Charter a jet for $4...!!!! (JetSuite)

You should read the AOPA magazine for that. The slightest suggestion that a billionaire should pay an extra nickel and they lose their minds.


Come on, you're an AOPA member. I am too, but I'm a lifer in it.

It would be like me joining the NRA and then railing against guns. Error, does not compute. :)
 
Sorry, not my kind of place.



For some reason I was thinking the surgeon got a job flying a Lear. Maybe I'm wrong. His column is okay, but much more entertaining was watching all of the angry letters to the editor when the SJS kids got mad that the old man had "took der jerbs!" :)

Abend isn't that bad. For an AMR pilot, his ego is probably sub-par.


Are you serious people wrote in about him being older and taking a job? He's a retired surgeon who spent 40+ yrs in medicine and bought his own planes. He has flown around in them up and down from Florida to Commecticut. He's highly experienced in flying and very well qualified for jetSuite. What's he supposed to do? Apologize for being able to afford a plane as a doctor? Apologize that a company hired him?

SJSers, get over it.
 
Are you serious people wrote in about him being older and taking a job? He's a retired surgeon who spent 40+ yrs in medicine and bought his own planes. He has flown around in them up and down from Florida to Commecticut. He's highly experienced in flying and very well qualified for jetSuite. What's he supposed to do? Apologize for being able to afford a plane as a doctor? Apologize that a company hired him?

SJSers, get over it.

What made me cancel my subscription was when Karl's article was discussing his up coming TBO and how it was going to cost more than 2x the average house and he isn't sure what he is going to do. Which is a valid concern. We all live by a budget, some budgets are larger than others. I get it. He was successful and able to afford a cabin class pressurized twin turbo prop. Sure I'm jealous or envious. Instead of taking the twin turbo prop to my vacation home, my weekend decisions are what comes first - mowing the lawn or washing my truck?

Then in that same issue was an article on "Affordable Flying" and it was about buying $200,000 used singles. Clearly they have a target demographic and I'm not in the market for a $200,000 airplane so I elected not to renew my subscription. EAA prints a much better magazine for my style. How to's, making tools for home builders, Mike Busch....
 
Flying still regularly publishes articles on "affordable" airplanes like C-152s and Cherokees. I've found that they cover just about everything, which is what they should do. They're a general aviation magazine, not a niche aviation magazine.

As for Karl's turboprop, a good argument can be made that the right turboprop is a better purchase than a top of the line piston. If you look at something like a Malibu Mirage, for example, you'll usually be paying about $1 million. I'm betting Karl paid around $300k for his Cheyenne. Even after you factor in overhauls on both engines and higher operating costs, he's still ahead for years. Eventually it catches up with you and you're paying more, but you're also getting the reliability of two turbine engines as a trade-off. And while I've never been in a Cheyenne, I'm betting it's got better cabin comfort, too. I could see myself making that purchase a few years down the line, and I'm not "rich."
 
Flying still regularly publishes articles on "affordable" airplanes like C-152s and Cherokees. I've found that they cover just about everything, which is what they should do. They're a general aviation magazine, not a niche aviation magazine.

As for Karl's turboprop, a good argument can be made that the right turboprop is a better purchase than a top of the line piston. If you look at something like a Malibu Mirage, for example, you'll usually be paying about $1 million. I'm betting Karl paid around $300k for his Cheyenne. Even after you factor in overhauls on both engines and higher operating costs, he's still ahead for years. Eventually it catches up with you and you're paying more, but you're also getting the reliability of two turbine engines as a trade-off. And while I've never been in a Cheyenne, I'm betting it's got better cabin comfort, too. I could see myself making that purchase a few years down the line, and I'm not "rich."
On a slightly larger scale you could buy a Lear but you'd need a co-pilot.
 
If I rent something for $11,490 per hour, it had better be life changing, no matter what it is. I will say this...there ain't nothing on a woman worth that much.
I dunno... If I were loaded beyond belief, I would DEFINITELY rent Jennifer "Katniss Everdeen" Lawrence for 11k.
 
He is doing what now?
Having a good time taking a job that a young pilot who needs to feed his family would be grateful to have.
Basically what he did was retire from being a heart surgeon and got a job as a first officer at a charter company. He doesn't need the money in any way shape or form, and said he is doing it for fun. I read his whole series of articles on getting the job and going through training. It thoroughly pissed me off. WIth the money he has, it is basically the equivilant of flying for free, especially when someone trying to raise a family or pay student loans could have the position instead of Dr Karl playing jet pilot.
 
Having a good time taking a job that a young pilot who needs to feed his family would be grateful to have.
Basically what he did was retire from being a heart surgeon and got a job as a first officer at a charter company. He doesn't need the money in any way shape or form, and said he is doing it for fun. I read his whole series of articles on getting the job and going through training. It thoroughly pissed me off. WIth the money he has, it is basically the equivilant of flying for free, especially when someone trying to raise a family or pay student loans could have the position instead of Dr Karl playing jet pilot.

Ahh, so you're one of the entitled d-bags who got all worked up. How quaint.

He is every bit as deserving of that job as any "young pilot who needs to feed his family." The only thing that matters is qualifications, and Karl has a lot more than some young punk who thinks he's owed a job.
 
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Having a good time taking a job that a young pilot who needs to feed his family would be grateful to have.
Basically what he did was retire from being a heart surgeon and got a job as a first officer at a charter company. He doesn't need the money in any way shape or form, and said he is doing it for fun. I read his whole series of articles on getting the job and going through training. It thoroughly pissed me off. WIth the money he has, it is basically the equivilant of flying for free, especially when someone trying to raise a family or pay student loans could have the position instead of Dr Karl playing jet pilot.

I wouldn't worry about it. They guy is either getting preferential treatment. As in: "oh don't call Karl. He's probably asleep. Call BEEF, he is a chump and he is poor so he can't turn trips down." Or "Oh hey BEEF, we've got a trip." "Oh I'm really sorry to hear about missing the birth of your firstborn." "No Karl is playing golf." "See you at the airport in less than an hour." "Oh BTW since you're at the hospital, I've arranged a drug test."

Or he'll be out of the game in less than 2 years. I can't think of a more horrific life than a charter FO. It will get old really fast.
 
Having a good time taking a job that a young pilot who needs to feed his family would be grateful to have.
Basically what he did was retire from being a heart surgeon and got a job as a first officer at a charter company. He doesn't need the money in any way shape or form, and said he is doing it for fun. I read his whole series of articles on getting the job and going through training. It thoroughly pissed me off. WIth the money he has, it is basically the equivilant of flying for free, especially when someone trying to raise a family or pay student loans could have the position instead of Dr Karl playing jet pilot.

He was qualified for the job and got it. He didn't take food off your table. Go find another flying job, there are plenty to be had.
 
Flying still regularly publishes articles on "affordable" airplanes like C-152s and Cherokees. I've found that they cover just about everything, which is what they should do. They're a general aviation magazine, not a niche aviation magazine.

As for Karl's turboprop, a good argument can be made that the right turboprop is a better purchase than a top of the line piston. If you look at something like a Malibu Mirage, for example, you'll usually be paying about $1 million. I'm betting Karl paid around $300k for his Cheyenne. Even after you factor in overhauls on both engines and higher operating costs, he's still ahead for years. Eventually it catches up with you and you're paying more, but you're also getting the reliability of two turbine engines as a trade-off. And while I've never been in a Cheyenne, I'm betting it's got better cabin comfort, too. I could see myself making that purchase a few years down the line, and I'm not "rich."

Hey when you buy that thing, look be up for the "checkout." :)
 
I wouldn't worry about it. They guy is either getting preferential treatment. As in: "oh don't call Karl. He's probably asleep. Call BEEF, he is a chump and he is poor so he can't turn trips down." Or "Oh hey BEEF, we've got a trip." "Oh I'm really sorry to hear about missing the birth of your firstborn." "No Karl is playing golf." "See you at the airport in less than an hour." "Oh BTW since you're at the hospital, I've arranged a drug test."

Or he'll be out of the game in less than 2 years. I can't think of a more horrific life than a charter FO. It will get old really fast.
Wait, sorry, what?
 
I took his meaning to be that there is no way this guy is going to "take" some poor charter F.O.s job, because he either isn't doing the same job, or won't be doing it for very long.

Thats what I meant. It was a crude attempt at humor. A dispatcher choosing who should pick up a pop up trip. It is easy to disparage myself because I have been that poor • who couldn't turn down a trip. My point was: Either the gent who works for AOPA is either getting preferential treatment or won't last long at his retirement pay time "job." Being a charter FO isn't fun and I can't imagine a worse existence for anyone. Particularly if there are 24/7 operations going on, such as organ donor flying.

I had a very enlightening experience while waiting all day at an FBO in the middle of the boiling central valley of California. The dispatchers office was right next the the pilots lounge. I heard a trip request come through, the price negotiated and pilots called for going on the trip. The dispatcher wasn't alone in the office and the commentary between phone calls to find someone willing to take the trip was at times humorous, only because I didn't know the "chumps" on the other end of the line.

Bottom line. Airplanes don't fly without pilots, at least not yet and it pays to say no every once and a while.
 
Thats what I meant. It was a crude attempt at humor. A dispatcher choosing who should pick up a pop up trip. It is easy to disparage myself because I have been that poor who couldn't turn down a trip. My point was: Either the gent who works for AOPA is either getting preferential treatment or won't last long at his retirement pay time "job." Being a charter FO isn't fun and I can't imagine a worse existence for anyone. Particularly if there are 24/7 operations going on, such as organ donor flying.
Is this the part where people hate on working conditions at Part 121 carriers?

-puts feet up and collects 4:30 holiday pay plus 5:10 displacement for yesterday and today for zero hours of block, and resumes watching Weeds[1]-

I had a very enlightening experience while waiting all day at an FBO in the middle of the boiling central valley of California. The dispatchers office was right next the the pilots lounge. I heard a trip request come through, the price negotiated and pilots called for going on the trip. The dispatcher wasn't alone in the office and the commentary between phone calls to find someone willing to take the trip was at times humorous, only because I didn't know the "chumps" on the other end of the line.
PROTIP if you are going to call Scheduling chumps (or less flattering things...) while on hold with them, mute your phone. (That is a two way street; more people need to understand that this is NOT personal and it's about COVERING THE FLYING.)

Bottom line. Airplanes don't fly without pilots, at least not yet and it pays to say no every once and a while.
Well, yeah, duh.

That's why I'm 121...

[1] No, seriously. Mary-Louise Parker. Oh my.
 
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