ARL120384

Great add to the thread! It certainly puts the trips or "tours" into perspective as to what one can expect.

Thanks for the info!

ARL

So Wonwee

Here is a screen shot from a 15 day flex on the X (aka CE-750).

Day 1. Pick plane at base DEN, ferry ASE, 1 pax HPN, stnby 2 hrs at NJ hangar, hotel.

Day 2. HPN-Bermuda 5 pax, hotel stnby for 30 minutes then called back out to ferry to MCO, hotel.

Day 3. MCO-Antigua 7 pax, ferry to StThomas, hotel.

Day 4. TIST-MMU, 8 pax + 1 lap baby and an absurd amount of catering, restock of a completely pillaged aircraft at MMU, ferry to TEB, hotel.

Day 5. Stnby at TEB from 5-11, airline EWR-DEN on CAL.

This type of tour (not necessarily the destinations except TEB) is a typical schedule on the X. My tour prior was not, 3 nights in LAS doing nothing. One flight on day 4 to SDL and then ride on another plane H-800 to LAS, broken plane in SDL and LAS, off to hotel. Airline home early on day 5.

1900Driver

Thanks guys... This has helped alot to see what its really like over there. Can I ask. I understand you must cater to the customer as they do pay the bills and the company depends on them to make business.

Are you expected to interact alot with the customers like serving them food or drinks while flying or on the ground? Im sure during a delay on the ground they can be in the FBO. Also I understand most FBOs will do the lav..correct? Will they do the luggage as well and clean the plane or are you as the crew assigned to cleaning (like what if someone makes a mess back there in the lav for example?)
Im sure your asked this alot. sorry about asking again. I definatly understand that your customers should not board a dirty airplane since they are paying top money and they are your customers.
Thanks

So Wonwee

Many FBOs ask if we need a vacuum or something. The X has an external lav dumping system, so the line guys use that. Most of the time we clean up the messes made by the owners, we also vacuum and wipe down trays and windows. Some line guys will load bags, but again we usually do it ourselves. If you can get a line person to do the work and you tip them, you will be reimbursed by the company. If you have a smoker on board, you can request that a professional cleaning be ordered when you land, as the plane will surely stink.

We do not cater in flight. The owners know where we keep the food and snacks and they help themselves. We do brief them on safety, regardless of how many times they have been on this type of airplane. I personally give the same brief to everyone. I will often ask if they need anything before I hope up front. Many take a water, a few a coffee, and that is pretty much it. Some of the owners will ask us, during flight, if we need anything. Otherwise, I am of the opinion that my job is up front once the engines are running. We are required to check on the pax every so often, to make sure they are still alive. Before I use the lav, I will sometimes ask if anyone needs anything. Almost always they say no.

Loading bags in the X can be pain in the back, with the size of bags (large) vs space (small for our size), the heat and humidity, or the cold and ice. Most pax are not too messy, some will amaze you and make you say ***? when strawberries are ground in the carpet and crushed pringles are dumped in the compartment that holds the phone. There are indeed bad days and bad customers, but overall most are pretty good.

NZNV

While everything So Wonwee said is pretty much standard, you have to look at things by fleet as we have so many and each one is a little different. The main difference with what I experience is the lav, the 400XP is not a good lav, it is internal servicing. Most FBOs have a policy that they will not come into the airplane to get he honey pot for liability reasons so you have a choice of dealing with the smell until you get to a lav friendly FBO or doing it yourself. Its not that bad though, you open the toilet and put a lid on it and then take the tank out (we have a lav kit with goggles, gloves and an apron), the FBO will then clean out the tank. We can tip up to $20 to the line guys for doing it. One good thing about the 400XP is we can usually only do a max of 3 hours and its usually around 1 hours legs so the lav is rarely used, I'd say I have to personally pull the pot out on average once every other month. The key of this is "mileage will very" between fleets, time of year and every other variable you can think of.

So Wonwee

NZNV,
Do you guys hold the 20 out in both hands and walk around the ramp asking if anyone wants to do a lav? Seems like that might be effective, perhaps?

ERJ135

Do you have cockpit doors?

flyguy37

i think the falcons do but otherwise no cockpit doors

jtf560

There are curtains on just about every airplane, but they are used very rarely- mostly at night to keep the cockpit dark for the approach and landing. No door is one of the few things I miss from the airlines and not from the safety standpoint. A long flight just doesn't seem so long with a cockpit door.

NZNV

We have doors on the BE-400, but it makes the cockpit feel really small, especially went you bang your elbows on them trying to get charts out.