Plane Conversations

Sasquatch! Music Festival is a music festival held annually at the Gorge Amphitheatre in George, Washington. It is presented by the House of Blues. There is an emphasis on indie rock bands and singer-songwriters, although there are also alternative rock, hip hop and comedy acts. The festival features four separate stages (Sasquatch! Main Stage, Bigfoot Stage, Rumpus Room, & Yeti Stage). (Wikipedia).  The 2012 event will be held on Memorial day weekend: May 25-May 29.  The line up will be announced February 2, 2012

The Gorge Amphitheatre is a 20,000+ seat concert venue, located above the Columbia River in George, Washington. It offers lawn-terrace seating and concert-friendly weather.

Administered by Live Nation, it is considered one of the premier and most scenic concert locations not just in North America, but the world. The venue has been a host to big name performers like The Who, David Bowie, Coldplay, Tom Petty, Pearl Jam, Dave Matthews Band and Phish. The venue offers sweeping and majestic views of the Columbia River, as well as extreme eastern Kittitas County and extreme western Grant County. It is also known for its spectacular views of the Columbia gorge canyon.

The Gorge is well over 3 hours away from Seattle or Spokane by car and absolutely no non-stop commercial service anywhere closer.  In order to attend a concert at the Gorge from anywhere, outside of driving distance, would cost quadruple the airfare because you will need to rent a car for a week, you will need to stay at a hotel for two extra nights and you will lose one or two days of work traveling.  This place is seriously hard to get to.

Social Flights can deliver you and your friends within miles of The Gorge for your concert.  Our private jets can pick you and your group up wherever you live in North America, and then wisk you back to your home on any day you choose.  The flight itself will be beautiful as you pass over the Rockies or the Cascade Mountain Ranges.  Or, you’ll follow the Pacific Coastline then cross the  amazing colors through South Eastern Washington.  Add to the the spectacular sunset and lightshow and you are in for an unforgettable event.

General admission tickets are about $250.00 for the 4 day event.  However VIP accommodations can range from $1000.00 up to $5000.000 per pair with pristine views and luxury tent.  Let Social Flights help you celebrate the music event of a lifetime in one of the most beautiful venues in the world.

This is my son, Robby. (He’s number three of four, and yes, I am extremely blessed.) He’s five, and he’s going to start kindergarten this year.

This picture was taken in the back of my dad’s Beech Baron 55. From time to time, I’ve also let him sit at the controls of a KC-135, C-17, King Air (C-12), T-38, F-16, and many others.

Robby looks at airplanes with awe and wonder.  When one flies over, he looks up and stares at it. Then he will look at me seriously and tell me it’s Southwest–even if it’s a Cessna Skyhawk–because he is trying to act like his big brother Blake (who can identify Southwest).

When Robby is flying in an airplane, he looks down at the world below–everything is so small, yet the world is so much bigger–and he is amazed.

I love to share the wonder of aviation, the joy of flying, with Robby, with each of my children.  In turn, they love to hear stories of the superhuman feats that I’ve accomplished in airplanes: Setting a world record by dropping seventy two thousand pounds of NASA solid rocket booster out the back of a C-17 or pulling 6g’s or going straight up in an F-16 at Mach 1.3.  (That’s really fast in case you were counting.) Or doing a spin in a T-6A Texan II. Or flying in formation with six other transports–that’s over two million pounds of cargo carrying airplanes–and doing a tactical descent at 20,000 feet per minute. (Okay, it was slightly less than 20,000 fpm, because that descent rate is the max limit.)  Or the story about how I greased it on the runway at the end of a twenty six hour day–from Sydney to Honolulu to Detroit–a landing so soft that the baby in the back didn’t even wake after fighting a twenty knot crosswind all the way down the ILS.

You and I know that these are the kinds of things that pilots of all kinds do every day. That doesn’t matter. To Robby, to the unfamiliar, flying is magic.

Robby doesn’t understand the “flight or fight” or “no plane no gain” slogans. He doesn’t understand the bottom line or return on investment or profitability.  (Incidentally, I like flying and aviation and those videos put me to sleep.)

He does understand superheroes.  That’s why Cessna’s poster series was genius.  

We need stories, not stats. We want to be inspired, not lectured.  You won’t convince anyone with balance sheets or P&L statements.  

But if we can tell a story…

Like that baby in the back that slept through the best landing ever. It was a medevac mission.  Mom and Dad may not remember what kind of plane it was or know how much it cost. But they know how it changed their lives when they saw the pediatric heart specialist the next day.

And that executive who was worried about the bottom line when he hopped in the Learjet early that day is probably thinking more about eating dinner with his wife and kids than his discouragement over not getting the big deal.

Or that factory in Alabama and the forty people who get to work tonight, earn a paycheck, because the supplier flew the part in on the company Bonanza.  

The lives we touch–the countless multitudes of people who haven’t flown on and don’t fly and will never fly in a business jet or an experimental aircraft or even an SR22–when we touch their lives, that’s what makes us superheroes.

If we can tell those stories about the people whose lives aviation changes…then aviation will change lives.

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Social Marketing has revolutionized business.  The ability to reach, communicate, and build relationships with customers has never been more accessible (at little or no cost) than it is today.  Far from a “flash in the pan” gimmick, social media marketing using tools such as Twitter and Facebook are here to stay, at least for the foreseeable future or until the next generation of marketing emerges.  The company that engages in intentional social media marketing is vastly extending its reach and its potential client base.

Today consumers research and engage businesses online long before they click “Order” on a product or darken the door of a business.  A 2009 study by Pew Research showed that people with higher income and/or education levels were the most likely to research online –87% of college graduates and 88% of those earning more than $75,000.1  This demographic is very much in line with the income and educational levels of those likely to involve themselves in flight training and other aviation related products and services.   Specifically in regards to social media, the same Pew study demonstrated that nearly half of Americans use social media sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn.2   Additionally , a recent Nielson survey reported in Entreprenuer magazine found that almost of quarter of consumer’s online time is spent on social networks.3

If our goal is to raise visibility and awareness of our products and services, then it follows that social media should not be neglected.  Simply put, if we want to be where the customers are and then we should be in the social media marketplace.

Are you ready to engage?

1.  http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=136747

2.  Ibid, mediapost.com #1

3.  “Baking, Listening & Selling” Entrepreneur Magazine, February 2011, page 61

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09/24/10

It’s Friday Down Under - the last day of our General Aviation flying adventure.  The nearly one hour drive from mid-town Sydney to Bankstown Airport gave us plenty of time to discuss today’s mission.  Unlike other mornings, this day began with a crisp, blue sky and light winds.  And, with a high pressure system keeping all clouds away, we were really pumped up for the flight.

Tim chose to fly a reversal of our previous flight.  This time, we toured Sydney first, before heading off to the south for some low level (500 foot) coastal flying.  We finished up with a trip inland towards the Blue Mountains and the gorgeous views the ravine flying provided.

Today, Bankstown Airport seemed to be as busy as Atlanta’s Peachtree DeKalb Airport.  There are three parallel runways at Bankstown and all three were in use. We were number five for take-off on Runway 29 Right or just the “Right” as they say here.  We heard the new call from the tower of “Line Up and Wait” just as we called “ready” at the Holding Point, or the Hold Line, as we say in the States.  Almost immediately, we were cleared for take-off directly behind a older Cessna 172 which was lifting off.  The Cessna planned to depart in the same direction that we did; so, since the SR22 is quite a bit faster than the 172, Tim had to make allowances to keep clear of the aircraft before overtaking it.  Off the ground, we overtook the 172 even before exiting the Class D airspace and beginning to look for our visual ground reference points. 

Within ten minutes, we were over the Pacific at 1,500 feet awaiting our clearance into Sydney Harbor, which came right as planned.  (We had filed a VFR flight plan before departure to let them know we were coming.) Inbound on the Harbor Scenic One, we were advised to watch out for an Airbus 380 that had just departed towards our direction.  We picked it up visually at about ten miles - quite a distance, but at 747 big, the Airbus isn’t hard to see.

Making our two orbits over the harbor, we departed back towards the coast and were cleared for our low level coastal flying.  We flew down past Botany Bay and Jibbon Point before heading on to Seacliff Bridge.  This time we saw no whales, but the views were still magnificent.

Maintaining a listening watch on Sydney Radar 124.55 and with a right climbing turn, we now headed west towards Lake Burragorang that sits surrounded by the painted canyons of the Blue Mountains. We crossed the ridge on the south side of Lake Burragorang, then dropped below the ridge line and flew up the lake.  The only hazard we had to watch for was a power line draped over the north end.  We saw absolutely no one on the lake and no signs of any development at all.  Talk about getting away from it all…we were there!  We agreed that today was the best flying day of the trip.

Turning towards home, Bankstown, the pattern was just as busy as as it had been when we left an hour and a half earlier.  It sure was comforting to have the Cirrus Skywatch Traffic system alerting us to other aircraft. Tim used this to pick up the closest threats before slowing to blend in with the other approaching traffic.  We were number four for landing!

As we rolled out on final, the controller cleared us for the Center runway and that was that.  Tim greased the landing and taxied us back to Regal Air to say our good-byes and to give our our thanks to our new friends and to the aircraft that gave us such incredible views of Oz.

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This past week I had the privilege of taking a tour of the Hawker Beechcraft factory and corporate headquarters in Wichita Kansas.

The tour started at our home base in Tennessee with a flight to Wichita on a new Hawker 4000. The aircraft is impressive and I will post soon with video and more information on this new generation, state of the art, mid size business jet.

Our company has operated Beechcraft King Airs for over 25 years, and much of my flying time is logged in various Barons and Bonanzas, so I have been a fan of Beechcraft for a long time.

The King Air series aircraft are without argument the most successful turboprop ever built with a production run spanning 5 decades.

The King Air C90GTX / B200GT / 350I series aircraft are still in production for civilian and military applications. All are evolved from the original King Air that first rolled of the line in 1965.   

Hawker Beech’s jet aircraft in production include the Hawker 4000, Hawker 900XP,  Hawker 750, Hawker 400XP and the Premier 1A/II. The Hawker 750 and 900 series aircraft are evolutions of the original Hawker jets manufactured in the UK and are the best selling series of business jets in the world.   

Hawker Beech also manufacturers variations of the military T-6 trainer, which is the primary trainer for both the navy and air force pilot programs.

The Beech Baron G58 twin engine and Bonanza G36 single engine piston aircraft round out the line of aircraft in production.     

Arriving to the factory at Hawker Beech’s airport in Wichita, our first stop was the delivery hangar, where new aircraft were in the final stage of delivery to the new owners.  There is a large American flag on one wall, prominently displayed as reminder that these aircraft going all over the world are made in America.

Wichita is the number one city for growing exports and Hawker Beech plays a big part. The percentage of aircraft exported now exceeds the percentage staying in the US and this will continue to increase as the demand for business aircraft worldwide grows faster than in the US.

One of the things that interests me most is innovation in our business and Hawker Beechcraft has done that with their new Hawker 4000. The Hawker 4000 has a   composite fuselage and uses composites in combination with traditional metal structures in other areas of the airframe. Composites are lighter but stronger than metal structure allowing savings in weight and increases in fuel efficiency and performance, as well as reduced maintenance costs.

Use of composites in aircraft sturctures is here to stay as evidenced by the Boeing 787 having a composite fuselage.

What impressed me most from the whole tour is the sense of pride emanating from the employees, from the senior management to the people on the floor. These people are proud of what they make and should rightly be proud of the 75 plus year legacy of excellence in aircraft manufacturing.

A lot has been said about the competitiveness of the US aircraft manufacturing industry in the global market.

A current issue that Hawker Beech has to deal with is to what degree they move production out of the US to save costs. The unions in Wichita are fighting for the jobs to remain US and the decisions will be difficult. Hawker Beech must remain price competitive and at the same time they cannot afford to lose the skill and aggregated knowledge of the workforce in Wichita. 

There is a positive and determined corporate culture that I admire with the leadership and employees at Hawker Beech. That will keep them in the competitive game of aircraft manufacturing well into the future.

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In the New York times bestselling book, Delivering Happiness, Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh (pronounced “Shay”) chronicles the rise of Zappos .com from obscurity to profitability and finally to its now infamous  1.2 billion dollar acquisition by Amazon.com .  He outlines Zappos’ legendary focus on customer service and corporate culture.   As I read Hsieh’s book, I couldn’t help but imagine the possibilities and implications for those of us who love flying and aviation related businesses.

In the introduction, Hsieh, takes us into his thoughts as he prepares to announce to Zappos’ employees that Amazon was acquiring the company.  While the media was focused on the sheer size of the deal, Hsieh’s thoughts were elsewhere:

 “To all of us in the room, we knew it wasn’t just about the money.  Together, we had built a business that combined profits, passion, and purpose.  And we knew that it wasn’t just about building a business.  It was about building a lifestyle that was about delivering happiness to everyone, including ourselves.”¹

There are several things noteworthy in this quote.  One is the sense of team that you feel.  Hsieh speaks in terms of “us”  and “together”.  Clearly the focus is on something more than the bottom line.  Words such as “passion”, “purpose”, “lifestyle” and “happiness” all speak to the company’s core values and goals.  Hsieh notes later that, “We decided that we wanted to build our brand to be about the very best customer service and the very best customer experience.” ²  What Zappos discovered was that by creating a culture centered on these values and expectations,  profitability developed.  

 Zappo’s Rabid Dedication to the Customer & Employee

As I read, I would often seek out my wife to read her passages (some guys read poetry to their wives…so much for romance!)  I would begin with saying, “Can you believe that a company would do this?”   Here are a few examples: 

• Customer service that includes free, unannounced upgrades in shipping.  You place an order for shoes that should take 4 days to arrive and without warning –for free—they’re on your doorstep the next day.
• A reward system for employees for pursuing personal development.  A lending library of the best personal growth books was created in the lobby to do just this.
• Free shipping on all orders…and if the shoes don’t fit you can send them back for free!
• If they don’t have the shoe in stock, they will research three competitor’s websites and will direct the customer to the competitor.
• In 2008, Zappo’s was faced with making a round of layoffs.  Instead of the standard 2-week severance, they offered to pay each employee through the end of the year (which at the time was about 2 months).  They paid an additional amount for those who had been with the company 3 or more years.  They reimbursed laid-off employees for 6 months of COBRA payments.

This made me want to buy shoes, just to have the Zappos experience.  Which is exactly the point- the experience.

 The Zappos Experience- Happiness

In 2009 Zappos inserted a simple statement into their vision that reflects the underlying core value that is at the heart of their company.  It says, “Zappos is about delivering happiness to the world.”³

Hsieh and Zappos are not talking about some “fuzzy” notion of happiness, which many people equate with silly giddiness.  Instead, Hsieh studied the concept of what makes people happy and investigated ways to integrate his findings into his company.  In his book, he offers several frameworks to consider, such as our need for perceived control in our lives (having a say in our future and in our work), perceived progress (we can see that we are going somewhere—don’t we all hate “dead-end” jobs?), connectedness (being in relationships that are truly fulfilling) and meaning/vision (being a part of something larger than ourselves that we believe in). 

This type of corporate emphasis helped develop a company culture that focused on amazing customer service, which aimed ultimately at customer happiness.   While Zappos was certainly concerned with profitability and bottom line, they managed to never lose sight of the crucial importance of what they were delivering, but how.  I think this begins to intersect and have application for the aviation industry. 

What if a flight school moved into the realm of radical customer service?

As an industry it simply doesn’t appear that we’re asking the customer experience question.  And yet, in some ways, flying is all about experience.  It’s built into the act of flying.  But what isn’t built in is how we attract and retain customers by giving them an experience of service.  

For instance, let’s consider flight training.  How do we attract and engage the customer before they officially become a customer?  What could we do to serve them before we’re asking for their money?  

• How about having a pleasant lobby area and facilities that are well kept?  (Seriously, the urinal that overflows regularly should be fixed. Gross.)
• How about having snacks available for free?
• Coupons (have any Flight Schools tried Groupon.com) for flights?
• Free airplane rides.  Publicize well, donate a couple of hours on a Saturday to give rides to the community.
• Flight training material professionally produced and ready to be given to the new student.
• Aircraft that are clean, up-to-date, and well-maintained.  (If your preflight involves duct-tape, think again.)

 As a customer, what kind of experience might we give our customers if we:

• Randomly chose a student to receive a free hour of instruction?  They come in from the flight line only to discover they owe nothing. 
• Instead of having them buy more and more books and videos, develop a lending library
• If you have access to a twin or jet and space permits, let your student go for a ride
• Quarterly celebrations for new solos and new licenses.  Could be as simple as a cookout at the airport in honor of these new pilots. 
• Encouraged lifelong learning by giving seminars and offering guest speakers to the larger aviation community

What about instructors?

• Incentives for recruiting (Bonus for giving 5 or more discovery flights…extra for each one who begins training) 
• Bonus for each student who successfully receives their license
• Reward for longevity (create a stable base of instructors)
• Instructor dinners and socializing
• Opportunities for adding new ratings at reduced cost and free recurrency training.

These are just ideas, some of which might be difficult to employ.  How refreshing it would be to potential pilots and employees to discover a flight school with a culture that was geared to providing the best possible service and create what Hsieh calls a “WOW” factor. 

Whether we’re talking about flight schools or maintenance departments or FBO’s, I believe there is something to be learned from Zappos.  Imagine, tomorrow, what it would be like to be “WOWED” by your company in its relationship with you.  Imagine what it would be like to WOW your customers and the transformed relationship with them.   Imagine the impact of those combined experiences, the word of mouth that would ensue, and the absolute fun of being in the flying business.  

It begins with a commitment to developing or changing the culture and embracing a foundational shift towards clearly defined values and competencies that will shape the entire organization.  It is about delivering an experience that is first class and recognizing that our happiness is found not only in profits (which is certainly needed) but in living with passion and purpose. 

If Hsieh and Zappos can do it with shoes,  I believe we can certainly do it with airplanes. 

Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion and Purpose, Tony Hsieh, Business Plus, New York: NY, 2010

 1. Page 11

2. Page 121

3. Page 177

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Embraer has just wrapped up the Phenom Owners/Operators Conference. The second annual Embraer sponsored event was well attended with many owners and twenty Phenom 100/300 aircraft in attendance.

Held at the Sonnenalp Resort in the fashionable resort of Vail, attendees were welcomed by Scott Kalister, Vice President, Customer Support and Services, USA, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean – Executive Jets. Backed by an impressive staff turnout the meeting was an informative compilation of areas of interest to both owners and perators.

Edson Carlos Mallaco, Embraer’s worldwide VP of Customer Support and Services, opened the meeting with updates on schedules and deliveries. Through the end of July, Embraer had delivered 76 Phenoms to the US, 49 to Latin and South America and 24 to Europe. The Phenom fleet has accumulated over 20,000 hours in service with the average aircraft logging 18 hours per month. Embraer has not delivered any Phenoms to Asia or China, but several are scheduled for delivery in the near term.

During the presentation, Edson showed a slide depicting the fleet and for the first time I saw an expansion slot marked, ‘ultra long-range aircraft’.  It was positioned below ultra-large cabin Lineage 1000 and just above the large cabin Legacy 650.   While Mallaco would not confirm the rollout date for this elusive addition to the fleet, I believe that Embraer intends to have a prototype flying by 2015, the date by which he exclaimed, “Embraer will be a major player”.

Currently Embraer has a backlog of $15.5 billion USD and with confirmed orders for 40 new large military transporters, that backlog will likely increase. The Phenom product line currently has over 550 firm orders from 44 countries. Mallaco also pledged to grow inventory at Embraer owned and authorized service centers. Spares and inventory currently valued at $39M will grow to $115M by 2015.

Reporting that eight Phenom 300 aircraft have been delivered, Mallaco stated a target of 35 deliveries for the calendar year 2010.  Enhancements for the 300 include cruise speed control, side facing divan and a newly designed in-flight entertainment package. Embraer is also continually enhancing the Phenom line adding synthetic vision, enhanced takeoff criteria, belted toilet and a fifth passenger seat to the 100.  The scheduled retrofit to new seats is just about complete with Embraer certifying a new tourmaline interior to the product line.

Touching briefly on the newest additions to the Legacy line, Mallaco stated that the Legacy 450 and 500 are the only fly-by-wire aircraft priced under $40M.  The Legacy 500 is scheduled for its first flight in the second half of 2011 with certification coming in 2012. So far Embraer has delivered 191 Legacy 600 aircraft in 29 countries. Six Legacy 650 deliveries are scheduled for this year.  The 3900 NM aircraft will be outfitted with Rolls Royce AE 3007 A2 engines.

The ultra large cabin Lineage 1000 will be on display during the upcoming NBAA regional event at the Waukegan Airport just outside of Chicago on August 18. Embraer expects to manufacture a total of seven units of the 4,500 nautical mile airplane this year with five already delivered.

Luis Antonio Colarino, Manager of Phenom Customer Support Worldwide gave an indepth Phenom program update and welcomed questions from attendees on the Phenom retrofit campaign, as well as parts availability. Also on hand to answer questions were representatives of Garmin, manufacturer of the Prodigy Flight Deck as well as Pratt & Whitney manufacturer of the engines used on the Phenom jets.

The meeting concluded with a memorable dinner at the SaddleRidge Restaurant at Beaver Creek. Embraer declares that it will be “a major player” in the business jet market by 2015.  The just concluded event in Vail has convinced me that it will be much sooner.

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Yesterday, I gave you a few questions to ask that will help you get the best value for your charter dollar.  So, you’ve gotten your quote, but what are all of those line items?

If you got a quote from a charter operator who gives hard quotes, the quote would probably include some of the following: aircraft charges, daily minimum adjustments, high-density airport fees, short leg fees, daily crew charges, wait time, crew overnights, landing and/or fees, international fees and, depending on fuel prices, you might see fuel surcharges.  At one time, it was not uncommon to see insurance surcharges.  If you got a quote from a charter operator who invoices based on actual flight time, it might include most of the preceding, but would exclude high-density fees and perhaps some of the others.  Let’s look at these line items more in depth.

Aircraft Charges – Whether an operator owns the aircraft they charter out or they manage aircraft belonging to others, there are clearly hourly costs associated with the operation of the aircraft, i.e. engine maintenance, fuel, and crew salaries and training costs.  Those costs are figured into the hourly operating cost, which is used to determine your aircraft charges.  Years ago, operators commonly charged by the mile flown; however, flight times over miles vary depending on weather and ATC, charging by the flight hour is a more effective way for operators to make certain their costs are covered.

Daily Minimum Adjustments – Until recently, the industry standard for average daily use of an aircraft on a single charter was two hours per day during non-peak dates.  During holidays, the daily minimum usage requirement could be as high as four hours; however, since the market has softened, these minimums are sometimes waived.  The purpose of the minimums is to prevent an owner’s asset from being committed to a non-revenue producing situation.  For instance, if a charter customer from Miami takes a Lear 45 to Cleveland for a week, that trip involves eight calendar days; however, it generates only about 5.2 hours of revenue.  In a perfect world, the operator would be able to charter the transient aircraft out of Cleveland; however, in reality, that happens very rarely.  This means that for six calendar days, the aircraft is unavailable to produce income for its owner.  So that the asset is used to its greatest potential, the daily minimum charges, ensured that this did not happen. 

High-Density Airport Fees- Depending on ATC, when on approach to O’Hare Airport in Chicago, LaGuardia or JFK in New York City or other high-traffic airports, an aircraft may have to hold in the traffic pattern for some time.  For an operator that invoices trips just as they are quoted, this ATC hold may result in additional flight time and associated costs not covered in the estimated flight time.  By averaging out the hold time aircraft using those high-density airports experience, the operator is able to assign excess costs associated with those airports.  Those costs are used to calculate high-density airport fees.

Short Leg Fees- Every engine start-up and shut down is an engine cycle.  Every take-off and landing is a landing gear cycle.  Scheduled aircraft maintenance is sometimes based on the number of hours flown.  Other maintenance is based on the number of cycles, regardless of the amount of flight time between the start-up and shut down or take-off and landing.  Long flight legs spread the costs over more flight time, while short flight legs compress the costs.  Thus, the cost of a short leg in terms of associated maintenance costs is higher than that of long legs.  To cover those associated costs, short leg fees may be assessed.

Daily Crew Charges – Instead of including crew salaries in basic aircraft charges, an operator may opt to charge them as a separate line item.  In this case, a charge will be assessed for each calendar day the crew is required, whether they are flying or sitting transient.

Wait Time- This charge is based on the amount of time a crew sits on the ground at a destination.  It is normally charged only on trips which may be completed within a single duty day.  This charge covers crew per diem, meals and other expenses.

Crew Overnights- Sometimes, this may appear as Crew RON, which means Crew Remain Overnight.  This charge also covers crew per diem, meals and other expenses.  Typically, if an overnight charge is assessed, additional wait time charges will be waived.  Some operators use a standard rate for this while other vary the rate depending on the location since hotel rooms and rental cars in Chattanooga, Tennessee, are surely less expensive than those in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, during ski season.

To this point, the line items we have discussed have been based on aircraft and crew associated costs.  Just as costs of living vary around the country, so these costs also vary.  For this reason, you would not expect to find a Lear 35 operator in Montgomery, Alabama, to charge the same hourly rate as a Lear 35 operator in White Plains, New York.  Now we will look at some fees that are charged to the operator by other vendors.  These fees are outside the control of the operator and are the subject of our next blog – Unbundling Charter’s External Costs.

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Chris Davis is an aviation insurance specialist and Manager of the Light Aircraft Division at CS&A Aviation Insurance. He is passionate about aviation and active in the Experimental Aircraft Association where he currently serves as the Secretary / Treasurer as well as the Newsletter Editor for Chapter 863. He is also active in the Warbirds of America as well as holding the rank of Colonel in the Commemorative Air Force.  His lifelong passion for aviation and various experiences give him an advantage in an industry where aviation safety and risk management are the focus.

We love to hear stories from other aviation enthusiasts and professionals, so here is a blog Chris wrote from the blogsite www.clearontop.com.  

Planes, Training and $100 Pancakes by Chris Davis.

BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP! The alarm sounds so much louder at 05:30 on a Saturday morning than it does during the week, but what a sweet sound it makes. Today is the 3rd Saturday of the month and that means pancakes for breakfast. I ease out of bed, get dressed, kiss my wife goodbye and head to my sons room. Jacob is only 2 ½ , but he loves pancakes almost as much as he loves to fly…combine the 2 elements and it will wake him up faster than a double shot of espresso.

  The sun begins to rise over the hills as we arrive at the airport to drag our steed from it’s hangar. We begin our walk around and the chilly morning air sends a little shiver through my body. Prop; check…Tires; check…Leading Edge; check…Fuel; clean and free of water…Control surfaces; free and correct. My dutiful co-pilot follows my every move, double checking each item on the pre-flight walk around. He faithfully asks the inevitable question at every item we check. Daddy, why? With all items satisfactory we enter the aircraft and strap in. Master switch: ON…Mixture: FULL…Boost pump: ON…as I lean my head out the window to check for prop clearance my co-pilot beats me to the punch “Keer Pop” he yells, with a grin so big his headset falls down around his chin. As the Maule breaks the morning silence, we turn on the avionics and enter 3M5 into the GPS. “Let’s go to Moontown and get some pancakes daddy!” I wiggle the rudder a bit to lock in the tailwheel and we begin our journey.

Our trip to breakfast usually takes about an hour and (thanks to my co-pilot) is filled with many steep turns, stalls, and floaters…the floaters are Jacobs favorite since he gets to be weightless for a few seconds. Often times we will join up with a few buddies for our breakfast journey and we use the trip to brush up on our formation flying maneuvers. All too quickly we make it to Moontown and enter the increasingly busy pattern to land. After demonstrating the proper soft field landing techniques to Jacob we taxi off the active runway and proceed to park. Breakfast seems to hit just the right spot as we sit around the picnic table and play “name that plane”. I talk shop with other pilots as Jacob finishes his second round of pancakes and then we proceed to walk down the growing flight line for some more hands on education.

Hidden amidst the tailwheels, trikes, amphibs and warbirds are a multitude of questions just waiting to be answered. Daddy, what kind of airplane is that? Why? What is the little wheel on the back for? Why? What makes it fly? Why? Why does it have two wings instead of one? I answer the questions one by one, often repeating the same question multiple times. Upon reaching the end of the current flight line we sit in the shade of an old Stearmans wings and watch the new arrivals as they land. How appropriate that we rest beneath an old trainer as I teach a future pilot.

The phone rings…a call from my wife signals that our kitchen pass will soon expire. The time has come for the men of the house to return home, the ladies have made plans for our afternoon. On the return flight my co-pilot reaches his duty limit…eyes closed and leaning against the window, his headset slowly begins to slide down. It is a quiet trip back to the hangar. This has been a fun trip and a very educational one for both of us…only 4 more weeks until we get to do it again.

Often times I hear light aircraft pilots complain about their insurance company requiring completion of an annual Flight Review or X number of dual hours prior to solo in a new aircraft. Just like my son, I have to ask why? Why are pilots complaining about having an excuse to fly? Many of the pilots who complain about the training requirements are the same ones that I will see at a pancake breakfast or local fly in. If I was a CFI and Jacob was older, he could receive his flight review endorsement each time we head out for pancakes provided we follow a few simple guidelines.

FAR 61.56 states: a flight review consists of a minimum of 1 hour of flight training and 1 hour of ground training. The review must include: (1) A review of the current general operating and flight rules of Part 91; and (2) A review of those maneuvers and procedures that, at the discretion of the person giving the review, are necessary for the pilot to demonstrate the safe exercise of the privileges of the pilot certificate.

Get a little creative. Find a local CFI and offer to pay his way to a fly-in breakfast in exchange for a flight review. Combine free breakfast with free flight time and most any pilot will jump at the chance.   If a fly-in is not your thing, consider getting some tailwheel training or some formal formation training. Both of these areas will greatly improve your situational awareness as well as hone your flying skills. You will learn to anticipate and lead the aircraft to where you want it to go instead of directing its actions as you ride along. Tailwheel training will improve your precision on landings as well as focus your attention during ground handling. Formation training will teach you to plan ahead and to fly very smooth and precise as well as teach you how to pay close attention to detail.

No matter what form of training you choose, it is only as good as the effort that you put into it. Why continue to dread the flight reviews and proficiency checks only to forget what you learned before your next flight? Make the training something to look forward to…plan your next flight review around an upcoming event and enjoy the training. I guarantee you will get much more out of it and you will find yourself looking for more excuses to train.

Every time I take Jacob flying he is learning and asking why. In some ways he is my best little instructor. He reminds me that I should always be asking “why?” as I too am still learning to fly.

Clear skies and tailwinds!

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It’s almost absurd to think that is a possibility these days.  Just think about it…. you’ve been longing for your annual vacation which you’ve planned with your partner, friends or family for a long time.  You’ve spent hours researching the most desirable location, you’ve packed your best vacation clothes, you’ve booked a wonderful hotel on Expedia, you’ve planned your activities, you’ve practiced your golf swing, and you’re thinking about your first margarita.  Now you just have to get there. 

But you know your vacation isn’t going to start until you actually arrive at your destination.  You know you have to go through the battle of travelling on the airlines with the road warrior, the mother and wriggly child, or the stranger who saw your socks when you removed your shoes at the longer-than-long secuity line.  You know that you won’t truly be able to relax and be in vacation-mode until you actually step out of the bustling airport.  But is there an alternative? 

I can tell you that there is.  Before I started working in general aviation, I never even thought it a possibility that I could fly on a private jet or turbo-prop airplane.  It seemed way beyond my reach…they’re just for rockstars flying to resorts right?  Wrong.  CFM has just started operating a 30 seat Jestream 41 which would be perfect for a group of people to get together and fly to a beach destination like Destin for the weekend, maybe hunting in Arkansas, or shopping in New York?  These airplanes are economical, time saving, comfortable and you get to skip the big airline terminal experience entirely. 

So how does your vacation start at the airport?  This is how, and I know because I’ve done it:

You arrive at the airport 15 minutes before your wheels up departure time.

You grab yourself a coffee and hand your luggage to the crew (you can see your bags being handled and put gently onto the airplane).

You step out onto the ramp and take your seat in a comfortable aircraft with smiling crew and passengers who are as excited as you are to be heading to their destination. After all, the passengers are your friends or family.

You land at your destination and walk through a lovely lobby of an FBO to your waiting transportation, and head on to your resort to enjoy your one vacation a year! 

So, now you just have to find some friends to travel with right?  How many friends do you have on facebook?  And how many friends do your friends have?

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