The average pay is higher. The number of jobs that are advertised for Gulfstreams is high however you need to be typed with experience already to be considered for most of them.

You are right about the nutjob. Even my family thinks so. I am also a team player and a good pilot. Everyone of us is looking for their last job as an aviator. I would like my next one to be my last one too. I am not going to bounce from a good job. Paying for the type was requiered for consideraton in China. Part of the contract was that you recieved it back incrementally over the contract. You bounce and they keep your money. Finish the contract and they gave you nearly 100K at the end of it to Re sign. I would still take this offer for any of the jets they operate. The pay was very good. They stopped hiring non typed pilots at my interview.

What should I do to break away from the 121 into a good flight department. I am willing to move almost anywhere.

 

Where were they hired. I am in DFW and the locations here are not considering pilots who are not typed on those jets right now. They have in the past. I would love to be a career instructor on a great airframe that I could go do contract work on occasionally. When were your friends hired?

What is competitive? I have 6.5K TT. ATP and 1 type rating. Good FAA record. I am willing to stay for any duration of time for a good job.

 

MMU
TEB
ICT
TOL
...and DFW

All in the last 18 months, some as recently as last month.

Your total time is competitive, your flight experience flying a regional jet between long runways with ILS really is not...especially for a position operating large-cabin long range aircraft. And I say that as a former RJ pilot myself. Another strike against you is you don't appear to have any kind of network developed...which is always THE single biggest problem airline pilots have when going to corporate.

The similarities between airline and corporate flying pretty much end at 'flying the plane', and while nothing is particularly hard or rocket science about bizav, it can be a difficult transition for someone to go from an "operating" mindset into a "service industry" mindset where you are maintenance control, dispatch, baggage agents, and sometimes caterers and/or FA.

If that stuff not an issue for you, that needs to be stressed during any potential interview...along with why its not an issue. And remember, you can't BS a BSer.

You keep saying "good job". What exactly do you consider a "good job"?

Pay? Benefits? Location? Stability? Work environment? Passenger/owner/management attitude? Destinations? Maintenance?

 

The pay often IS NOT higher, and the Gulfstream crowd hates to admit that. They do anything to fly one. I know more than one large department that starts people around 80K in Gulfstreams.

Also, good jobs are not advertised, so stop worrying about that. The are had from friends and connections established over the years. You lack here right now.

Concentrate your effort on the personal side of this. Make some contacts, get to know people, be known as a good guy. Basically, network. Its great you want to go from an RJ right into a G550 and are looking for anyway to do it (FSI, China etc) but thats just not how it works 99.99% of the time.Tell us how you have networked?

Put it this way....if I was to hire someone to fly our GLEX/Gxxx/DA7X...etc....I would CERTAINLY hire a known good guy with some soild PIC time in a Citation before a guy who went to China for a year on some odd contract and who happens to be rated in a G550. I'm not sure why pilots think the wall in their way is the rating. Its the largest myth and excuse in our industry. It's the whole package. Good jobs want to hire stable, known people....they dont care about a type rating.

And as far as hiring a sim instructor? - dont think CAE/FSI makes you marketable. Sim time is useless and sim instructors are not held in very high regard by most department managers (not that they are held in low regard, mind you) If these guys see the plane once a year as an observer thats big. I have been involved in a fair amount of corporate hiring for large and small departments and we only ever hired one sim instructor..and he had TONS of other experience (corp-major airline) Nobody wants to hire sim or SIC time. They want to hire someone who has been out there on thier own making decisions without dispatch or Ops telling them if they can go and how much fuel they can have.

I'd stick with one avenue (instructor or pilot) and get into ANY corporate gig that fits you....go fly a Navajo, a King Air, whatever. You ask how to make the change from 121 to corporate? - well...go get a corporate job!

Good Luck.

 

NowCorporate

That is solid gold truth. Everyone thinks that a rating is the key, and truth be told, it isn't in the Top 3 requirements.

Top 3, IMO:

First, can he/she fly a plane well and pass the rating course.

Second, can we trust him with our people and do all the elements of the job competently and cheerfully. Yes, being likable is a factor.

Third, can we go out for two weeks, across the globe, and come back friends. A lot of the flying can be difficult, stressful and full of change; one needs to roll with the punches. That doesn't mean ignoring the rules; it means diplomatically getting the job done within them. Sometimes you have to say no and have an alternative plan.

A resume and a little background knowledge (a trusted reference, personal knowledge) answers number one.

The interview does number two and three. The company HR program will vet whether the candidate is honest, trustworthy with company matters and property. Any one hiring for a $50 million plane can do the required background checking in today's world, but personal knowledge and comfort is vital. My current position was the result entirely of personal contacts and references. It's a good one, I ain't leaving.

For the candidate, find out all you can about the department. Inquire, a lot. You need to know what they do, who they are and understand you won't change it. Visits, with an appointment; help, as several casual conversations, where you only express your interest in them and who you are can be far more valuable than the interview. They see you in an unguarded setting and you see them the same. If you don't like international flying and all they talk about their last visit to Beijing, you won't be happy and getting the job maybe a bad idea, however much you want it. If they go to the same two cities 90% of the time and you're itching to see the wild blue yonder, maybe not, unless the experience is too good to pass on.

If the guys are all ex-military, chances are the next hire will be military and vice versa for all civilian. No offense, but it seems that way. It is more a matter of comfort and common experience, than competence. I have seen many departments (a feature, not a bug of my job) and entirely civilian ones run by an airline furloughee can, and are, just as good as one run the 89th Airlift Wing. Two-pilot shops can, and are, every bit as professional as the Fortune 50 department with 6 planes and 30 pilots. It is a matter of department leadership and the relationship with the ultimate Boss.

GF

Not the Gulfstream 100!