quote:

Originally posted by OKCGene:
I’m curious, what about corporate aviation?

Is that a good job, or not? Pros and cons?

From my observation, it really depends what the corporate gig is.

Some larger companies have a corporate fleet, some corporate fleets support a group of companies, and some are like taxi (netjets, etc).

The ones I see do a lot of waiting for passengers in the FBO, emptying the toilets, cleaning the planes, making sure the food is there on time and just what the customer ordered. Another guy I know flies for one family who schedules flights far in advanced, he has a flexible schedule and loves it.

So it really depends.

quote:

Originally posted by OKCGene:
I’m curious, what about corporate aviation?

Is that a good job, or not? Pros and cons?

I flew corporate, turboprop and turbojet. Fractional operations, too, which are corporate aircraft in which the corporations own shares, kind of a cross between corporate and charter, and sometimes both.

I don't like corporate flying. Many do. It's my least favorite kind of flying. With a good company, life can be quite good. With many corporate flight departments, though, the first thing to go is flight operations. Jobs can be tenuous. Companies want you to fly them to a meeting and wait until they're done, then fly them home. No duty limitations, no rest requirements, nothing.

I flew a corporate jet for a company that did communications engineering, overlays of fiberoptic, etc. We flew the crew into Detroit where they did a week long survey of the city, measuring streets, Some companies might have sent the crew home for a week, but this flight department went to work with the engineers in inner city detroit. I was glad I took a .357.

I flew a gentleman and his family into Albuquerque one morning, and stopped at Cutter Aviation. I opened the door, and the man took a deep breath, surveyed outside the airplane, and said "I wonder what the poor people are doing today?"

I bit my tongue to keep from turning to say "Well sir, we're flying you around, aren't we?"

I don't know many corporate pilots who haven't lost their job with little or no notice...several times. I showed up one morning to be told it was my last day, aircraft being sold, thanks for moving here and giving everything up to work for us...for three months, putting money down on a house...good luck. I know pilots who showed up to find the hangar door chained shut, no notice, and others who were on a corporate trip and the department was closed while they were on the road.

There are some good corporate jobs out there, and some lucrative ones, but it's flying I never enjoyed. I did a lot of charter, too in piston, turboprop, turbojets, as well as freight, ambulance, and so on. Lots of sitting and waiting, lots of unpredictability, lots of being on call around the clock. Some good, some great, some not.

Corporate is getting better than it used to be. Pay has increased and non-flying duties have decreased. But the nature of it is still, hang out in the FBO and wait. If you want a schedule, the fractional operators are your best bet.

I guess I am an exception to the rule. I have never had to move for a job and I have never been let go or had an airplane sold out from under me. I know many pilots not as lucky. I flew corporate, organ transplant, charter and fractionals. Corporate in jet equipment is my preference.

In the end, it is all about the flight department. Many are awesome and some suck really bad.

quote:

Originally posted by erj_pilot:
Ok...so which regional carrier? CommutAir? ExpressJet? Endeavor? I could help answer questions if he’s at ExpressJet. And I’m thinking it’s NOT ExpressJet, as they have nothing in Dulles.

Just got an email with some pics from him.... its CommutAir.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Then may the force be with him. If he so chooses, he can hunt down some former ExpressJet guys/gals that might now be at CommutAir and ask them the differences between the two. I hope he achieves the quality of life he's expecting and everything works out!!

CommutaAir, at Presque Isle of recent:



They missed the runway completely, landed in the snow, or rather crashed but were saved by the snow. No fatalities.

OOPS!

Holy Cow. Look at the landing gear jammed up between the fuselage and engine so tight the engine is bent 1/3 in

They only missed the runway by a little bit...

Slight thread drift: I've been to the Preqsue Isle airport by POV, it's waaaaay up in northern Maine near what used to be Loring AFB. It too was once an AFB and was the ONLY operational Snark missile base. Briefly.

"Uh...the Snark???"

Yeah, I get that a lot:

http://w3.uwyo.edu/~jimkirk/snark.html

http://www.strategic-air-comma...Snark_deployment.htm

https://www.airnav.com/airport/KPQI

https://www.flypresqueisle.com/

Soooooo a good landing is one you can walk away from, a great landing is one you can reuse the plane..... is this going to be a total loss? Or might this plane be repaired? Looks like the hull might be pretty well tweaked.

quote:

Originally posted by OKCGene:
Soooooo a good landing is one you can walk away from, a great landing is one you can reuse the plane..... is this going to be a total loss? Or might this plane be repaired? Looks like the hull might be pretty well tweaked.

It's repairable, but for the expense, there are the same versions of this airplane (XR) that are parked in storage: it's a lot easier and less expensive to simply put one of those in service. Whether this one will get repaired or not, I don't know, but I doubt CommutAir will do it.

They can use the cockpit to build a FTD (Fixed Training Device) and use the cabin for a training platform for Flight Attendants. That's what Continental Express did with one of its early Embraer 145 airframes that had an "oops" during training years ago.

quote:

Originally posted by erj_pilot:
They can use the cockpit to build a FTD (Fixed Training Device) and use the cabin for a training platform for Flight Attendants. That's what Continental Express did with one of its early Embraer 145 airframes that had an "oops" during training years ago.

I was departing the Orlando-Sanford airport (SFB), happened to look down and saw a B-727 in a clearing in a wooded area at the east end of the airport.

I asked tower about it, they said it was used for practice and training for fire fighters, rescue personnel, etc.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
Remind your friend that there are only three things that a First Officer should say to a Captain:

1. "Nice landing, sir."
   
   
2. "I'll buy the first round."
   
   
3. "I'll take the fat one."

^^^^^^^. So if you’re to be making an unscheduled landing, the best place to do so is on the snow?

Less damage that way, I suppose.

"An initial report from federal officials indicates a United Express flight landed between the runway and taxiway at the Presque Isle airport earlier this month."

Complete article:

https://www.wabi.tv/content/ne...-Isle-507482081.html

^^^^^So apparently it didn't skid off the runway as intially reported, it missed the runway completely, and on its second attempt. How can something like that even happen?

None of us was on the flight deck and I’m not EVEN gonna start pretending that I know and start throwing rocks. That’s what the NTSB is for...

Aww, rocks are interesting as long as you keep in mind they're virtual rocks.