BoilerUP

I left Air Wisconsin after 2 years for a job as a Citation II co-captain with 2200tt. The transition from the CRJ-200 to the Citation was CAKE, especially with Vref speeds being about 40kts lower in the Citation

My airplane is smaller and slower, but the compensation is better and the QOL is substantially higher. I live in the exact location my wife and I wanted to be in, for a financially secure company operating in a growth industry with long-term job contracts...a company that has operated an aircraft for 9 years and has a new airplane set for delivery next March. My boss is a private pilot that owns an SR22, and I get to fly it for personal use. I put my expenses on a company AMEX and am almost to Hilton Diamond. Life is good!

The thing with 121 to 91 transitions is those in the airline world (especially regional airline world) typically don't have networks set up, and networking is THE way to get a 91 job. It got me my job, and got my colleague his job. You simply don't network for Citation and Hawker jobs sitting in the ORD/PHL/ATL crew room...you network for them in the lobbies of Million Airs, Atlantics, and Signatures (well, that and over the bar at Marriotts). You also can network for them using online webboards, such as APC, *************, and BizAvCentral.

Corporate flying is 100% completely different than airline flying, save for the driving an airplane part. You do your own flight planning, order your own fuel, load your own bags, stock and clean your own airplane, and passenger safety and comfort are top priority. Flying skills are mostly assumed - how do you deal with passengers when _____________ happens (weather/ATC delay, mx issue, no catering, no powercart to run vapor AC in the summer)?

Pay? NBAA Average Base Salary for a light jet SIC is $47,575; for an entry-level Part 91 light jet one might expect to start in the mid to upper 30s. I know Pt. 135 light jet FOs making mid to upper 20s, but that is low.

Lifestyle? Highly job dependent; it goes from awesome to awful. I'm extremely happy with my situation, even though I've been very busy the last few weeks; weekends are not standard company workdays and we probably only fly 10-20 weekend days per year (out of 104). 3 days of my last 2 weeks were at NBAA which was optional but most certainly work-related.

If I can do it anybody can, but the required skill set is much different from showing up, flying a 20 legs in 4 days, and going home. Good luck!

The dude

After 4 years at the regionals I can honestly say my worst day corporate is still better than my best day airlines. Maybe I'm just lucky. I don't know.

onetogo

While that may be true, would you have been able to get your corporate job without those 4 years at the regionals?

BTW, excellent post BoilerUP. I'm a junior in FLT at Purdue. Starting to look ahead now.

BoilerUP

My wife, colleague and I will be at Purdue this Wednesday to talk in Dr. C and Bernie's AT400 classes...

Brendan

Very cool! I'm in Bernie's 400 section.

The dude

Nope. Absolutely not. My experience at a regional airline is what got me a high quality corp. job. Not trying to discredit it, just saying I'd much rather spend a career here than there.

cencal83406

While I agree with this statement partially, it also seems to be partially false, an assumption made from folks who haven't been in the airlines.... my old boss said the same thing. Yeah, we get the route, and the weather, and the... blah blah. But.... we're still the pilots and we're being "told" what to do by a dispatcher making $10.00 an hour who hasn't had to fly around in crap weather with broken airplanes. I'd say that most of the time we get the opportunity to fight with the company and say NO we won't go, or we need something fixed, while they will come out and ask why the heck we're not leaving with an oil leak, or inop anti-ice (even though the specific MEL says day vfr only).... etc. Other than that, yes. Jetset.... feel free to correct me if I'm wrong but I've seen how "we" do it and I've been in a corporate aviation department before.

I am also very interested in corporate aviation one day when I have the TT and contacts required to get my foot in the door.

Ewfflyer

Obviously Purdue still hasn't raised their CFI pay yet either That's the one thing that really aggrivated me, but honestly I'd rather be paid $7/hr in Purdue's planes, than whatever the "fbo" pays in their planes(rented one once, scared me).

BoilerUp, what's the discussion going to be? Just some insight on different facets of the industry? I haven't been back to LAF for some time, and sadly I'm just a 1.5hr drive away. Anyone know if they are going to do a fly-in again this next spring???

BoilerUP

The discussion is going to be multi-fold...and hopefully fit within 50min blocks:

1. Jobs that exist within aviation that don't involve driving airplanes (my wife's expertise, she's also an AT grad)

2. Real-world info about flying for a regional carrier (I was an ALPA rep)

3. Business aviation careers, as Purdue doesn't specifically teach toward that end outside of TFO flying (my colleague's expertise, he flew 135 turbines after he graduated).

4. The regional to corporate/charter transition. What steps have to be taken to make it and why one should avoid "grass is greener" syndrome

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I have addressed student instructor pay many times with faculty, and even floated the idea of an instructor union while a senior (which was poo-pooed by those not wanting to rock the boat).

I always hated the apathy many student instructors had toward their work; I was instructing 200-300 hours/summer back home in hot-*** 152s to better position myself for the future and some of these folks hated teaching and couldn't fly an airplane without a GNS430 in it. To that end, I'd say the quality of some of the instruction given, at least when I was there, was only worth $7/hr. Sad, but true...

Is the Seattle Beanery still there? I love me some bagel breakfast sandwiches...

Brendan

The Seattle Beanery was still open in Purdue West last time I checked.

I completely agree about the instructor pay. It will be interesting to see what happens with the federal minimum wage increase if they pay that or more.

If you haven't been back to WL for a few years you wont believe all the new construction. The AT building is well under way, and the Armstrong building looks great.