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How Do You Start a 135 Operation?

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How Do You Start a 135 Operation?

Old 02-20-2006, 01:17 PM
  #11  
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If I really have my way, I want to set up my company and 135 operation, and seperate from that organize a group of owners to purchase an airplane under a seperate LLC, and then my 135 company would manage the aircraft and would list the aircraft for charter. From there I would like to allocate the majority of the profit to purchasing out each of the shareholders of the airplane. In addition I would want to add an airplane, that my company would own, not individuals. From there I wouldn't mind getting into additional similar management contracts similar to the initial one. Beyond that I would want to add airplanes and locations, then get into the school, freight, EMS, anything that involves airplanes and revenue. There are more ideas from there, but they are a little to wild and outrageous to include in the context of a serious conversation.

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Old 02-20-2006, 02:03 PM
  #12  
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I created a single pilot operation part 135 for a company that I am currently employed for. There are a 3 other companies that are operated by our parent company so the 135 is used within our companies and not offered out to the general public even though is listed as a "on Demand" air carrier.

You have to start with having an airplane to use (you can own or have an individual that is willing to lease it to you when needed) and contact your local FSDO and providing them with a "letter of intent". From there you will be assigned a POI to help guide you through the process to create your Op's Specs that are tailered to the services you are wanting to provide. I was able to find off of FAA web site all the paperwork and examples of forms in word format and I just tailered it to fit our operation. My FAA guys were a great help for me.

You will need to think about the drug testing, AAIP, MEL's, insurance requirements (that is expensive for any charter "for hire" operation), RNAV procedures, hazardous materials.......

The good news with single pilot is there are not training requirements or training manuals or general operations manual. It is the easiest way to go. You can always add pilots and the manuals as you grow the operation.

Good luck with your endevour!
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Old 02-20-2006, 03:05 PM
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Originally Posted by CitationJason
Hey guys, I've got a question. It is my dream to someday (maybe) start my own Part 135 operation. I would want to do passenger operations, freight, eventually a flight school, and maybe even a fractional deal tied in with some owners looking to buy into a plane and a ranch or condo in the mountains, etc. These are all really big dreams, and it would start a lot smaller. I basically want to get started with the passenger operation. I am only 23 years old, but I want to start planning now. So my questions are as follows:

1. How do you go about obtaining a Part 135 certificate?
2. How do you create your Ops Specs?
3. How do you determine aircraft operating costs?
4. What else am I forgetting?

Despite my young age, I have some large project management and business management experience, and I have my aviation knowledge, but I want to do this with the proper planning, which I think has to start now. Any advice will be greatly appreciative. Don't try and talk me out of it, but don't be afraid to warn of pitfalls and share all experiences, even the negative ones.

Sncerely,
CitationJason
My advice to you is find a team of people who know about business even if you do. Investors like to see a team of people not just one person. If you are looking for your market may I suggest the following route. Go to www.questionpro.com You create a survey then send it out to your target market. Now you can gather e-mails yourself or what I did was go to www.exmmarketing.com They will send several hundred thousand e-mails to your target market and guarentee a 30% view rate. Then you typically find a three to four percent return. Its pretty good stuff and questionpro puts it into the statiscal data. I would reccomend business plan pro for the business plan pro portion. Its really good, it puts it into graphs and flow charts for investors to see.
I am running a business plan for a start up airline. Can't say where, I am now legally bound not to reveal any info yet. I have a mgt team together and we are preparing our financials and getting ready to present to investors. If get the capital behind us we are going to try it. It started as a school project for college and it got interesting so I figured I would gather up people that know about financials and marketing and we are putting together a decent business plan. I too am young 21yrs old and I could never do it on my own. I really don't know too much about business but, I am trying to surround myself with people that know what they are doing. Its a long time consuming process esspecially 121 certification. I have got a company www.aircarriercertification.com Talk to Jim McCoy he is a good guy. They are great once you get the financing behind you they will set up your company and train your MGT staff and write the company manuals. For 121 cert it is around 600k to 1.5mil. So definitly expect less for a 135 cert. Good luck any more questions just ask.
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Old 04-03-2006, 02:28 PM
  #14  
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Default Starting a Part 135 Operation

You asked some pretty good questions and the the biggest one is number four. The answer is "a lot".

I'll start with each of your questions if I can.

1. How do you go about obtaining a Part 135 certificate?
First you might start by going to www.part135.info and viewing the video on thier site. The video is the same one that you are required to view at the FSDO. You are required to view before you can even apply for a 135. It will explain the 5 steps to obtaining a part 135 certificate.

2. How do you create your Ops Specs?
The Ops Specs are created by the FSDO for you during the certifications process.

3. How do you determine aircraft operating costs?
This is the toughest question. By far the biggest cost will be insurance. Especially for someone with so few years.

4. What else am I forgetting?
You are forgetting a whole bunch. This is not an easy project. You might want to talk to some one who does this all the time. When I started my 135 I used Aviation Compuer Systems. They were very helpful and they did almost all the paperwork for me. They started me with a single pilot operation and about 300 pages of stuff to submit to the FSDO. They made all the revisions for me and mostly made it a no-brainer for me. You can reach them at 888-PART135. I think the website is part135.com.

I hope this helps
 
Old 04-08-2006, 07:20 AM
  #15  
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It is really easy! Don’t need any contractor to take your money. Only need some professionals with real back ground in FAA as POI to help you to setup your operations. The books are not the real issues but the planes are! Are they new? or old? What kind of maintenance you will have? Warranties from manufactures? How big of operations? Who are the management people? What kind of experience? How many pilots? What kind of aircrafts? Turbojets, I hope, Beechjets, hawkers… . No pistons! Keep it simple and easy to start. Then you can expand after a few years. More to follow….
 
Old 02-18-2009, 09:43 AM
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Default Dry run?

Does anyone know the rules about the dry run? I was once told you have to do a dry run with an faa inspector before you get your operation going. And you have to have all your airports in your ops. Do you have to do a dry run to all of those airports? What if you want to fly to Iceland, or Norway, and you put all the airports of Norway into your ops, do you have to fly to just one, to prove you can fly to Iceland and then Norway? What if you have put down all the majors in every state in the Us. And then some guy wants to fly to Kissimmee (kism) instead of Orlando international(kmco), do you have to pass on that flying then?
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Old 02-19-2009, 09:21 AM
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Keep in mind if you don't do the the single pilot certificate and you will need a chief pilot, DO and Director of Maintenance. This could be a huge cost if you don't have friends to help you out with this. If you start a Basic 135 Certificate, you can get a waiver to combine the DO and Chief Pilot Position and I believe the Dir of Maintenance as long as they are qualified. I would stay away from sub contractors, the paper work is not that bad as long as you follow the FAA guidance for it. An added benefit is that you will learn a lot by writing the manuals yourself.

Conklin De Decker is a great source of information for the variable and fixed costs of an aircraft Conklin & de Decker - Aircraft Operating Costs & Aviation Services

Getting an airplane that you can instruct and charter with is a great idea as it will offset your fixed costs when the charter is slow, which it will be at times.

Pm if you wish with questions you may have. I re certified our company when I was 23 and believe me whether it works out or not it is a great learning and educational experience that you can't buy or get in Grad School and it will open up a lot of opportunities that you may have not otherwise been able to get.

PS: Before going to the FAA and doing the letter of Intent. Read through the 8900.10 Manual pertaining to Air Operator certification as this is the same thing that your POI will be using. Earn your POI's respect by doing your research and I have found that they become a lot easier to deal with.

Best of Luck,

John V

Last edited by Natlaircharters; 02-19-2009 at 09:23 AM. Reason: grammar
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Old 02-19-2009, 10:23 AM
  #18  
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try Part135 Manuals
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Old 02-20-2009, 09:14 AM
  #19  
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Start here:
http://www.faa.gov/licenses_certific...ia/n135toc.pdf

If you have a lot of money, or know somebody that does, you can have many people set it up for you. It will be expensive and you won't learn a thing .
Your company might be up and you won't have any idea what to do, except pay people to do your work.

You are young, start up a basic certificate with 1 airplane and go from there.
Do as much of it as you can yourself, you can ask for help and guidance (PM me if/ when you are ready and have questions). But be involved in it.

MEL's can be found here:
opspecs.com

Training manuals you will get from a training center like FSI or CAE.

FAA guidance for you to use:
Flight Standards Information System (FSIMS)

It will be very time consuming, and after you get your first revenue trip going, you be very satisfied.

Just remember, it won't happen overnight or overyear for that matter.
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Old 02-20-2009, 09:24 AM
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Start as a Single Pilot Operator, then become a Single Pilot-in-Command Operator followed by becoming a Basic or Full Part 135 Operator.Guidance
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