One day in your life
How does a normal day for a VIP Crew look like?
Well…. Let me tell you mine!
The rotation is related to owners operation on a Gulfstream G550 as free lance flight attendant departing from Geneva.
The Operator called me, asking for my availability for a short trip of 5 days to the US for the following week. I confirmed and we started to plan the details: passport, US visa, home base, flights and so forth.
A few days before departure the crew support department sent me an updated copy of the crew briefing every day, with the details of the flight and customers.
I got in touch with the pilots and I introduced myself.
Two days before departure I started preparing the flight.
One day before positioning myself to Geneva, I prepared my suitcase and my uniform. I travelled by train to reach Geneva and then I went into the hotel. Early morning, on the day of the flight, I took a taxi to get into the airport where I met the crew and we went on board 2 hours before the flight. We flew then to Boston, where we stayed for a couple of nights. On day three we did a short flight internally in the USA, then back to Boston. On day 4, late in the evening, I took an airline and I flew back home where I arrived on day 5 while the pilots stayed there for few more days. When the customer planned his return flight to Geneva, I positioned to Boston the day before and I operated the flight back to Switzerland. One overnight in Geneva and then back home via airline.
The charter operations can be much busier, and, if the aircraft is a medium size jet, it can include more than one flight per day. Not all the flight are meant to be flown with passengers on board, sometimes we fly empty just to position the aircraft for the next sector.
So you might be scheduled with 3 sectors in one day, but only the middle one is a live sector.
In most operations you start and finish your duty with a positioning flight from your home to wherever the aircraft is located or based.
Some other operation (especially private owners) do require you to be based in the same city where the aircraft is based.
The most common rotation is 15 days on, 15 days off, but you can also find 20 on 10 off, one month on and one month off, three months on and three months off (Saudi Arabia). For pilots there are more “roster options” like 7 on and 5 off, for example.
During the days on the crew is basically standby.
Getting familiar with the daily life operations can help you identify the different contracts offered by the Operators, and Private Jet Coach can support you with that!