Abram
Pre-takeoff checklist
At the front end, I need to confess that this thread is a shameless take off on LD Jones’s fantastic thread, but I really wanted to share my story with the group in the hopes that some of you will be inspired.
My background is that of an accountant and lawyer, but I started a Human Resources Outsourcing company about 25 years ago and have been working on growing it and my industry since then.
Although I have been flying for over thirty years, for the last twenty years or so, I was flying to support my business and for personal travel. I had my Private Pilot Certificate along with Instrument and Multi-Engine Ratings but never saw the need to go further because I had no intention of requiring anything more. I was always active in charitable flying, doing trips for Angel Flight, Challenge Air for Kids and Friends, Vital Flight and lots of Veterans Airlifts, but despite always dreaming of doing it, I never flew professionally.
Over the years, I went from owning and operating two Piper Aztecs and a Piper Saratoga, which were owned with partners. Around 2005 or so, I purchased a Piper Meridian which I owned and operated on my own. As much as I loved the Meridian, I decided that my mission had changed a bit and I needed something a bit faster and that could carry more. After looking at all the options, I settled on an Eclipse. I went about finding the right airplane, purchasing it and doing all of the training required for the Type Rating.
When Congress passed the law changing the ATP requirements, several of my aviation friends said that they planned to get the ATP because, even thought they had no intention to use it, it would be much harder and more expensive to do in the future. Moreover, the checkride was going to be exactly the same as the checkride they had already passed for theType Rating, so they figured they could handle it. I thought that the logic made sense and I decided to go for my ATP.
Of course, that also meant that I had to get my Commercial License. I studied for my Commercial and ATP written exams for about a month and passed just before the deadline. I figured that would buy me some time to do the checkrids and to get my license.
At my next recurrent for the type rating, I told the FAA examiner that I wanted to do two separate flights over two days and to make the first day my Commercial checkride and the second day my ATP checkride. He agreed and, sometime in February of 2015, I received my Commercial and ATP Certificates.
Very shortly after that, the instructor that had done my training for the Eclipse Type Rating called me up and asked if I was available to be SIC in a Phenom 300. His usual SIC was unavailable, and even though he was Single Pilot Typed in the airplane, the owner prefers two pilots. I did that trip and had a great time. He started calling me for additional trips for a couple of different owners in a couple of different airframes, including as SIC in the Phenom and PIC in an Eclipse.
After a few months, the owner decided to upgrade to a Embraer Legacy 500 and my instructor became the Chief Pilot. We talked about me becoming the full time second pilot, but decided that my business schedule, while flexible, was not flexible enough to allow for me to take that position full time. As such, he brought in another retired airline pilot that he had flown with for years to be the other full time crewmember. However, he also recognized that he needed a third crewmember that could be available when needed and I was perfect for that role. So he brought me in to be the backup and I got an SIC Type Rating in the Legacy 500.
I was getting some good contact work, as PIC in the Eclipse and SIC in Phenoms and the Legacy, and did some very cool trips. Needless to say, I got bit by the bug pretty bad. I started to network and reach out to operators regarding my services as a Contract Pilot.
However, the contract work is very hit-and-miss and if you say “no” more than a couple of times, you fall pretty far down the list! In addition, it often resulted in three and four day trips away from home, which was not sitting well with the family.
So, about a year ago, I started looking around at other options that would allow me to continue to run my business, have a family life and still get some consistent flying. Obviously, not an easy thing to find. But the networking paid off and one of the contacts told me that he was working with a Part 135 company that conducted Air Ambulance flights and they needed more South Florida pilots. After discussing it with him at great length, including my need for flexibility, we agreed that the opportunity would be a really good fit for me. After meeting the Chief Pilot, the owner and the Director of Operations of the charter company, we all decided to move forward.
Accordingly, last December, I shipped off to Flight Safety International to get a Type Rating in the Citation V Ultra! Although not my first Type Rating, the others were done in the airplane and the programs were designed around my schedule. This was the first time that I drank from the proverbial fire hose.
The first four days were all systems and we covered anywhere from two to five systems per day. At the same time, as I was trying to digest all the technicalities of the systems, I spent evenings working through checklists, memory items and aircraft limitations. Sim time started on Day 6. My training partner and I started at about 0500 for the debrief, did two sim sessions and did performance for the remainder of the day. My sim partner and I took turns starting in the left seat for the first session and then switched seats for the second session of the day.
Two weeks went quickly and soon it was Checkride Friday. The Practical exam was challenging and really required us to know our systems. The examiner would pick a system and drill down until he found an area that we couldn’t answer to truly test the depth of our knowledge. But it was very much a conversation about aircraft systems and we learned a lot from the experience.
After that, it was off to the Sim for the ride. I was the first checkride in the left seat while my partner served as SIC. The ride lasted about two hours and, after a short break, we switched seats and did the second checkride. The examiner was quick to point out that just because I was done in the left seat, it didn’t mean I was finished. I was still getting graded on my performance from the right seat! I am happy to report that I survived the day and got my Type Rating issued.
Because it was a 135 Operation, I also had to get Indoctrination training and Computer Based Training completed prior to being permitted to fly. Indoc took about a week and the Computer Training took about another three or four weeks to complete with almost full time effort. The entire time that I was doing the training, I was getting calls from the company asking about my progress because they really needed me on the line. After finally completing all the training and advising the Director of Ops and the Chief Pilot, I got lots of congratulations, but no schedule!
Of course, about three weeks later, they finally got me on the schedule. My first week on duty there was only one flight and, through a scheduling error, the flight was given to another FO. However, last week I was on, and there was a flight every single day. Most of the flights occur at night and, since I work a full time job, I often ended up getting a call after a full day of work. It had been so long since I had been in the Citation that I really felt like I was behind the airplane. However, after about 30 minutes int he airplane, it all started to come back to me.
As tiring as it is, the work is incredibly gratifying. We work closely with medical crews and carry passengers with all kinds of medical conditions, as well as organs for transplant. It is great to know that I am able to help individuals and their families get help when they need it most.
On top of that, I am still doing some of the contract flying that I was doing for the clients that I had before. So far, the hard part is that my real job is getting in the way of my aviation career! I clearly need to learn how to balance my workload on weeks that I am on call so that I can make sure to get enough sleep. By far, finding time to sleep is the hardest part of this job.
Through this incredible adventure, I have had the opportunity to learn an amazing amount about flying airplanes and I have flown with a number of great pilots, all of whom have different styles but all of whom taught me something. I have gone to great destinations and had the opportunity to explore them and to have once in a lifetime experiences. I have also had the opportunity to help people in dire medical condition and to sleep in pilot lounges for a couple of hours before turning around to go home.
I have no idea how this will develop and whether or not I will be able to keep all of the balls in the air for an extended period of time, but I will say that so far it has been an amazing experience. I am glad I pursued the opportunity and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
Abram Finkelstein
N48KY
My background is that of an accountant and lawyer, but I started a Human Resources Outsourcing company about 25 years ago and have been working on growing it and my industry since then.
Although I have been flying for over thirty years, for the last twenty years or so, I was flying to support my business and for personal travel. I had my Private Pilot Certificate along with Instrument and Multi-Engine Ratings but never saw the need to go further because I had no intention of requiring anything more. I was always active in charitable flying, doing trips for Angel Flight, Challenge Air for Kids and Friends, Vital Flight and lots of Veterans Airlifts, but despite always dreaming of doing it, I never flew professionally.
Over the years, I went from owning and operating two Piper Aztecs and a Piper Saratoga, which were owned with partners. Around 2005 or so, I purchased a Piper Meridian which I owned and operated on my own. As much as I loved the Meridian, I decided that my mission had changed a bit and I needed something a bit faster and that could carry more. After looking at all the options, I settled on an Eclipse. I went about finding the right airplane, purchasing it and doing all of the training required for the Type Rating.
When Congress passed the law changing the ATP requirements, several of my aviation friends said that they planned to get the ATP because, even thought they had no intention to use it, it would be much harder and more expensive to do in the future. Moreover, the checkride was going to be exactly the same as the checkride they had already passed for theType Rating, so they figured they could handle it. I thought that the logic made sense and I decided to go for my ATP.
Of course, that also meant that I had to get my Commercial License. I studied for my Commercial and ATP written exams for about a month and passed just before the deadline. I figured that would buy me some time to do the checkrids and to get my license.
At my next recurrent for the type rating, I told the FAA examiner that I wanted to do two separate flights over two days and to make the first day my Commercial checkride and the second day my ATP checkride. He agreed and, sometime in February of 2015, I received my Commercial and ATP Certificates.
Very shortly after that, the instructor that had done my training for the Eclipse Type Rating called me up and asked if I was available to be SIC in a Phenom 300. His usual SIC was unavailable, and even though he was Single Pilot Typed in the airplane, the owner prefers two pilots. I did that trip and had a great time. He started calling me for additional trips for a couple of different owners in a couple of different airframes, including as SIC in the Phenom and PIC in an Eclipse.
After a few months, the owner decided to upgrade to a Embraer Legacy 500 and my instructor became the Chief Pilot. We talked about me becoming the full time second pilot, but decided that my business schedule, while flexible, was not flexible enough to allow for me to take that position full time. As such, he brought in another retired airline pilot that he had flown with for years to be the other full time crewmember. However, he also recognized that he needed a third crewmember that could be available when needed and I was perfect for that role. So he brought me in to be the backup and I got an SIC Type Rating in the Legacy 500.
I was getting some good contact work, as PIC in the Eclipse and SIC in Phenoms and the Legacy, and did some very cool trips. Needless to say, I got bit by the bug pretty bad. I started to network and reach out to operators regarding my services as a Contract Pilot.
However, the contract work is very hit-and-miss and if you say “no” more than a couple of times, you fall pretty far down the list! In addition, it often resulted in three and four day trips away from home, which was not sitting well with the family.
So, about a year ago, I started looking around at other options that would allow me to continue to run my business, have a family life and still get some consistent flying. Obviously, not an easy thing to find. But the networking paid off and one of the contacts told me that he was working with a Part 135 company that conducted Air Ambulance flights and they needed more South Florida pilots. After discussing it with him at great length, including my need for flexibility, we agreed that the opportunity would be a really good fit for me. After meeting the Chief Pilot, the owner and the Director of Operations of the charter company, we all decided to move forward.
Accordingly, last December, I shipped off to Flight Safety International to get a Type Rating in the Citation V Ultra! Although not my first Type Rating, the others were done in the airplane and the programs were designed around my schedule. This was the first time that I drank from the proverbial fire hose.
The first four days were all systems and we covered anywhere from two to five systems per day. At the same time, as I was trying to digest all the technicalities of the systems, I spent evenings working through checklists, memory items and aircraft limitations. Sim time started on Day 6. My training partner and I started at about 0500 for the debrief, did two sim sessions and did performance for the remainder of the day. My sim partner and I took turns starting in the left seat for the first session and then switched seats for the second session of the day.
Two weeks went quickly and soon it was Checkride Friday. The Practical exam was challenging and really required us to know our systems. The examiner would pick a system and drill down until he found an area that we couldn’t answer to truly test the depth of our knowledge. But it was very much a conversation about aircraft systems and we learned a lot from the experience.
After that, it was off to the Sim for the ride. I was the first checkride in the left seat while my partner served as SIC. The ride lasted about two hours and, after a short break, we switched seats and did the second checkride. The examiner was quick to point out that just because I was done in the left seat, it didn’t mean I was finished. I was still getting graded on my performance from the right seat! I am happy to report that I survived the day and got my Type Rating issued.
Because it was a 135 Operation, I also had to get Indoctrination training and Computer Based Training completed prior to being permitted to fly. Indoc took about a week and the Computer Training took about another three or four weeks to complete with almost full time effort. The entire time that I was doing the training, I was getting calls from the company asking about my progress because they really needed me on the line. After finally completing all the training and advising the Director of Ops and the Chief Pilot, I got lots of congratulations, but no schedule!
Of course, about three weeks later, they finally got me on the schedule. My first week on duty there was only one flight and, through a scheduling error, the flight was given to another FO. However, last week I was on, and there was a flight every single day. Most of the flights occur at night and, since I work a full time job, I often ended up getting a call after a full day of work. It had been so long since I had been in the Citation that I really felt like I was behind the airplane. However, after about 30 minutes int he airplane, it all started to come back to me.
As tiring as it is, the work is incredibly gratifying. We work closely with medical crews and carry passengers with all kinds of medical conditions, as well as organs for transplant. It is great to know that I am able to help individuals and their families get help when they need it most.
On top of that, I am still doing some of the contract flying that I was doing for the clients that I had before. So far, the hard part is that my real job is getting in the way of my aviation career! I clearly need to learn how to balance my workload on weeks that I am on call so that I can make sure to get enough sleep. By far, finding time to sleep is the hardest part of this job.
Through this incredible adventure, I have had the opportunity to learn an amazing amount about flying airplanes and I have flown with a number of great pilots, all of whom have different styles but all of whom taught me something. I have gone to great destinations and had the opportunity to explore them and to have once in a lifetime experiences. I have also had the opportunity to help people in dire medical condition and to sleep in pilot lounges for a couple of hours before turning around to go home.
I have no idea how this will develop and whether or not I will be able to keep all of the balls in the air for an extended period of time, but I will say that so far it has been an amazing experience. I am glad I pursued the opportunity and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
Abram Finkelstein
N48KY
