Normann

Come on, he did not just come here and told us he had a great job. You barely ever see guys with the best gigs rubbing it in like this dude. How many SW CAs or UPS guys or whoever is the best paid/qol of the moment comes here and talks about our eating habits. Especially a corporate guy. Next thing you know the #1 ERJ CA will be here as well telling us the same just because he will time out for the month of December. Pfhhhh

forgot to bid

I feel bad for your FO as he cleans up the plane and gets it ready for the next flight.

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The not so important occasionally reoccurring debate of airlines vs corporate... imho, go major airline and don't commute.

And a couple of other things from someone who went regional to part 91/135 corporate chief pilot to Delta:

1. Understand flying corporate is a lot like being a radio dj, or for those of you who are sports minded, a sports talk radio guy - it's a dead end job. It's not a lot of money, it's who you know, station managers and owners thrive on mind games, and when your job ends chances of having another one come open simultaneously in your town are very low. Plan to move a lot and not always to a like job.
2. If you go corporate, try to go to one where the airplane makes money and is not there because its a great tax write off or a fun toy. I don't care what you can show using a NBAA spreadsheet on the value of the jet, the truth is, you're an expense. Unless you live out in the middle of nowhere and there is no air travel, but then see #1.
3. If you're living the high life on the corporate side of things you're a waste of money. There are probably a lot of salesman and hard working folks at the company that would not put up with knowing you're expensing sushi. You will at some point need to be cut.
4. Mergers and buy outs happen. See BellSouth, one of the best corporate flight departments in the country that was shut down by AT&T. See Coke, lots of nice Gulfstreams but it's literally one of those jobs where you're like, nah. Give me a Citation. The difference between airlines is EAL, Pan Am, Braniff, et. al. went out of business 20 years ago all for similar reasons, UAL was supposed to go out of business 10 years ago and now they just merged into #1 largest airline. In the airline world you can see a merger coming from miles away,in the corporate world you just need to know what a 30% reduction in costs really means.
5. If you're flying for an individual, 1 word ends all of the fun - D-I-V-O-R-C-E.
6. Corporate pay is never as high as those pilot surveys would have you to believe.If you need proof check into PBI.
7. Corporate pilots love to say airline pilots don't like to work as hard, won't clean the planes, the lav, etc. Trust me, it's up to the individual. I've seen some absolutely lousy corporate guys who didn't do that either. I've also done a few face palms over the guy who wants an FO with 10,000 hours for a $35,000 King Air E90 copilot job or the corporate guy who hopes his "Captain" will let him land one day and if he does well enough land with passengers. Meanwhile I've seen airline guys bust their buts and I know many an airline pilot who'd be too shocked to clean a toilet. It's an individual thing.
8. Corporate pilots also will tell you that you need to schmooze. True. But I know at EJM there was one pilot who bragged that he was best friends with the owner and was proud of it and meanwhile the owner was asking them to fire him, he's annoying. Schmooze at your own risk. Airline pilots will approach the job as we do any airline job, wham bam thank you I'm going home now. Doesn't always work but sometimes it's loved.
9. The bigger they are the further they fly... and in the corporate world the longer they stay there. Sounds good, just realize that's over every holiday and weekends. Why else own the jet?
10. Airlines furlough, that is true, check controller.com if you want to see G550s that in 2007 cost used the same as new ($60M) plus a premium and being sold for $39M. That was once someone's job.
11. If the corporate job only has 2 pilots... run like hell.
12. FBO girls are not that hot. At best they are "airport hot" which is only hot if you're sitting in the pilot lounge farting and trying to figure out the remote. But they typically look a lot more like a 30 year flight attendant at a major, so if you're hitting on FBO girls, sorry.
13. Look at FedEx and SWA pay, the latter of which we all know is $230K for Captains and $140K for FO's on average with 15 or 18 days off or something like that. I didn't see many jobs that got to the FO's salary and if I did, it looked miserable. Actually, I did see one job in particular where both pilots were in the $140s. Owner was new to the industry. He slashed the jobs and hired one of these local low rent Part 135 piggy-back management companies to manage his plane. The pilots were ousted in favor of that company's pilots, which, are the types to not tell the owner "hey, we never put your airplane in a hangar in DEN, he just charged you for it."

I enjoyed my corporate job, I learned a lot, but I saw the writing on the wall to what this career was. There was no QOL and no future in it. Delta offered so much more and I am so thankful every day I got out and got this job. Yeah I sit on my butt and fly 300 hours a year and average 4 days a month but that's because the airline world affords that. You're worth every penny when you can cover a flight because that's usually (on my plane) 142 passengers x 2 you just saved. So yes it's worth it to pay a B777 pilot double pay on top of min pay even though that's the only flight he did because he was willing to come in on his days off and save the company a fortune.

Even if the pay is 1/2 of what it used to be thanks to chapter 11, it's still a damn good job. And when we get the pay back, just that much better.

I'd never do corporate again unless I had too, but if I did, 3 pilots at a min, aircraft small enough to not fit a flight attendant, and the airplane range limited to the lower 48. But that pay won't probably touch my chapter 11 pay at Delta.

That's a fwiw.

Red Forman

The bottom line is there are some corporate gigs that are better than the best airline gig, and there are some airline gigs that are better than the best corporate gigs, and then there is everything in between. Just do what's best for you and your family and be happy with that decision.

forgot to bid

I can agree with that.

I just think one should always look for the red flags and if you ask me 1 plane owned by an individual and 2 pilots is a red flag.

A plane owned by a corporation is better but due diligence on the corporation is necessary because as they go so goes the airplane... but that's if you're in position to be choosy.

Dpilot

I've done both corporate and airline, and I will hands down choose the airline career. And this is from having flown for a Fortune 500 corporate operation that had nice Gulfstream equipment. Yes, I lived the high life, minus the big paycheck, with expensed meals, nice hotels, nice layovers, international trips, car-side to plane-side through the hangar doors, etc. Then the downturn came and so after 6 years, I was on the streets. It's a dog eat dog world here, so I got the short end.

In contrast, my buddies who stuck it out at the regional airlines, eventually got better airline jobs, including the likes of SWA, Alaska, America West and VA. Me, well, still on the street after 2 years now suffering through a 2nd layoff. It sucks plain and simple!

My recent furlough is from an airline and with recall rights at least. Can't say that about a corporate outfit, so I would choose not to go back to the corporate world if by choice. And if I did, it would only be temporary, so as to get to THE one airline.... someplace like FedEx and SWA, where guys/gals pull in nice big paychecks while living in base on reserve or choosing day trips so as to be home every night with 15-18 days off each month. But the biggest draw for me is stability. No corporate job will give me that, but THE right airline will. That to me is where the gold is.

shiftwork

Just had a re-called AA guy on the jump seat that lost his "cushy" corp. gig (last Jan) becasue the jet needed to be de-iced and the owner thought other wise. Got the "Boss" to LA a little late and was told he was no longer needed! He said, "I would NEVER go back to corperate!"

I concur, love getting off the jet and leaving my job behind while knowing sked a month in advance; could care less if the rental car/limo is the correct type for the guys in the back;-)

BTW: how many 121 guys are hanging out on the corp. threads? It is my impression that most corp. guys always wanted to make it to the "big show"?

freightguy

(Dude...I've done both. They both suck to varying degrees. For me, I will take the airline suckiness any day over the corporate flying suckiness. Atleast I am the boss in my aircraft at the airline...I don't carry pax bags, I don't clean, I don't kiss a$$, some idiot pax acts up...I have them removed).

The Dominican

If you look at the responses of all the pilots that have done both types of flying extensively, they are all saying the same thing. Only a couple of guys that have nothing but corporate jets on their profiles have said that there are some corporate gigs that are better than any airline job, that very well may be the case but it is like the infamous 5,000 Yen cup of coffee here in Tokyo, I have heard of its existence but have never come across it.

forgot to bid

I'll give you a story. Knew the owner and crew of a ligh corporate aircraft. In 2007 the money was not flowing in for the owner so he decided to do as many others and put his aircraft with one of these full management/part 135 operators. As a part of the deal the two pilots now had days off in advance. They chose the day, and probably only Saturday, where the owner needed the airplane badly. They didn't budge, that's what a day off in advance is. So the owner had to drive.

But before he did he let it be known he was selling the plane an he did.

I also overheard some DAL pilots talking about a DAL Captain that left on the early out to fly a GV. He quit after two years. Got tired of not being reimbursed, vendors and suppliers not being paid and being called to the carpet over legitimate maintenance expenses.

I'm going to change my tune, best corporate jobs are working for State Governments and universities. The money may be way way less than a airline FO but its usually more stable. Especially if the athletic department funds the plane. Until of course the student loan bubble bursts.

DeadHead

Get over yourself.