Corporate Aviation

   In the past couple years; there has been a disagreement regarding corporate aviation and the necessity for their departments. Back in January of 2009, the Big Three Bailout occurred. However, the part that was in question was when the members of the Big Three arrived to meet with congress on their corporate jets. This move by the Big Three angered people. However, what people do not understand is how much a corporate aviation department can help a company. Before doing some research, I was angered by this as well, and wondered why they would need bailed out if they were able to fly these types of aircrafts. However, after researching about corporate aviation, I found that aviation departments are beneficial. “Time equals money, and when you add up all of those lost hours on commercial airline flights, it can make the cost of flying on a private jet more financially feasible” (Dermody, 2013). Companies that have their own aviation department, have the opportunity to save time, and in business, time means money. I think that it is important for companies to establish their own aviation department, not only to save time, but also to project their image of success.

         A corporate aviation department that is currently on the rise is Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola’s aviation department is located in Atlanta, Georgia. With Coke’s aviation department, they are able to operate in over 200 countries.  On the Coca-Cola website, the positions that you are able to apply for are; Pilots, First Officers, Flight Attendants, and Aviation Dispatchers (The Coca-Cola Company, n.d.). Coke Did not have any of the hiring requirements for the aviation department listed, but after doing a little searching, I found some requirements for a Captain position. They require a bachelor degree, but would prefer a master degree. They also require roughly 12 years of Captain experience. As for management jobs, corporate aviation departments offer many of the same jobs that commercial aviation offers. However, there are likely fewer jobs available, but that could change with the continuous growth of corporate aviation departments.

References

Amadeo, Kimberly. "Auto Industry Bailout (GM, Ford, Chrysler)." US Economy. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2015.

"Careers at The Coca-Cola Company." The Coca-Cola Company. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Feb. 2015.

Dermody, K.C. "Comparing Private Jets to Commercial Airlines." - Jets & Planes. N.p., 13 May 2013. Web. 15 Feb. 2015.

NTSB Most Wanted List

The NTSB's 2015 Most Wanted List

For this blog we will be looking at the National Transportations Safety Board’s most wanted. The new 2015 most wanted list was recently made public, and the main focus for the aviation industry is the “Loss of Control in Flight in General Aviation” and “Strengthen Procedural Compliance”.

            Aviation transportation continues to become safer and safer. However, flights in General Aviation continue to be a safety concern. According to the article, (Preventing Loss of Control in Flight in General Aviation) “between 2001 and 2011, over 40 percent of fixed wing GA fatal accidents occurred because pilots lost control of their airplanes”. I believe that the loss of control by GA pilots is a significant concern, and I am glad that the NTSB and FAA have realized it. The NTSB lists a couple reasons why GA pilots, more frequently, lose control of their aircraft. One of those reason is, “ a GA pilot does not have the same pilot proficiency requirement that a commercial airline pilot does. Another reason that GA pilots seem to lose control of their aircrafts more often is because, they usually have longer intervals between flights. The average GA pilot only flies around 35 hours per year (Davisson, 2006). In my opinion, this number is way to low, and that is a major reason why we are seeing a loss of control by GA pilots.  The statistics have shown that the most dangerous phases of flight are: Takeoff, Climbing, Approach and Landing (Statistics, n.d.). With GA pilots not flying as frequent as airline pilots, they need to critique and sharpen their skills on their own time. It is difficult for GA pilots to do this if they are not flying as often, and that contributes to the reason for loss of control. After the NTSB states the information in the “Most Wanted List”, they back up their data with two situations where GA pilots lost control of their aircrafts. The first one, a pilot lost control while trying a circle approach. The second was a pilot losing control of his aircraft while he was maneuvering at low altitude. 

            The NTSB is continuing their proactive approach, and they listed multiple recommendations for GA pilots. These recommendations are below, and they are hoping that these recommendations will help prevent the loss of control issues:

• Be prepared to recognize the warning signs of an impending stall, and be able to apply appropriate recovery techniques before stall onset.
• Be honest with themselves about their knowledge level of stalls, and their ability to recognize and handle them.
• Utilize aeronautical decision making (ADM) techniques and flight risk assessment tools during both preflight planning and inflight operations.
• Manage distractions so that they do not interfere with situational awareness.
• Understand, properly train, and maintain currency in the equipment and airplanes they operate. They should take advantage of available commercial trainer, type club and transition training opportunities.

With the NTSB trying to make the GA pilots aware of the issues, I believe that it is the responsibility of the pilot to make the industry safer. I believe that pilots need to continue to educate themselves, fly more hours so they can sharpen their skills, and make smarter decisions while in the air. If the pilots educate themselves and make smarter decisions, they will be able to help make the General Aviation industry safer.

            The second aviation concern that the NTSB listed on their “Most Wanted” list is strengthening procedural compliance in commercial aviation. The main point of the article is to make sure that; pilots follow procedures, are trained correctly and are trained to use these procedures. If the pilots do follow these procedures, every flight should be safe. I believe that the use of procedures, or the lack of, is an issue with the safety of commercial aviation. However, the correct use of procedures was not the only issue that occurred in the flights the NTSB mentioned in the “Strengthen Procedural Compliance” article. In the crash in Birmingham, the pilots were descending too quickly and that was the cause of the accident. Regardless, if the pilots were following procedures, and continued to descend to quickly the result was inevitable.

            In my opinion, I think that the recommendations that the NTSB came up with would help in the safety of commercial flights, but I think more could be done. If companies would spend a little extra time training their pilots during recurring trainings, and in flight simulators, I believe that these types of issues could be prevented. Yes, following the procedures will help with safety, but I think that more simulator training, that simulate these types of issues, could help improve safety even more.

References

Davisson, B. (2006, September 1). Is 35 Hours Enough? Retrieved February 7, 2015, from http://www.planeandpilotmag.com/proficiency/pilot-skills/is-35-hours-enough.html#.VNjQ1mTF9RU

Fact Sheet – General Aviation Safety. (2014, July 30). Retrieved February 9, 2015, from http://www.faa.gov/news/fact_sheets/news_story.cfm?newsId=16774

Prevent Loss of Control in Flight in General Aviation. (n.d.). Retrieved February 8, 2015, from http://www.ntsb.gov/safety/mwl/Pages/mwl7_20

STATISTICS. (n.d.). Retrieved February 9, 2015, from http://www.planecrashinfo.com/cause.htm

Strengthen Procedural Compliance. (n.d.). Retrieved February 9, 2015, from http://www.ntsb.gov/safety/mwl/Pages/mwl10_2

The Role of Human Factors in Improving Aviation Safety - Text Only. (n.d.). Retrieved February 9, 2015, from http://www.boeing.com/commercial/aeromagazin

Regional Airlines/Pilot Shortage

            Today in the aviation industry, there seems to be a very heavy debate about the pilot situation for the Regional Airlines. On the management side of this debate, the Regional Airlines are saying that there is a pilot shortage. However, if you were to ask the pilots flying for both the Majors and the Regionals, you would likely hear that there is not a shortage. So why is there a discrepancy? Well, that has to deal with the pay. According to the pilots, the Regional carriers are not paying enough money, and that is what is causing the “pilot shortage”. 

After doing some research on the topic, I believe that the “pilot shortage” has a little to do with what both the pilots and the management believes. According to the documentary “Flying Cheap” the starting salary for a regional First Officer is between 18,000 and 22,000.  To most people, these numbers are incredibly shocking. If you do the math, that averages out between 8.65 and 10.58 a hour.  With flight training costing an average of 70,000 dollars, Regional pilots are poor. Between paying off their flight training, mortgage/rent, and possibly a car payment, they barely make enough money to make a meal for dinner.  It was stated in “Flying Cheap”, most Regional pilots are literally going hungry. I believe that we are seeing a decrease in pilots because of this type of pay scale. With this type of pay, someone is not going to be living comfortably, and that alone, has caused people to pursue other careers. 

However, I also believe that the aviation industry will start seeing a “pilot shortage” and it’s not because of the pay.  Due to the new FAA regulation, requiring pilots to have 1500 hours of flight time, before they can hold a FO position, the industry is likely going to suffer. With the older pilots retiring and the younger pilots having to build more hours, before they can apply, there is going to be a shortage in pilots.  The regional airlines are going to be hit the hardest. With younger pilots working to build their hours, and current regional pilots finding jobs in the Majors, the regionals are going to have a limited pool to hire from.  The aviation industry is trying to come up with ways that they can fix this shortage, and almost every answer has to deal with pay. And, according to Dan Akins, “ So far, no one can figure out whose dime it’s going to be done on” (Bachman, 2014). But, the issue is how can the airlines afford to pay their regional pilots more? Likely, the ticket prices are going to increase, and the regional airlines are going to need to receive more pay from the major airlines for the flights that they complete.

ALPA is the company that represents most regional pilots. After doing a little research, I found out that GAMA is another large representative in the aviation industry. GAMA represents over 80 of the worlds leading aviation manufacturers.  As for the managers in aviation, it was much tougher to find the representatives, and I actually was unsuccessful. So, if you happen to know who does represent them, I would greatly appreciate it if you could inform me.

To me, professionalism is being ethical, being able to maintain business relationships without letting personal issues interfere with your job performance and performing your job to the best of your abilities.

After watching the documentary “Flying Cheap” it was quite obvious that there were many different issues that lacked professionalism, both on that flight and also in the Colgan Airlines management department. One unprofessional issue that was brought up in the documentary was the fact that they would fudge the numbers so the pilots could complete flights and they also promoted a FO to Chief Pilot after only nine months. An unprofessional issue that occurred during the famous Colgan accident was a lack of communication during the flight. Prior to the crash, the flight went into a stall, and instead of the pilot pushing the yoke down, he continued to pull up, which caused the aircraft to enter a full stall. While this was occurring, the FO decided to engage the flaps. She did not inform the pilot what she was doing. I thought this was very unprofessional. I’m sure she was just reacting, but in the aviation industry, there needs to be communication between the Pilot-In-Command and the FO. During this portion of the flight there was a lack of this communication, and in my opinion a lack of professionalism.

I believe that the lack of compensation for a first year pilot does contribute to the lack of professionalism demonstrated in the documentary. It is obvious that most pilot working for the regionals are only their to build their hours so they can land a job, working for a major airline. It sounds like the regional airlines; work their pilots to their limits because they know they will only be working there just long enough for them to find a better job. I think if compensation was a little better, the regional airlines could become a career job for some pilots. If these pilots were treated better and paid more, maybe there would be an increase in professionalism.

References

Bachman, J. (2014, February 11). Yes, There's a Pilot Shortage: Salaries Start at $21,000. Retrieved January 21, 2015, from http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-02-11/yes-theres-a-pilot-shortage-salaries-start-at-21-000

Bachman, J. (2014, February 28). With Pilot Shortage, Regional Airlines Search for Someone to Pay Rising Costs. Retrieved January 19, 2015, from http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-02-28/with-pilot-shortage-regional-airlines-search-for-someone-to-pay-rising-costs

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/flyingcheap/view/?autoplay

Press Release – FAA Boosts Aviation Safety with New Pilot Qualification Standards. (n.d.). Retrieved January 22, 2015, from http://www.faa.gov/news/press_releases/news_story.cfm?newsId=14838

Hello Everyone,

My name is Cody Donnelly, I am a Senior at Eastern Michigan, graduating in the Spring with my Aviation Management Degree. This is my first time writing a blog so I'm not exactly sure how this works. But, I am creating a blog for a requirement in my Aviation Senior Seminar class. I am hoping that this Senior Seminar class will help me determine which type of job I will like to perform once I graduate. I am also hoping that this class will give me an edge over other people graduating with similar degree. I think that this course will give me the opportunity to develop a portfolio, that I could take to a job interview, and possibly "wow" the interviewer. I also am hoping that this class will help me prepare a very impressive resume that employers will appreciate.

If you are not a member of this class at Eastern Michigan, I will be writing on different aviation topics every other week. I hope that you enjoy reading them, and feel free to comment if you wish.

Have a great day!