For all the part 135 guys who have been around and seen it all. I'm looking for some honest opinions here. If you were an owner of a large category corp jet and are thinking of placing it on a 135 cert in addition to your own part 91 ops, which of the numerous outfits would you look at as being the best to deal with and their manner in dealing with you, your airplane and your parameters for them chartering the aircraft. Thank you in advance.
What part of the country?
In my limited experience, I'd just say to watch out for operators that promise you everything under the sun... (charter 9 bazillion hours per year, one trillion dollars a day in revenue etc...) and also to double check that what the owners say they will do as far as maintenance and staffing, actually happens. I flew for a dirtbag 135 that would make the "9 bazillion hour per year charter and the 1 trillion dollars a day in revenue" promises, and they'd also quote 3 pilots for the aircraft, 2 captains at 150k/yr and 1 fo at 120k/yr, (not including training) and all in-house maintenance with the same costs as the company owned aircraft realize. What happened was that they'd pay the pilots dirt, fire one pilot so there's only 2 left, and they'd charge exorbitant rates for maintenance, and they'd never deliver on the promised hours or revenue. The uninformed owners never seemed to check on the company to see how they're delivering on their promises.
Inevitably, at the end of the 2 year contract that the owners signed, they'd find greener management pastures elsewhere, but for the 135 company, it didn't matter because they raped the owner for 2 years and "got theirs".
Bitter rant.....over.
In my limited experience, I'd just say to watch out for operators that promise you everything under the sun... (charter 9 bazillion hours per year, one trillion dollars a day in revenue etc...) and also to double check that what the owners say they will do as far as maintenance and staffing, actually happens. I flew for a dirtbag 135 that would make the "9 bazillion hour per year charter and the 1 trillion dollars a day in revenue" promises, and they'd also quote 3 pilots for the aircraft, 2 captains at 150k/yr and 1 fo at 120k/yr, (not including training) and all in-house maintenance with the same costs as the company owned aircraft realize. What happened was that they'd pay the pilots dirt, fire one pilot so there's only 2 left, and they'd charge exorbitant rates for maintenance, and they'd never deliver on the promised hours or revenue. The uninformed owners never seemed to check on the company to see how they're delivering on their promises.
Inevitably, at the end of the 2 year contract that the owners signed, they'd find greener management pastures elsewhere, but for the 135 company, it didn't matter because they raped the owner for 2 years and "got theirs".
Bitter rant.....over.
What he said
I would say you need to develope a relationship before diving into anything. you can take a look at their operation from a pilot standpoint, but the best thing you can do is ask to see some of their trip manifests, ops specs, see that things are in order, talk to their director of maintenance etc.... In most situations, the 135 will have more to gain than the owner, but with that said there are mutual situations that im sure work out there.
Im trying to get on a new 135 cert of a guy i used to work with years ago. He's in this situation where he's looking for another aircraft to help cover, and reduce the risk of not having a plane available. He's had plenty of "promises" but no one has come through, so it apparently is the same on both sides of the fence.
Im trying to get on a new 135 cert of a guy i used to work with years ago. He's in this situation where he's looking for another aircraft to help cover, and reduce the risk of not having a plane available. He's had plenty of "promises" but no one has come through, so it apparently is the same on both sides of the fence.
