Flight Options pilots ratify labor contract

by B. N. Sullivan

The pilots at fractional jet operator Flight Options, LLC have ratified their first labor agreement.  The ratification was announced on March 31, 2010 by the the pilots' union, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Airline Division, Teamsters Local 1108.  According to the Teamsters, 88% of the union’s membership voted in favor of ratification.

Teamsters Airline Division Director Capt. David Bourne said in statement to the press, "The new contract with Flight Options is the basis for a strong labor-management partnership between the Teamsters and Flight Options, LLC.  A first contract that works for pilots and their families, as well as management and Flight Options customers, is a great achievement for the entire industry.”

The new agreement is the culmination of more than three years of negotiations between the Teamsters and Flight Options.  According to the Teamsters, the new agreement provides for an immediate salary increase, longevity increases, additional paid time off, job security protections, an expansive basing system, and a grievance and arbitration process.

“This contract is the product of thousands of hours of work and a joint commitment to the success of our pilots and the company,” said Capt. Mat Slinghoff, President of Teamsters Local 1108. “The pilots I represent have achieved a milestone and they look forward to playing an active role in the company’s future success.”

A contract signing ceremony will take place in mid-April.

NetJets to lay off 495 pilots in the U.S.

by B.N. Sullivan

Fractional jet operator NetJets, Inc. has announced plans to cut 495 pilot jobs in the U.S. The layoffs will become effective on January 15, 2010.

Earlier this year NetJets had offered pilots early retirements and voluntary unpaid leaves of absence in an effort to downsize without having to resort to involuntary furloughs. Apparently those measures were not sufficient to relieve overstaffing.

NetJets pilots are represented by the NetJets Association of Shared Aircraft Pilots (NJASAP), an independent union. Today NJASAP President Capt. Mark Luthi said, "After several months of continuous efforts to mitigate a pilot furlough, we have reached a point at which the economic realities that challenge our employer can no longer be offset by the ground-breaking initiatives implemented earlier this year."

From a news release issued by the NJASP Executive Board:

Recognizing the seriousness of the economic crisis early on, Association leaders sought to supplement its furlough mitigation efforts by forming the NJASAP Furlough Working Group, which was tasked with preparing a robust pilot assistance initiative should a reduction in force take place.

"Hoping a working group's efforts prove unnecessary is hardly an appropriate mindset for a responsible leadership group; however, I freely admit the Board and I would have preferred the group's year-long preparations been for naught," Luthi said.

Almost one year of planning has positioned the Association to offer immediate access to information and resources designed to assist each furloughed crewmember and his or her family. In addition to a series of informational teleconferences, the Union has launched a web-based Furloughed Pilot Resource Center and has prepared a comprehensive resource guide that outlines financial, unemployment, and worker retraining benefits as well as alternate insurance options and various assistance grants.

The Executive Board has also approved a seven-month dues refund and the immediate cessation of dues collected from affected pilots and has purchased a year-long subscription to two aviation job sites for each pilot. Additionally, the FWG is finalizing an outreach program that will keep furloughed pilots in touch with their peers by paring them with active pilots.

In a statement to the press, NetJets CEO David Sokol said, "This difficult decision resulted from a comprehensive analysis of current and projected flight demand. As we move forward, we will continue to adjust our operations to meet customers’ needs and act in a fiscally responsible manner."

Union leader Capt. Luthi says that the NJASP "remains willing to engage in mutually beneficial talks intended to hasten our pilots' return to the flight line."

Flight Options pilots strike authorization vote is underway

Strike authorization ballots have been sent to the pilots at fractional jet operator Flight Options LLC. Ballots will be counted at the offices of the pilots' union, Teamsters Local 1108, on Oct. 19, 2009.

“The International Brotherhood of Teamsters stands behind the Flight Options pilots 100 percent,” said Capt. David Bourne, Teamsters Airline Division Director. “These negotiations have been going on for over three years. It’s time our members get the contract they deserve.”

According to a press statement issued by the union:

The parties met in Washington, D.C. at the offices of the National Mediation Board (NMB) last week in an attempt to reach a complete agreement on remaining compensation, benefit and work rule provisions. No agreement was reached and the federal mediator assigned to the case has scheduled a final bargaining session Oct. 26-31.

Under the Railway Labor Act, the NMB, the federal agency charged with administering that federal labor law, may declare that its mediation efforts failed to produce an agreement resulting in a proffer of voluntary binding arbitration as a last resort. If either management or the labor organization rejects the arbitration proffer, a 30-day cooling offer period is imposed, after which time the labor organization is free to strike the carrier absent intervention by the president of the United States.

“Local 1108 is ready to make a fair agreement with Flight Options management,” said Capt. Mat Slinghoff, Local 1108 President. “A fair agreement requires industry standard scope protections, benefit security and compensation increases pilots need.”

Avantair Piaggio P.180 landing at Salt Lake City ends up in a snowbank

A Piaggio P. 180 Avanti aircraft, operating as Avantair Flight 145 (registration N145SL), slid off a runway and into a snowbank at Salt Lake City International Airport this past Friday night, December 19, 2008. The incident occurred at about 9:30 PM local time as the twin-engine turboprop aircraft was arriving at Salt Lake City in poor weather. According to the FAA, there were no injuries reported among the two crew members and six passengers on board.

A brief report about the incident on the Deseret News about the incident, the aircraft became stuck in heavy snow. An airport spokeswoman said that the incident did not disrupt the airport's operations.

Avantair is a fractional operator, headquartered in Clearwater, FL. Avantair recently took delivery of its 50th Piaggio Avanti P.180 aircraft.

[Photo Source]

NetJets flight attendant sues Jennifer Lopez over dog bite, injuries

A former NetJets flight attendant filed suit in New York late last week against Jennifer Lopez and her company, Nuyorican Productions, Inc., alleging that a dog belonging to the actress attacked her during a flight between Farmingdale, NY and Burbank, CA on July, 3, 2006. The flight attendant says that the dog, a German shepherd named Floyd, lunged at her as she passed by in the passenger cabin of the Gulfstream IV, and bit her pant leg. When the flight attendant twisted to get away from the dog, she fell, injuring her back.

According to documents filed in court, the flight attendant began treatment for back pain within days of the incident, but was unable to achieve relief from her pain. As a result of the injuries, the flight attendant had to have major surgery on her back in April of 2007, and she continues to undergo treatment.

The lawsuit alleges that the flight attendant's injuries are permanent and will require additional treatment. She has been unable to return to work. She is seeking $5 million in compensation. The flight attendant's attorney was quoted in a number of news reports such as this one in the New York Daily News, saying she is not out to capitalize on J. Lo's celebrity, and had made attempts to settle the case that were ignored. NetJets is not named in the suit.

Predictably, this story quickly went viral, spreading like wildfire around the Internet, especially on celebrity gossip websites. Once that happens, stories begin to mutate and become sensationalized, like an earlier story about Jennifer Lopez and a flight attendant that I wrote about  nearly two years ago.

If you are interested in the details of this incident, I suggest that you read the actual court documents (8-page 'pdf' file), posted to the Internet by TMZ.com, and that you take many of the accounts in the entertainment media with a grain of salt.

My sympathies are with the injured flight attendant.

New safety recommendations for operators of turbojet aircraft

Today, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued a set of new safety recommendations of interest to professional pilots flying turbojet aircraft operating under CFR Parts 121, 135, and 91K, that is, all scheduled and charter passenger and freight airlines; on-demand passenger and freight operations; and fractional operations. The new recommendations arose from the findings of the NTSB investigation of a runway overrun accident at Cleveland in February of 2007.

Among the safety recommendations are several that address arrival landing distance assessments and rejected landings. Specifically, the NTSB recommendations address aspects of pilot training for rejected landing procedures for cases in which sufficient visual references are not distinctly visible at or below the decision height or minimum descent altitude. Recommendations regarding carriers' pilot fatigue policies also are included.

Here are the new NTSB recommendations to the Federal Aviation Administration:

Require 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 121, 135, and Part 91 subpart K operators to include, in their initial, upgrade, transition, and recurrent simulator training for turbojet airplanes, (1) decision-making for rejected landings below 50 feet along with a rapid reduction in visual cues and (2) practice in executing this maneuver. (A-08-16)

Require 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 121, 135, and Part 91 subpart K operators to include, in their initial, upgrade, transition, and recurrent simulator training for turbojet airplanes, practice for pilots in accomplishing maximum performance landings on contaminated runways. (A-08-17)

Require 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 121, 135, and Part 91 subpart K operators to have a written policy emphasizing that either pilot can make a go-around callout and that the response to the callout is an immediate missed approach. (A-08-18)

In cooperation with pilot unions, the Regional Airline Association, and the Air Transport Association, develop a specific, standardized policy for 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 121, 135, and Part 91 subpart K operators that would allow flight crewmembers to decline assignments or remove themselves from duty if they were impaired by a lack of sleep. (A-08-19)

Once the fatigue policy described in Safety Recommendation A-08-19 has been developed, require 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 121, 135, and Part 91 subpart K operators to adopt this policy and provide, in writing, details of the policy to their flight crewmembers, including the administrative implications of fatigue calls. (A-08-20)

The following previously issued safety recommendations were reiterated:

Immediately require all 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 121, 135, and 91 subpart K operators to conduct arrival landing distance assessments before every landing based on existing performance data, actual conditions, and incorporating a minimum safety margin of 15 percent. (A-07-57) (Urgent)

Require all 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 121, 135, and 91 subpart K operators to accomplish arrival landing distance assessments before every landing based on a standardized methodology involving approved performance data, actual arrival conditions, a means of correlating the airplane’s braking ability with runway surface conditions using the most conservative interpretation available, and including a minimum safety margin of 15 percent. (A-07-61)

Two safety recommendations pertaining to airports also were issued.

If you are interested in these topics, it is worth downloading and reading the whole document that contains these new safety recommendations: NTSB Safety Recommendations A-08-16 through -20 (14 page 'pdf' file)

Pilot wins contract lawsuit vs Bombardier Flexjet

The Dallas Morning News reported that a pilot has won a lawsuit against Bombardier Flexjet. The suit involved a contract dispute between the pilot and the fractional jet operator. The court ruled last week that the pilot's contract was "unenforceable," and that Flexjet "used deceptive practices in promising pilots promotions and training."

According to the news article, Flexjet first sued the pilot back in 2005 for failing to repay a portion of his training costs when he left the company. The pilot's contract stipulated that he must repay training costs unless he remained with the company for at least 24 months. He left after 17 months.

The pilot filed a counter-suit, "arguing that Flexjet had falsely promised rapid promotions for new pilots and training that would help them get their official rating quickly on various types of corporate jets."

"These promises turned out to be lies," he said, especially the part about becoming a captain and earning more than $50,000 a year, well above the initial pay of $32,000 a year. "We were cheap labor to them."

In an interview, [the pilot] said he thought it was particularly deceptive that the company emphasized to its customers that for safety reasons both captain and co-pilot would be fully rated on the planes flown. "I flew their planes for 17 months without my type rating," he said.

The pilot was awarded no damages in his counter-suit against Flexjet, and probably will have to bear his own legal costs. According to the Dallas Morning News article, the pilot has since gone to work for NetJets.

NetJets pilots' contract amended and extended

NetJets Aviation (NJA) announced that its pilots, represented by Teamsters Local 1108, had approved a major amendment and extension to their collective bargaining agreement last month. The agreement was reached after six months of negotiations.

A press release issued by the company said that 75.7% of NJA's more than 2,600 pilots had voted in favor of the agreement. Over 95% of the pilots had participated in the referendum.

The press release did not include details of the terms of the agreement, however an article about the amended NetJets contract in Aviation International News (AIN) noted that major provisions of the agreement included increasing the number of crew bases, more schedule options and pay increases.

Here are some details about the pay packages, reported by AIN:

NetJets first officers benefit greatly from the new agreement, with first-year pay climbing from $39,000 to $56,875 a year under the seven-days-on/seven-days-off schedule. This eclipses the previous industry-leading annual salary for new-hire first officers of $40,000 at CitationShares. Lowest on the scale are Flight Options first officers, who earn an average salary of $33,996 per year.

While the first officers got sizeable pay increases, NetJets’ captains fared well too. First-year captain salaries increased from $52,500 to $87,500, a significant step beyond the previous high of $64,000 at CitationShares. Flight Options occupies the lowest end of the scale, with captains starting at $51,996 a year.

Under the new payscale, NetJets first officers top out at $81,081 after year 10. Five-year captains will earn six figures under the new deal.

The agreement, which was signed by both NJA and the pilots union last month, will become amendable in five and a half years, but can be extended for another three years should NetJets meet certain parameters. AIN reports that these include "giving NJA 85 percent of all international flying, maintaining the same level of health care at no cost to pilots, opening 10 additional crew bases and adding cost-of-living adjustments to pay tables each year of the extension."

Piaggio P180 Avanti lands gear up at White Plains

On the morning of August 3, 2007, an Avantair Piaggio P180 Avanti aircraft landed gear up at Westchester County Airport (HPN), White Plains, New York. According to the preliminary incident data filed today by the FAA, crew reported that the aircraft's main gear could not be extended. No one was injured, and damage to the twin turboprop aircraft was listed as "minor."

An article about the Piaggio incident on the Lower Hudson Online news website says that trouble with the aircraft's landing gear was reported at around 08:00 AM local time. The aircraft landed safely about a half hour later, but then blocked the main runway for several hours.

The HPN main runway remained closed until about 11:30 AM, when the aircraft was towed away. The runway closure caused a number of commercial flights to be delayed.

Earlier this year, the main gear of another Piaggio P180 Avanti collapsed during the aircraft's landing roll at Florida's Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Airport.

UPDATE August 11, 2007: The EMTBravo Network has posted a set of photos of the gear up landing of this Piaggio P180 Avanti at HPN. Congratulations to the photographer for catching that spectacular series real-time of shots.

[Photo Source]

Piaggio P.180 Avanti accident at FLL

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has issued a preliminary report on an accident involving a Piaggio P.180 Avanti aircraft at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Airport (FLL) earlier this month. The aircraft, registered to and operated by Avantair, was "substantially damaged" in the accident. The two crew were the only people on board at the time of the accident. Neither was injured.

The twin turboprop aircraft, which was operating under CFR Part 91 rules, was being repositioned from Teterboro to FLL at the time of the accident on the morning of March 20, 2007. The gear collapsed on landing.

The NTSB preliminary accident report provides these details:

According to the captain, the first officer was flying the airplane. They were landing on 9R at an approach speed of 120kts. Full flaps had been deployed.

On the landing roll the airplane began to drift to the left side of the runway. The first officer said he applied right rudder, but not to the extent necessary. He then applied right brakes. The airplane then veered right and the left main landing gear collapsed. The airplane skidded down the runway and came to rest west of taxiway Echo.

Examination of the airplane revealed the left main landing gear had collapsed, the left main tire had separated, and fuel was leaking from the airplane onto the runway. Examination of the tire revealed it had been deflated and there was a bald spot in the tread. [NTSB Report DEN07LA077].

An estimated 50 gallons of fuel leaked from the airplane, but there was no fire. The NTSB report notes that protein foam was applied to the runway surface and surrounding area.

[Photo Source]

Growing pains for fractionals

A Business Week article, republished on the Business Travel section of the MSNBC website, suggests that fractional jet operators may be experiencing substantial 'growing pains' due to unforeseen costs arising out of rapid expansion.

Apparently the costs of acquiring and operating so many aircraft have resulted in driving expenses up so high that, despite brisk demand, "the companies operating these services, including NetJets, Bombardier Flexjet, and Flight Options, have collectively lost hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years." As a result, the 'frax' have had to resort to tactics such as discounting their rates in order to attract new customers, and offering their existing customers incentives to travel at off-peak times.

The article, titled "One jet, 16 owners, big problems," notes that the fractional jet business is a $6 billion industry, and that more than 5,000 individuals and businesses now own fractional interests in private jets, compared to 730 in 1997. So why can't they turn a profit?

Here's an excerpt from the article that explains some of the problems:

...For one thing, providing a ready, waiting jet for a multitude of customers--many jets are now sold in increments as small as 1/16th--is more complicated than it may appear. Experts estimate that more than 25% of an average plane's air time is spent flying empty to pick up the customer. And because many people travel at the same peak times--the day before major holidays, or Monday mornings--operators have too often been forced to turn to the costly charter market just to meet their contractual demands. NetJets Inc., for instance, estimates it spent $200 million chartering extra jets in 2005, though it says it cut its charter outlays to less than $100 million last year.

Analysts add that a good portion of the existing stock of business jets, such as the Hawker 1000 and Cessna Citation Ultra, were built for corporate users who flew them less than 300 hours a year, not for the roughly 1,100 hours that most fractional operators wring out of an average plane. The unfortunate result: chronic maintenance and excessive downtime. "A lot of these light business jets were not designed to be flown like a commercial airplane," says Mike Riegel, a former Flexjet executive who now advises fliers purchasing fractional stakes. And experts say that private jet operators, in their quest to gain market share, were way too aggressive with their own jet acquisitions, which in turn forced them to discount their rates to lure customers. "The fractional players have been just like the commercial airlines--they've been pricing just to fill seats," says Richard L. Aboulafia, vice-president at Teal Group Corp., an aerospace consulting firm based in Fairfax, Va.

Some of the frax are now looking to acquire more fuel-efficient aircraft in order to cut operating costs in the long run.

The article saves the best quote for last: "The best thing that could happen to this industry is consolidation--taking out a couple of the lesser players who just hold down prices," says David Strauss, an aerospace analyst with UBS.

That statement has such a familiar ring... Where have we heard that before? Are the frax just like the airlines after all?

NetJets orders another 48 Hawkers

Hawker pilots take note: Fractional operator NetJets, Inc. has just ordered 30 Hawker 750, and 18 Hawker 900XP jets from the Raytheon Aircraft Co. This is in addition to the 48 Hawkers ordered by NetJets in October. From an article about the transaction on the Business First of Columbus website:

"This order for 48 additional Hawker aircraft will help NetJets meet its increased demand for private aviation solutions in Europe and the U.S.," said Richard Santulli, NetJets chairman, in a news release.

The article goes on to say:

Deliveries on the Hawker 900XPs will start this year and continue through 2012, Raytheon said. Deliveries on the Hawker 750s will start in 2008 and continue through 2009 on the initial order and start in 2010 and continue through 2011 on the follow-up order.

Keep those delivery dates in mind if you're looking for a job flying a Hawker.

Here's the Pilot Careers page on the NetJets website, just for reference. Tip: It says on the website that they're accepting pilot applications for Citation, Hawker, Falcon, Gulfstream, and Boeing aircraft.