A day in the life of a corporate pilot

You may be wondering what it's like to fly in the corporate world. Like many other corporate pilots, I am on "call" 24/7. My company has provided a cell phone so they can get in touch with me at any time. Being available at all times is not as bad as it sounds. Luckily, my company and especially my Chief Pilot do a good job of informing the pilots of upcoming trips in advance when possible. We had a few trips throughout the year that we know are going to happen, but most are scheduled a week or so in advance. Then there's the dreaded "pop up" trips that can happen with very little notice. Here's how it all happens.

My boss calls me at 10am to tell me I have been assigned to fly a trip at 3pm the next afternoon. My job starts right after he calls. The first thing that I do is call the other pilot assigned to the trip so that we can coordinate the trip. After that initial call to the other pilot happens, I get on the internet and go to http://www.fltplan.com/ which is a great site, and it's free ( so far ). On fltplan.com a pilot can put in the departure and destination points to get a general estimate of the time required enroute. So, if I have to get passengers to a scheduled meeting I know what time to leave. Fltplan.com also allows you to file flight plans and check weather. I like to augment Fltplan.com with http://www.airnav.com where I can get the Standard Instrument Arrivals (STARS) and Departure Procedures (DPs). I take that information and come up with a flight plan that makes sense. With the flight plan filed for the following day, I figure the fuel required and place an order.

The initial call from my Chief Pilot should contain the destination airport and most likely the Fixed Based Operator ( FBO ) that the passengers want to go to. Our staff coordinates with the office staff to make sure transportation is arranged for our passengers and, of course, the crew (depending on how long the stay is). Our flight listing usually contains our overnight arrangements, if they're needed, and if they aren't taken care of then we do that too.

Once I arrive at the hanger, I verify the fuel load and figure the weight and balance. Then it's on to weather planning. If the weather looks questionable we come up with a plan for getting the passengers to their meeting. On every flight our department adds an alternate to the flight plan, to us it just makes sense.

An hour prior to the departure time the aircraft is pulled out of the hanger for the pre-flight. During the pre-flight stage, we make sure the aircraft has the passenger comfort items aboard. This would be items like coffee, ice, snacks, soda, catering if needed, and newspapers. Yep, the pilot's do all that stuff.

Next comes the aircraft "setup". On the Lear 60, we follow a checklist just like a student pilot does, although ours has a lot more items to accomplish. This is the time to run the before starting engines checklist, get the APU started and fire up the FMS. Then it's a waiting game.

Soon are passengers show up. We load the baggage, get the passengers into their seats, brief them on safety procedures, and then shut the door.

Time to go flying.