Page 34 - Feb 20 TNT

organizations, with transportation, hotel accommodations and catering services readily available. And finally, the posi- tion of “pilot” I find (quite strangely) is often more highly respected than the title of “doctor.” All of this makes the job of flying professionally, at least in the corporate world, much more rewarding than it was previously.
The negatives still exist, however, and a lot of pilots wanting to fly profession- ally tend to overlook these. It is kind of obvious, but the reason why people own business aircraft and pay other people to fly them, is because they want or need to get somewhere often on short notice. They often do not know exactly when they will return, or if they might not need to add some additional destinations once the trip has begun. If the passengers need to stay somewhere for several days to a week, the airplane almost always stays at that location. The pilots either hang around or occasionally will be sent home via airline in a coach seat, then re- turn when the airplane is ready to move. This is just the nature of the business
but it can result in a pretty tumultuous lifestyle. Living out of a suitcase, eating in restaurants, staying in hotel rooms, not being certain when you are going to return home. Waiting for passengers to return as the weather deteriorates can get tiring after a while. The pilot group I f ly with likes to say, “We f ly for free, but get paid to wait,” and that has a lot of truth in it.
So, if you have carefully evaluated the positives and negatives and are still in- terested in f lying professionally (maybe you are tired of your current job), what should you do now? The answer depends on your age and background. Say, if you are in your 40s, have 2,000 hours, an ATP and a multiengine rating, odds are pretty high you could be hired by a commuter type airline in fairly short order. You will fly SIC in jets like a CRJ, be gone for two weeks per month and fly a lot of legs on each trip. But it will be a lot of fun, especially initially. And because the schedules are usually well known in advance, I would highly recommend this path if you are so inclined.
However, most of the Twin & Tur- bine readers writing me are closer to 60 than 40. At that age, getting hired by a Part 121 carrier is less likely because the airline does not have enough time to recoup their $100,000 pilot training investment before that pilot must stop flying for them due to the “age 65” rule. The “age 65” rule, however, does not ap- ply to Part 91 operations, and it has been my experience that a lot of the business passengers like to see a little grey hair sit- ting in the front. These are good jobs that can take you to a variety of places, and the turbine equipment is a lot of fun to fly. So, if inclined to “turn professional,” you should look into them. To enhance your probability of getting a job flying corporate jets, it is useful to have at least one jet type rating. A Cessna Citation type rating is a good place to start as there are so many of them in the corpo- rate world and the training is relatively cheap. Another qualification corporate employers like to see is a CFI with con- siderable f light instruction experience. Flight instruction gets you accustomed to flying in the right seat and dealing with all kinds of unexpected problems that type of flying can present.
So, my advice if you are considering turning professional is have at it. At least a couple of years of professional flying will be a lot of fun, is quite achievable in the current environment, and will add greatly to your life experience and the stories you can tell your grandchil- dren. Life is short, so go ahead and make the “pivot.”
CIES Coporation
Kevin Ware is an ATP who also holds CFI, MEII and helicopter ratings, has more than 10,000 hours and is typed in several different
business jets. He has been flying for a living on and off since he was 20, and currently works as a con- tract pilot for various corporations in the Seattle area. When not work- ing as a pilot he is employed part time as an emergency and urgent care physician. He can be reached at kevin.ware2@aol.com.
WANTED:
Part time pilot with current 25 Learjet credentials
Milwaukee, WI based 25 Learjet owner seeks experienced part time pilot with current 25 Learjet credentials. Infrequent
Daniel Manesis
trips from Milwaukee, WI to Pueblo, CO. Excellent pay. We will pay for recertification.
Please contact Daniel Manesis at 414-327-4448
32 • TWIN & TURBINE / February 2020 Jet Journal