aircraft.
I'm not saying that it's impossible, it's just going to take a healthy training budget that requires more cycles on the aircraft or time in the sim (or both). If pilots are qualified on 7 concurrent airframes, that's quite a few trips to flight safety (or wherever you do the training) each year. You'll find staffing requirements will be much high to keep everyone trained AND fly the missions.
Pilots enjoy a decent quality of life off the job too. You want to be careful not to create an environment where recurrent training and operational flying kills the quality of life.
I'm not saying that it's impossible, it's just going to take a healthy training budget that requires more cycles on the aircraft or time in the sim (or both). If pilots are qualified on 7 concurrent airframes, that's quite a few trips to flight safety (or wherever you do the training) each year. You'll find staffing requirements will be much high to keep everyone trained AND fly the missions.
Pilots enjoy a decent quality of life off the job too. You want to be careful not to create an environment where recurrent training and operational flying kills the quality of life.
Seriously, thank you for your comments. You make great points. Could I assume that cross rating pilots should be done (whenever possible), between say 747-400F Pilots and the Falcons, with cross training between say C-130 Pilots and the King Air 200's... letting the Rotor Pilots cross train between themselves? Or have I missed your point completely? Safety and security are major concerns for us, but we also want to make sure our pilots fly as much as they can, to stay on top of their game. I'm a bit dense, so be kind. As always, thank you so much for your help.
Last edited by VBS13; 03-05-2006 at 12:07 AM.
03-05-2006, 02:55 AM
#13
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Feb 2006
Position: B-737NG preferably in first class with a glass of champagne and caviar
Posts: 5,909
With all of the above in mind....
One who would never ask his crews to do anything he or she would not do themselves. Get out there and fly some trips themselves, and I mean not taking the most enjoyable ones either.
Back up the crews one hunderd percent!
Have compassion.
One who would never ask his crews to do anything he or she would not do themselves. Get out there and fly some trips themselves, and I mean not taking the most enjoyable ones either.
Back up the crews one hunderd percent!
Have compassion.
03-05-2006, 05:38 AM
#14
DAL New Hire
Joined APC: Mar 2006
Position: C-12, MC-12, RC-12
Posts: 81
Dennis,
I think the most airframes you would realistically want someone to fly would be 2 at any one time for proficency, currency, and safety concerns. If the pilots go to Flight Safety or a similar simulator training company once every six months for recurrent training on 2 airframes, then once a quarter you are going to lose that pilot for a week or two of training. The Chief Pilot (CP) and the line pilots do not have to fly everything in the hangar, but they can have a working knowledge and understanding of the different airframes and their specific missions for best utilization by your company. For instance, you are not going to take the King Air 200 to fly 7 people around the world when you have a Falcon 900EX, etc. You can set up the corporate flight department to have Standardization Pilots or (SPs) in each aircraft that voice their training, maintenance, and budget concerns to the CP for the decision making process or have two assistant chief pilots under the CP, one on the rotary wing side of the house and the other one on the fixed wing side of the house.
As far as flying helicopters & airplanes...I don't see a problem with that. Many military organizations and Fortune 50 or 100 companies have pilots that operate Gulfstreams and/or Global Expresses, as well as, Sikorsky S-76s at the same time, both very complex and differnet aircraft without accident or incident. But, if you want the most proficient & safest pilots around, I would limit fixed wing pilots with fixed wing flying and rotary wing pilots with rotary wing flying and the number of types they fly as well (just my opinion). As far as equipment in the cockpit goes, the sky is the limit and you can spend millions of dollars now a days on situational awareness (SA) in the aircraft, moving maps, EGPWS, TCAS, WX Radar, WX uplink, EVS, and the list goes on and on and on. Depending on where you are operating...EGPWS & TCAS are great tools to have for SA in foregin lands with bad weather and mountainous terrain. In the battle of the ground vs. airplanes...the ground is still undefeated. I would definately have to agree with Flight Safety though that..."the best safety device in any aircraft is a well trained pilot!"
As far as the "flying vs. desk job" requirements, most guys with a military background understand the delicate balance between command & staff time and flight time. They have worked a career track of leadership and management both inside and outside of the cockpit. I would start the search for a retired US Military dual rated LtCol (O-5) or COL (O-6) with 20 plus years of aviation experience, possibily a Special Operations Aviation background and training that has real world experience in these types of missions, aircraft, and locations. Preferably a retired military guy with International Major Airline or Fortune 50 flight department time and experince would be even better! Talk to some of the Private Military Companies (PMCs) like Blackwater, Evergreen, etc. or military contract airlines like World Airways, Atlas, or Polar that have contracts with the USAF's Air Mobility Command (AMC), they would have guys with this type of background and flying operations of both military & civilian ops. I would look for a guy with no less then his ATP in both AMEL and HELO, type ratings in a majority or the aircraft you will fly and a very solid training and management background in aviation operations. All the CFI/CFII/MEI/AGI/IGI/FEw/SES/etc., etc., etc. is nice to have and round out the resume as well as the required civilian education requirements, BS and MBA standard. You are also going to want to have a guy that can take aviation terms and concerns and put them into simple and quantifiable figures for the board of directors (PRES/VP/CEO/COO/CFO/CIO/etc.) who may or may not understand the money, assets, and training required for a huge corporate flight department. A person willing to take on this task will know that they cannot be in the cockpit 24/7 and will have to spend a majority of his time behind a desk & computer. If he doesn't understand that...then they aren't the right person for the job, especially a flight department of this size just getting off the ground.
As far as compensation goes...$$$ money talks, but quality benefits and a great retirement package along with job security, fun factor, safety, and quality of life (QOL) are what we pilots are all looking for in a place to hang our hat for a career in the aviation industry which unfortunately today is all to volitile and hard to find! I would suggest you join the NBAA (National Business Aviation Association, Inc.) at www.NBAA.org, they have tons of great resources on job salaries, aircraft, starting a coporate flight department, rules, regulations, etc. There are several other organizations out there, but the NBAA is the industry standard for corporate aviation departments and the companies that cater to them in the world.
The mission schedule you describe is similar to the civilian & military medevac or air ambulance operations where you have a first up, second up 24/7/365 standby mission just waiting for the alarm to go off in an emergency. This mission will require multiple pilots to cover all aircraft and standard duty day requirements for crew rest. Will all aircraft be on standby, or only certain ones, or pilots, etc.? You will have to have the pilots flying to stay proficient and the costs associated with that for your buisness, Jet Fuel, MX, parts, etc. What will be the call back repsonse time...how long to launch, etc. for a mission? Will you have living quarters at the hangar or local hotels for the pilots to stay at for crew rest? Or will you have the pilots live within a certain mileage or drive time of the airport? Will the pilots be home based and only come to the hangar when "on-call" or when there is a storm or natural disaster approaching? These questions and hundreds of others will help set up the schedule, qualifity of life, number of pilots, and salaries required to cover all of the aircraft for your company's mission.
Personally, I like the idea of full paid medical, dental, and vision for the pilots and families, but I would also include life insurance, loss of license insurance, dismemberment, etc., paid pilot medicals, publications, training, liscenses, and uniforms. The 401K, profit sharing, and stock options are great too! Opportunity to grow within the company if the pilot wants to would be a nice option, as well as, paid educational schooling to obtain additional degrees and ratings to become a better asset to the company and well rounded person. As far as the actual "$$$" money wages...I would think above industry standard for the aircraft flown due to the hostile living and flying conditions they will encounter on top of an excellent benefits package to help support the pilots and their families. I know several people flying for Private Military Companies in combat zones that are making $500-1000 or more per day, 30-90 days "in-country" rotation schedules with similar time off and free airfare back to anywhere they want in the world for their off time. I'm not sure about their benefits packages though with the PMCs. If you want our suggestions, please throw the numbers out there and we will let you know what we think or e-mail them to us if you don't want them posted on a public forum.
I hope my post helped answer some of your questions and it will probally create many others for you too (sorry). If you want to ask me anything offline please feel free to e-mail me at: [email protected] I look forward to talking to you and seeing more information on your company!
Good luck in your Chief Pilot search, company start up, & Fly Safe!
Matt
I think the most airframes you would realistically want someone to fly would be 2 at any one time for proficency, currency, and safety concerns. If the pilots go to Flight Safety or a similar simulator training company once every six months for recurrent training on 2 airframes, then once a quarter you are going to lose that pilot for a week or two of training. The Chief Pilot (CP) and the line pilots do not have to fly everything in the hangar, but they can have a working knowledge and understanding of the different airframes and their specific missions for best utilization by your company. For instance, you are not going to take the King Air 200 to fly 7 people around the world when you have a Falcon 900EX, etc. You can set up the corporate flight department to have Standardization Pilots or (SPs) in each aircraft that voice their training, maintenance, and budget concerns to the CP for the decision making process or have two assistant chief pilots under the CP, one on the rotary wing side of the house and the other one on the fixed wing side of the house.
As far as flying helicopters & airplanes...I don't see a problem with that. Many military organizations and Fortune 50 or 100 companies have pilots that operate Gulfstreams and/or Global Expresses, as well as, Sikorsky S-76s at the same time, both very complex and differnet aircraft without accident or incident. But, if you want the most proficient & safest pilots around, I would limit fixed wing pilots with fixed wing flying and rotary wing pilots with rotary wing flying and the number of types they fly as well (just my opinion). As far as equipment in the cockpit goes, the sky is the limit and you can spend millions of dollars now a days on situational awareness (SA) in the aircraft, moving maps, EGPWS, TCAS, WX Radar, WX uplink, EVS, and the list goes on and on and on. Depending on where you are operating...EGPWS & TCAS are great tools to have for SA in foregin lands with bad weather and mountainous terrain. In the battle of the ground vs. airplanes...the ground is still undefeated. I would definately have to agree with Flight Safety though that..."the best safety device in any aircraft is a well trained pilot!"
As far as the "flying vs. desk job" requirements, most guys with a military background understand the delicate balance between command & staff time and flight time. They have worked a career track of leadership and management both inside and outside of the cockpit. I would start the search for a retired US Military dual rated LtCol (O-5) or COL (O-6) with 20 plus years of aviation experience, possibily a Special Operations Aviation background and training that has real world experience in these types of missions, aircraft, and locations. Preferably a retired military guy with International Major Airline or Fortune 50 flight department time and experince would be even better! Talk to some of the Private Military Companies (PMCs) like Blackwater, Evergreen, etc. or military contract airlines like World Airways, Atlas, or Polar that have contracts with the USAF's Air Mobility Command (AMC), they would have guys with this type of background and flying operations of both military & civilian ops. I would look for a guy with no less then his ATP in both AMEL and HELO, type ratings in a majority or the aircraft you will fly and a very solid training and management background in aviation operations. All the CFI/CFII/MEI/AGI/IGI/FEw/SES/etc., etc., etc. is nice to have and round out the resume as well as the required civilian education requirements, BS and MBA standard. You are also going to want to have a guy that can take aviation terms and concerns and put them into simple and quantifiable figures for the board of directors (PRES/VP/CEO/COO/CFO/CIO/etc.) who may or may not understand the money, assets, and training required for a huge corporate flight department. A person willing to take on this task will know that they cannot be in the cockpit 24/7 and will have to spend a majority of his time behind a desk & computer. If he doesn't understand that...then they aren't the right person for the job, especially a flight department of this size just getting off the ground.
As far as compensation goes...$$$ money talks, but quality benefits and a great retirement package along with job security, fun factor, safety, and quality of life (QOL) are what we pilots are all looking for in a place to hang our hat for a career in the aviation industry which unfortunately today is all to volitile and hard to find! I would suggest you join the NBAA (National Business Aviation Association, Inc.) at www.NBAA.org, they have tons of great resources on job salaries, aircraft, starting a coporate flight department, rules, regulations, etc. There are several other organizations out there, but the NBAA is the industry standard for corporate aviation departments and the companies that cater to them in the world.
The mission schedule you describe is similar to the civilian & military medevac or air ambulance operations where you have a first up, second up 24/7/365 standby mission just waiting for the alarm to go off in an emergency. This mission will require multiple pilots to cover all aircraft and standard duty day requirements for crew rest. Will all aircraft be on standby, or only certain ones, or pilots, etc.? You will have to have the pilots flying to stay proficient and the costs associated with that for your buisness, Jet Fuel, MX, parts, etc. What will be the call back repsonse time...how long to launch, etc. for a mission? Will you have living quarters at the hangar or local hotels for the pilots to stay at for crew rest? Or will you have the pilots live within a certain mileage or drive time of the airport? Will the pilots be home based and only come to the hangar when "on-call" or when there is a storm or natural disaster approaching? These questions and hundreds of others will help set up the schedule, qualifity of life, number of pilots, and salaries required to cover all of the aircraft for your company's mission.
Personally, I like the idea of full paid medical, dental, and vision for the pilots and families, but I would also include life insurance, loss of license insurance, dismemberment, etc., paid pilot medicals, publications, training, liscenses, and uniforms. The 401K, profit sharing, and stock options are great too! Opportunity to grow within the company if the pilot wants to would be a nice option, as well as, paid educational schooling to obtain additional degrees and ratings to become a better asset to the company and well rounded person. As far as the actual "$$$" money wages...I would think above industry standard for the aircraft flown due to the hostile living and flying conditions they will encounter on top of an excellent benefits package to help support the pilots and their families. I know several people flying for Private Military Companies in combat zones that are making $500-1000 or more per day, 30-90 days "in-country" rotation schedules with similar time off and free airfare back to anywhere they want in the world for their off time. I'm not sure about their benefits packages though with the PMCs. If you want our suggestions, please throw the numbers out there and we will let you know what we think or e-mail them to us if you don't want them posted on a public forum.
I hope my post helped answer some of your questions and it will probally create many others for you too (sorry). If you want to ask me anything offline please feel free to e-mail me at: [email protected] I look forward to talking to you and seeing more information on your company!
Good luck in your Chief Pilot search, company start up, & Fly Safe!
Matt
Last edited by FlyArmy11; 03-05-2006 at 05:52 AM.
03-07-2006, 12:23 PM
#16
DAL New Hire
Joined APC: Mar 2006
Position: C-12, MC-12, RC-12
Posts: 81
Dennis,
You're welcome and anytime my friend! Please let me know if you have any other questions. I really enjoy putting my mind to work and responding to your queries. Also thank you very much for your e-mail, attachment, and review of my resume! I look forward to speaking with you soon!
Take care & fly safe,
Matt
You're welcome and anytime my friend! Please let me know if you have any other questions. I really enjoy putting my mind to work and responding to your queries. Also thank you very much for your e-mail, attachment, and review of my resume! I look forward to speaking with you soon!
Take care & fly safe,
Matt
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