Corporate Aviation

There are basically two type of aviation business for personal travel the first being corporate and the second being commercial. Each has it own advantages and disadvantages for the traveler and for the pilot employed by the company. Most people are familiar with the first one we will discuss; the commercial airline. Commercial airlines are an airline that has a specific route and schedule they fly. Anyone can buy a ticket and get to their destination. This causes a problem for some businesses because they rarely fly into the smaller regional airports. These smaller airports are typically in the vicinity of where the companies send their employees. Also a passenger may have to use a full day just to get to a city that may only be a 4 hour flight away due to the travel time to the airport, the waiting time for their flight, and maybe a layover added. This loss of time really affects the company since having a key employee out all day effects their productivity. Lastly most companies need to send their employees to a destination without very much lead time. This increases the cost of ticket and if business trips are canceled the company loses out on the cost of the ticket. In most cases both problems effect the bottom line of the company.

            Corporate aviation on the other hand is an as needed service. Your company owns the plane and has the pilots either on their payroll or they have hired a management company who supplies the pilots. This means the plane is ready to go when you are ready. There isn’t a worry about purchasing tickets last minute or trying to schedule a trip so that your employee is sitting around in an airport for the majority of the day without getting work done. This also means if you need to cancel flights then you don’t lose out on that money that was spent on a commercial airline ticket. The major advantage of the corporate flight department is that you can get your employees to the correct town 90% of the time. “Business aviation serves ten times the number of communities (more than 5,000 airports) served by commercial airlines (about 500 airports). This means business aviation can allow companies to locate plants or facilities in small towns or rural communities with little or no commercial airline service. With nearly 100 communities having lost airline service” (No Plane No gain, 2015). Therefore, they won’t have to fly into a major hub, then have to rent a car and drive for hours to their intended destination. “Business aviation allows for efficient, flexible, safe, secure and cost-effective access to destinations across the country and around the world. Because employees can meet, plan and work with each other aboard business aircraft, productivity enroute is greatly enhanced” (NBAA,2015). This means less travel time and more productivity for your employee. These differences are the basic argument for why a company can realize an increase in profitability by utilizing a corporate aviation department.

            As a pilot there are the same basics opportunities in both realms of aviation. Both corporate aviation and commercial aviation utilize pilots and copilots. Although there are a lot more opportunities out there in the commercial aviation field than there are in the in the corporate field. There is a drawback,  91 corporate aviation department can set their own minimums for their pilots with the basic requirement being either a single engine commercial license or a multi-engine commercial license. Their pilots are not required by the FAA to carry an ATP. This is a positive attribute since most pilots can acquire a job in the right seat of a corporate plane sooner than a regional airline. With that being said competition is high for the fewer slots that are available. There is also a higher starting salary within thecorporate aviation field than there is with regional airlines. This also is a benefit to the pilots although the trade of is a lower pay scale at the end of your career if you choose to stay in corporate aviation. Lastly the chances that you are home at night and not away from your family for long periods of time are also better for the corporate pilot.

Corporate Eagle is a great example of corporate aviation company. Although they are not the traditional aviation department they are what are gradually replacing company owned aviation departments. Corporate eagle is an aviation management company. Their role is to provide management, maintenance and pilot services for corporations that own their own aircraft. In this role they are saving those companies money by not having to have an aviation department on their payroll full time. The pilots at Corporate Eagle fly a number of different company’s jets. Their fleet consists of Company fleet consists of “13 aircraft (3 x King Air B200, 3 x Hawker 700, 4 x 800XP, and 3 x Falcon 2000) with operations based at KPTK”. (Warner, 2014) Although they primarily act as a management company corporate eagle does hold a part 135 operators certificate.  This means that they can run charter services. This also means companies can opt to have corporate eagle hire out their jets to offset the maintenance and storage costs, which further saves the owners money. The hiring requirements for pilots are a commercial multi certificate with a IFR rating, a CFI, CFII and MEI with 1500 hours is preferred. This is a starting point they have hired pilots with less hours.

 

Business Aircraft Uses. (2015, January 1). Retrieved February 28, 2015, from http://www.nbaa.org/business-aviation/uses/

Business Leaders on Business Aviation | No Plane No Gain. (2015, January 1). Retrieved February 28, 2015, from http://www.noplanenogain.org/Advocacy_Tools.htm?m=47&s=407#.VPIcMZV0yP8

Warner, S. (2014, September 15). Job Post: Corporate Eagle - First Officer/Second-In-Command. Retrieved February 28, 2015, from http://aviation.wmich.edu/jobs-scholarships-and-internship-postings/bid/355164/Job-Post-Corporate-Eagle-First-Officer-Second-In-Command

NTSB "Most Wanted" list for 2015

The issues identified by the NTSB have proven to become a significant problem in recent times for the aviation industry. According to the FAA “Loss of control – mainly stalls – accounts for the most GA fatal accidents”.(FAA,2014)  This threat is considered to be more self-imposed. The reason behind this threat deals with the lack of professionalism of a general aviation pilot.  Considering the weather in Michigan, the average private pilot mostly flies a few times a month; therefore during the winter months the general aviation pilot does not typically fly. Even when the private pilots do fly they are most likely not practicing maneuvers such as stalls and unusual attitudes. Practicing these maneuvers would help them avoid a potentially hazardous situation before they lose control. Then you have the pilots who lack professionalism under any circumstance. For example, there was a recent accident in Colorado where the pilot of a Cessna 150 lost control because he was taking a selfie.  According to an NTSB investigator “The evidence suggests that Singh got distracted, disoriented, stalled the plane and crashed” and goes on to say "During the climb-out portion of flight, the pilot uses his cellphone to take a self-photograph. The camera's flash was activated and illuminated the cockpit area," NTSB investigators reported about one of Singh's flights a few minutes before the crash (Hughes,2015).  "During the climb-out phase, the pilot was seen making keyboard entries to his cell phone and additional keyboard entries on a portion of flight consistent with the downwind leg" (Hughes,2015). A key suggestion brought forth by the NTSB is to manage distractions so that they will not interfere with the pilots situational awareness this would have defiantly prevented the Colorado accident.

The NTSB also cited the following accidents “on August 9, 2013, in East Haven, Connecticut, while attempting a circling approach in and out of clouds during gusty wind conditions, a Rockwell International 690B entered an inadvertent aerodynamic stall/spin and crashed into a house, resulting in the deaths of two children in the house. In another example, on December 12, 2013, near Collbran, Colorado, while maneuvering at low altitude looking for lost cattle, a Piper PA 24-250 entered an inadvertent aerodynamic stall/spin and impacted terrain, resulting in three fatalities onboard the airplane. And, on December 29, 2012, near Lakeside, California, while the non-instrument-rated pilot was climbing an experimental amateur-built Lancair IV-P through cloud layers, the airplane entered an inadvertent aerodynamic stall/spin and completed seven 360-degree revolutions before impacting the ground, resulting in three fatalities onboard the airplane”(NTSB, 2015). All of the above accidents seem like they could have been easily prevented by an increase in recurrent training. The NTSB lists this as well as utilizing good aeronautical decision making techniques both in flight and during the preflight planning.

The NTSB has also cited an increase need for procedural compliance for the commercial aviation sector. This too is a leading cause of accidents in recent times. The cause of the crashes for both the Asian Airlines Flight 214 and the UPS cargo jet crash at the Birmingham, Alabama airport August 2013 were determined to be due to the lack of procedural compliance. The NTSB wants to improve this procedural compliance by insuring good procedures that improve pilot safety. The NTSB has laid out the following guidelines to accomplish this goal:

·         Appropriate training ensures that commercial aviation professionals understand the procedures, how to implement them, and how they contribute to safe operations. Improved stall training, dual engine loss training and gusty crosswind training are some examples.

·         The FAA also should require pilot training programs that emphasize monitoring skills and workload management, and establish best practices for conducting single and multiple emergency and abnormal situations training.

·         Air carriers should also strengthen assertiveness training for first officers and initial operating experience training for Part 135 pilots.

Below are some of the causes of the July 2013 crash of Asiana Airlines flight 214 in San Francisco, CA(Curtis, 2014)

·         The flight crew’s nonstandard communication and coordination regarding the use of the auto throttle and autopilot systems,

·         Inadequate training on the planning and executing of visual approaches;

·         Inadequate supervision of the pilot flying by the instructor pilot

If the suggestion of the NTSB were to be implemented before the time of the flight these causes would be nonexistent. The training, communication and emergency procedures would have insured a safe flight to its destination in San Francisco. Some will say it was due to pilot error and the event would have happened anyways, but if the pilot was better trained and prepared before getting into the cockpit the crew would have never put them in a situation that would have led to the accident.

All of these are good solutions to the problem, but I think the key solution is to instill in all the pilots and operators that safety has to be a priority. I know safety comes at a cost and the bottom line for any company is the most important, however when they are losing aircrafts and lives you cannot just think about the money. In the UPS accident, UPS said, “it has changed procedures regarding stabilized approaches, automation, pilots’ decisions to go around when an approach is shaky, and altitude call-outs on descent. “This accident underscores the shared responsibility that companies and pilots have to ensure proper rest and to report to work fit for duty,” spokesman Mike Mangeot” (Bachman, 2014). Mr. Mangeot explains this situation well; it all comes down to the responsibility of the pilots and the companies to work together to insure safety.

Curtis, T. (2014, June 25). The AirSafe.com News. Retrieved February 8, 2015, from http://www.airsafenews.com/2014/06/ntsb-report-on-july-2013-crash-of.html

Fact Sheet – General Aviation Safety. (2014, July 30). Retrieved February 8, 2015, from http://www.faa.gov/news/fact_sheets/news_story.cfm?newsId=16774

Hughes, T. (2015, February 4). NTSB: Selfies led to fatal Colo. plane crash. Retrieved February 8, 2015, from http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/02/03/ntsb-selfies-disoriented-pilot-causing-crash/22785475/

Prevent Loss of Control in Flight in General Aviation. (2015, January 1). Retrieved February 8, 2015, from http://www.ntsb.gov/safety/mwl/Pages/mwl7

Strengthen Procedural Compliance. (2015, January 1). Retrieved February 8, 2015, from http://www.ntsb.gov/safety/mwl/Pages/mwl1

UPS Air Crash Was Caused by Crew Errors, Not Fatigue, NTSB Says. (2013, September 9). Retrieved February 8, 2015, from http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2014-09-09/ups-air-crash-caused-by-crew-errors-not-fatigue-ntsb-says

 

The Pilot Shortage in the United States is a heavily debated issue.  This debate not only takes place between key players in the aviation industry but also between analysts outside of the aviation industry. While most analysts may argue that this most recent boom in hiring can be attributed to many different factors there are some who still believe that this increase in hiring is just the industry’s way to return to a normal stable work force. Over the past decade or so the travel and aviation industry has struggled and has laid off thousands of pilots and employees.  One of these events was the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York. These attacks increased Americans fear of Flying and reduced the customers for the airlines causing them to cut flights and jobs for thousands of pilots.

            With all the obstacles that the airline industry has overcome in the past decade there are more huddles that have developed. The Federal Aviation Administration has recent rewritten the regulations regarding commercial pilots. These regulation put greater restriction on how long a pilot can fly for and how many hours they can be on duty. This reduction in the pilot’s allowable working hours requires the airline to hire more pilots to cover the scheduled flights they have in place. The Federal Aviation Administration has also raised the requirement for the number of hours a pilot must obtain to be able to obtain an ATP. This has increased the training time a pilot must go through by almost three fold. Not only does this delay the hiring of those piloting into the commercial airline but in also increase the cost of training of those pilots. With the reduction of wages that the pilots took to keep jobs during this slump the return on investment is just not there to entice young adults into a career in the aviation industry. Lastly the average age of airline pilots is soaring this is a problem since there is a mandatory retiring age of 65 years old for airline pilots. This tied with the reduced pool of pilots in training adds up to a severe pilot shortage.

            After 9/11 the major air carriers were grounded this coupled with the nation’s increased fear of flying due to the possibility of more attacks created a major economic impact. Gabi Loagan stated that the total initial economic impact was a “6 percent reduction in passenger volume across the board, with a 9 percent reduction in the nation's busiest airports, totaling a nearly $1 billion loss for the airline industry” in her article in USA today. (Logan) She goes on to say “As a result of the massive financial losses due to lack of passenger demand, canceled flights and increased expenditures for security, even airlines that did not have prior financial issues were forced to renegotiate labor contracts and lay off high numbers of employees, such as the 7,000 employees laid off by American Airlines.” (Logan) Most opponents of the pilot shortage debate will simply say that the increase of hiring that we are seeing now is just the aviation industry finally rebounding. They also say that these pilots that were initially laid off are still out there and are the one being rehired today. This is simply not the case “a record 738 million airline passengers flew in 2005, up 10 percent from the previous record set in 2000. The first seven months of this year have seen 324 million passengers, off only 1.5 percent from the year-ago pace, and miles flown is actually up a bit.”(Isidore, 2006) As you can see the attacks on September 11 devastated the airline industry causing a massive lose in revenue and a large percentage of the workforce laid off but the aviation industry bounced back and returned to pre 9/11 status in a matter of a few years.

            The recession is another factor that caused the airlines to lose revenue over the past few years.  Tim Winship reported in a 2010 article that “As a group, five of the nine largest U.S. airlines posted 2009 losses totaling almost $4 billion. American, which lost $1.5 billion in 2009 and $2.1 billion the year before.” (Winship, 2010) Although most will again say that we are still rebounding from this recession it is simple not the case.  Martin wrote that in 2013 “The profits come on $199.7 billion in operating revenues for the nation's top 26 airlines, compared with $156 billion for 2012, according to the federal Bureau of Transportation Statistic”.( Martin,2014) Also the major airline did not lay off a large sum or pilots like they did during the downturn after the 9/11 attacks. Most of the cut pilot positions were simple from retired pilots. These profit margin numbers are also greater than the pre 2001 numbers so we can see the airline industry is actually growing.

            There are a few facts that the opposition cannot dispute. The airlines in the United States are hiring and are hiring at a faster rate than ever before.  “American has said it expects to need to hire 1,500 new pilots over the next five years to make up for retirements, training demands and its fleet renewal” states Carey and Nicas in a recent article examining the shortage. (2014) As we know this hiring can be attributed one of the major factors we are seeing today is retirements. During the last decade the airlines have not been acquiring new pilots. Since this was the case there have not been large numbers seeking training due to the lack of jobs. This has reduced the number of pilots to take the place of those pilots reaching the mandatory retirement age. To compound this problem the FAA just increased the mandatory minimum of flight hours required to be a pilot in command of a scheduled airline to 1,500 hours from the previous no required minimum. This new regulation has just increased the training time for a pilot by three fold in order for them to take the place of the retiring pilots that are in the air right now. So with the mass of retiring pilots and the increased training time which will delay the current pilots in training from taking those seats it is hard to say that we will not see a pilot shortage. Its also easy to see why Justin Bachman of Bloomberg reported that “One of the largest regionals, Republic Airways Holdings (RJET), plans to stop flying 27 of its 41 Embraer (ERJ) 50-seat jets because of the pilot shortage”(2014).

            Finally one of the main reason there is a pilot shortage is the low wages for entry level positions in the airline industry. Most starting pilots make on average $21,000.00 a year.  This is not a lot when you considered the high cost of training. Matthew C. Klein a writer for Bloomberg explains “ Although many commercial airline pilots get their experience and training in the military, those who don’t have to pay as much as $100,000 to get the required education and flying time -- an investment that can't be justified when the wages for new workers are so low” (2014).  One thing is for sure that I will graduation Eastern Michigan University with a total educational debt of over $120,000.00 which does not include the cost of living for the 4 years of school and flight training. After my graduation I will have three choices available to me become a flight instructor and earn 15 dollars an hour while  gaining my last 650 hours required to get a first officer job at a regional airline. That doesn’t seem like a bad choice but when you figure I will start out making $21,000.00 a year as a first officer and it will take 4-10 year or so to break the $75,000.00 mark it is not a very enticing choice. My other option is to fly for a cargo company which I would make $30,000.00 or so then take a pay cut to work at a regional airline or stay at a cargo carrier and top out at the $60,0000.00 range for my salary. Or lastly take a job at a corporate jet company and start out with a salary of $75,000 to $100,000 and end up with a final salary in the middle to upper six figure range. The final option is the best and most viable option since my educational debt will need to be paid sooner rather than later. These options only increase the pilot shortage even more with more and more new pilots staying away from the airlines to seek higher paying job elsewhere.

            No matter how you look at the situation there is only one clear answer. We are currently experiencing a pilot shortage that will only get worse in the next few years. With the cost of training increasing along with the required hours to be able to fly airliners more and more young adults are either seeking careers outside of the aviation industry or at least outside of the airlines. This coupled with the increasing amount of retiring pilots and the lack of qualified pilots due to years of the industry not hiring has all added up to a major pilot shortage here in the United States.

 

Additional questions

The RAA Regional Airline Association (RAA) and Airline Pilots Association (ALPA) act as the unions for the Regional airline industry. Although ALPA focuses its efforts on pilots RAA represent the rest of the industry.  

1.      Professionalism striving to be at the to of your profession in and out of the work place. It not only includes your skills but also how you act and how to interact with others  in and out of the workplace.

2.      The Captain repeatedly failed check rides. By not studying the pilot failed to hone his skills. There was also a lack of professionalism on management’s side by not sufficiently preparing or requiring their pilots to be proficient in their skill. Management should have seen that there was something amiss when someone repeatedly fails examinations but they continued to overlook it and let him represent the company.

3.      See above essay

4.      There are many ways I can expand my professionalism. First by attending conferences and seminars so that I may further my knowledge of the aviation industry. Secondly I will always keep my skills sharp not only in the aircraft I fly everyday but by continuing to get additional rates and training that are not required by my job.

References

Bachman, J. (2014, February 11). Pilot Shortage: Regional Airlines Are Cutting Flights - Businessweek. Retrieved July 13, 2014, from http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-02-11/yes-theres-a-pilot-shortage-salaries-start-at-21-000

Carey, S., & Nicas, J. (2014, February 3). Airline-Pilot Shortage Arrives Ahead of Schedule - WSJ. Retrieved July 13, 2014, from http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304851104579361320202756500

Isidore, C. (2006, September 8). Airlines would have changed, with or without 9/11 attacks - Sep. 8, 2006. Retrieved August 10, 2014, from http://money.cnn.com/2006/09/08/news/companies/airlines_sept11/index.htm

Kline, M. (2014, February 12). Pilot Shortage Is an Airline Fairy Tale - Bloomberg View. Retrieved July 13, 2014, from http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-02-12/pilot-shortage-is-an-airline-fairy-tale

Logan, G. (n.d.). The Effects of 9/11 on the Airline Industry | USA Today. Retrieved August 10, 2014, from http://traveltips.usatoday.com/effects-911-airline-industry-63890.html

Martin, H. (2014, May 5). Airline profits soar to $12.7 billion - LA Times. Retrieved August 10, 2014, from http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-mo-airline-profits-skyrocket-20140505-story.html

Winship, T. (2010, April 30). The Recession Hit the Airlines Hard, and Passengers Harder: Travelers Suffer from Profitability Drive - ABC News. Retrieved August 10, 2014, from http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/recession-hit-airlines-hardand-passengers-harder-travelers-suffer/story?id=10497972

An Introduction

I am a Aviation Flight Technology student at Eastern Michigan University. I have come back to school to pursue a new career in the aviation industry as a pilot. I was previously a contract administrator for a design build company in the Gulf Coast. During my time down there i started flying as a hobby. Then when it occurred to me that i need a change in career since my current one was not challenging me i decided to return to Michigan and pursue my hobby of flying.
This is when i returned to school and started studying aviation flight technology at EMU.

 I now hold a Commercial Single Engine Land certificate with and instrument rating. My goals are to finish my multi-engine add on and complete my CFI, CFII, and MEI before the semester is out. After graduation this April I plan to find a job preferably flying cargo or survey work but most likely will end up using my flight instructor ratings and flight instruct for a while to build hours. This blog is a class project for my senior seminar which I will discuss the current trends and events in the aviation industry. I hope you will enjoy my thoughts and insights as i complete my schooling and begin my future career.