Starting a 135

spoolinup22

spoolinup22

Well-Known Member
Anybody have any insight on how to start a 135 gig? I have a friend that has a few planes that sit too much and he's been throwing the idea around for a while now.

Thanks!
 
Single Pilot/Single Plane 135 Cert is actually relatively quick and easy to start. If you have the plane and the pilot, I'd start with a call to my local FSDO and get the ball rolling.
 
Douglas said:
Single Pilot/Single Plane 135 Cert is actually relatively quick and easy to start. If you have the plane and the pilot, I'd start with a call to my local FSDO and get the ball rolling.
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Unfortunately with the few aircraft it would be quite an operation.
 
Well one of the planes is a westwind which requires 2 crew, so single pilot would be a little difficult. The two other planes only need one pilot so we would be okay there.

Any tips for starting an ops specs?
 
spoolinup22 said:
Well one of the planes is a westwind which requires 2 crew, so single pilot would be a little difficult. The two other planes only need one pilot so we would be okay there.

Any tips for starting an ops specs?
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OpSpecs is pretty simple... you just go down the list of all opspecs paragraphs available for your operation type and select which ones you want.

If you're planning on doing any freight, I would recommend you do Will Carry on Hazmat, since you have to take the same Hazmat education courses even if you're Will Not Carry (so you can identify what not to carry.)

A basic 135 certificate is also pretty easy to get. There is a limit of no more than 5 pilots, and no more than 5 aircraft. The basic cert also has the benefit of you can have your Directer of Ops and Chief Pilot be the same guy/gal.

Upgrading a basic to a full 135 certificate, depending on your FSDO, can be significantly less of a pain in the ass than applying for a brand new full 135 certificate. So you don't necessarily box yourself in to only 5 pilots if you go the basic route.
 
I would start with a Single Pilot/ Single Airplane certificate and get that operating (which is a somewhat painless process). Then, after you've proven yourself to the FSDO, apply to upgrade to a Basic certificate.
 
http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-id...rgn=div5&view=text&node=14:3.0.1.1.11&idno=14

It is all there in the FAR.

If you are really planning to go the multiple aircraft and pilot route the best thing to do is to start talking with the FSDO early so they can walk through the whole process with you so you don't have to go through a large table read and editing that can add weeks on to the certification process.
 
While I agree that a basic cert is probably the way to go, the time table for certification at different FSDOs will vary drastically. I know of one guy who has been waiting on his FSDO to get to his single pilot cert request for 2 years. I've also been apart of a group that got a full cert in less than 9 months. It all depends on FSDO workload, your relationship with inspectors, how prepared you are, and a little luck

The jet will also add a bit of complexity as far as training programs, proving runs, TSA, and RVSM. I would conform the easiest plane first and get the certificate before moving on to the westwind. Our last FSDO would only conform one plane at a time.
 
From start to finish it took me around 3.5 years to get a single pilot/single aircraft 135 cert using a CT206H G1000, out of socal. That time is including when i submitted the initial PASI to getting the air carrier certificate. The aircraft was brand new so the maintenance conformity check was relatively simple, not sure how easy it would be with an older aircraft though. I have a friend who used a 210 and had to eventually get an entire new engine case, and he is limited to VFR only...
 
Which single engine piston aircraft other than Cirrus are certified for IFR flights under Part 135 ops?
 
Roger Roger said:
Now most piston singles don't come stock with dual alternators (or a bigass battery) and dual vacuum systems, so maybe that's what the other dude was asking about.
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Yup. Malibu/Matrix usually has about everything you need. Always thought it would make a good 135 single engine bird. Newer Bonanzas don't take much to conform either. Know of several in my area that stay pretty busy.
 
Any aircraft can be 135, but the challenge for older aircraft is being able to fly IFR with passengers. There must be backup systems for the instruments, and the G1000 has both the standby instruments, and standby battery.
 
I talked to our POI last week and he said that the wait is about 2 years for new 135 certs right now because of how backed up the FSDO is. I was originally talking to him about a potential LOI/Cert Action that a student was wondering about and he said to expect 3 to 6 months to even hear anything about that (if at all).
 
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