Differentiating Beyond Price – Your Tool Kit For Making Intelligent Jet Charter Decisions

Part 3 – Pilot Certification

When you hire Stratos Jet Charters as your air charter agent, it is our job to identify all relevant aircraft, ensure the proper certification, maintenance and safety of each plane and to create a competitive market for your charter flight. And determining the motivation of your broker can sometimes be difficult, especially those brokers with limited aviation expertise – who place a priority on their profits, not your safety. This is why we created this educational series, or “tool kit”, to provide you with the knowledge that you need to make well-informed jet charter decisions.

Our first two topics discussed aircraft insurance verification and aircraft maintenance, and how vital each is to your safety. Our third, and equally critical topic focuses on the issue of pilot certification.

First, some basics on pilot certification and training. To fly air charter, a pilot must progress through flight training and obtain a commercial pilot’s license, an instrument rating, and a multi-engine rating. After obtaining these licenses, every operator has a minimum number of hours of Pilot in Command experience which they require for a pilot to be eligible to fly air charter. As the aircraft becomes more complex, the minimum hours required by operators and also their insurance companies increase.

Pilots should receive a minimum of 5 to 10 hours of in-flight training covering every possible emergency that can happen in an aircraft. They should also have a primary concern for safety, including the safe condition or airworthiness of the plane; knowledge of weather factors affecting the safety of the flight; flight regulations; air traffic control procedures, and air navigational aids designed to provide maximum safety in the air.

After their training, pilots take an oral and written examination, as well as a flight check in which they must demonstrate their ability to a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) examiner. Pilots need to demonstrate to the FAA that their flying skills, knowledge and state of health are at all times acceptable for the particular flying jobs they perform. These flight checks are demanding, and can be failed.

And while these standard FAA requirements are stringent, Stratos Jet Charters goes even further in our own pilot requirements. Each Pilot in Command of a charter flight arranged by Stratos Jet Charters is required to have a minimum of 3,000 hours of total flight time. And each Second in Command is required to have a minimum of 1,000 total flight hours.

Operators chosen by Stratos Jets are required to only hire pilots with a 100% training record and all pilots must attend Flight Safety School at least once per year. We also require that every aircraft contracted by Stratos Jet Charters be regularly audited by an independent agency, such as Wyvern or ARGUS.

Wyvern and ARGUS have the two most recognized safety auditing standards in the industry. During an on-site safety evaluation, Part 135 charter operators are measured against the demanding ARGUS or Wyvern operating standards, both which far exceed government regulatory oversight. The reliability of audit results depends on the application of well-defined, consistent audit processes and standards. The strength of both Wyvern and ARGUS safety audit programs lie in the experience, qualifications and superior training of their audit teams, reviewing operators' aircraft fleets, crews and maintenance. Every area of the operation is scrutinized.

And meeting these standards does make a real difference in safety. This can be observed in historical safety records. A miniscule percentage of both fatal and non-fatal FAR Part 135 accidents from January 1991 to April 2009 involved ARGUS or Wyvern-compliant and recommended aircraft or aircrew, far less than 1%. Having an ARGUS or Wyvern compliant operator, crew and maintenance program is your assurance that the pilots of your flight have a record clear of accidents, incidents and enforcement actions, are adequately experienced in the aircraft they will be flying, and have all proper certifications and type ratings.

When it comes to the safety of your charter flight, know that Stratos Jet Charters will never, ever cut corners. Which is why, once again, that you should not choose a charter broker based solely on price. The safety and security of you and your fellow passengers MUST be the primary consideration for every charter flight. This is just another aspect of our commitment to you – our invaluable clients!

Joel Thomas – President, Stratos Jet Charters

Differentiating Beyond Price – Your Tool Kit For Making Intelligent Jet Charter Decisions Part 2: Aircraft Maintenance

Part 2 - Aircraft Maintenance and Your Safety and Security During Jet Charter Flights

When you hire Stratos Jet Charters as your air charter agent, it is our job to identify all relevant aircraft, ensure the proper certification, maintenance and safety of each plane and to create a competitive market for your charter flight. While there are some charter brokers who may understand all facets of the air charter industry, there are others with limited aviation experience who place a priority on their profit, and your needs second.

Determining the motivation of the broker you are working with can be a difficult task. So in order to help you read “between the lines”, we are actively working to educate our clients. With your safety in mind, we have created this educational series, a “tool kit” to arm you with useful information that will help you make the best, most educated decisions when you are chartering your next flight.

Our first topic centered on the issue of aircraft insurance verification and how important is for your protection. Now we move to a second and equally critical topic, the issue of aircraft maintenance.
When it comes to the maintenance of a Part 135 aircraft, there are different programs that can be utilized, such as CAMP, AAIP, factory maintenance or in-house maintenance. Aircraft maintenance is a major component in the hourly rate of your private charter flight. While the FAA has strict guidelines on the standards of maintenance for charter aircraft, the quality of that maintenance can vary when comparing maintenance facilities. If you are working with a broker, do they know who does the maintenance on the aircraft you will be flying? And if the maintenance is done in-house, for example, does your broker know what type of experience and certification this crew possesses?

With charter brokers who are not in business for the “long haul”, not only will your level of customer service almost certainly be diminished, but they may be willing to take more risks when it comes to your charter flight and your safety.

In their pursuit of profits, they may choose an aircraft operator who is also running at the lowest possible margins to remain profitable. Operators who run at such tight margins inevitably run into problems down the road. They can only run “thin” for so long, before they are forced to cut corners; from routine maintenance, to paying the best pilots and even retaining a quality dispatch crew. The business philosophy of these operators doesn’t leave much, if any, leeway when it comes to the issue of aircraft maintenance. This is certainly not a situation that you, your family or business associates want when boarding your next charter flight. Knowing that the operator(s) that your charter broker selects aren’t experiencing any financial difficulties or cash flow problems can give you the confidence and peace of mind you want and need during your next charter flight.

This is why you should never choose a charter broker or an aircraft operator based on price, and price alone. The safety and security of the passengers must be the primary consideration for every charter flight.

When you choose to work with an air charter broker, you will want to inquire about the broker’s aviation industry experience and knowledge of Federal Aviation Regulations as well as ensure the air charter broker provides you with the information requested in this Stratos Jet Charters Aircraft Charter Purchasing Guide so that you will be familiar with the air charter operator(s) that may conduct your flight(s). If the air charter broker is unwilling or unable to provide you with this required information, you should consider working with another agent, such as Stratos Jet Charters, who can provide you with the necessary information.

Of course, sometimes there are legitimate mechanical issues or problems that will arise, ones that are not the result in any way of improper maintenance or cost-cutting measures. After all, these are extremely complex machines we are talking about! In these situations, how will your charter broker handle the situation? If there is a mechanical problem of this nature during a Stratos Jet Charters flight, you can rest assured that we have backup aircraft sourced and waiting on standby for you. Our promise to you is that we will have another aircraft ready and available to you within 4 hours. This is all just another part of our commitment to you – our invaluable clients!

Joel Thomas – President, Stratos Jet Charters