jrh
Well-Known Member
At my flight school we've been kicking around the idea lately of trying to get a 135 certificate for one plane and one pilot in order to diversify our operation more.
Basically the proposed operation would be flying a 2001 Cessna 172SP with me as the single pilot. Day VFR operations would be the most common, although having opspecs to allow for night VFR would be nice, too.
Because the plane is in the flight school and I'm managing the flight school, I believe everything is already in place as far as maintenance is concerned. We do 100 hour inspections according to the Cessna service manuals, track all maintenance using a computerized system, and I'm the one in charge of making sure it all happens, which is basically what a 135 Director of Maintenance does, correct?
The main goal of getting the certificate would be to pick up aerial photography missions outside of the 25 mile ring around our home airport. As a side benefit we thought we could also do some miscellaneous jobs that we're always getting calls for, like surveying tornado damage in the summer. And of course on top of those things, the only other 135 operators on the field are flying King Airs and Citations, so we thought we might pick up a passenger or cargo charter occasionally for a customer who is only needing a short hop and doesn't want to pay for a King Air.
I've already been talking to the FSDO about this and will probably fill out a preapplication statement of intent and get the ball rolling soon.
However, I still have a few questions: Has anyone gone through this process before? I talked to one other guy who did it several years ago and he said it wasn't difficult, but I'd like to hear more perspectives.
My next question is if this makes business sense. Has anyone seen VFR 135 operations combined with a flight school before? If so, was it successful? I don't expect to be flying a lot of 135 work, but if we even pick up 5 or 10 hours/month because of this, that can make a big difference during the leaner months when we're only flying 40 or 50 hours per aircraft.
Finally, from a personal perspective, will starting and managing a single pilot VFR 135 operation mean much on my resume in the future? I'd like to think it would, but I don't want to overestimate the impressiveness of it, either. I'm just curious about how it would be viewed whenever I move on from where I'm currently at.
Thanks in advance for the info!
Basically the proposed operation would be flying a 2001 Cessna 172SP with me as the single pilot. Day VFR operations would be the most common, although having opspecs to allow for night VFR would be nice, too.
Because the plane is in the flight school and I'm managing the flight school, I believe everything is already in place as far as maintenance is concerned. We do 100 hour inspections according to the Cessna service manuals, track all maintenance using a computerized system, and I'm the one in charge of making sure it all happens, which is basically what a 135 Director of Maintenance does, correct?
The main goal of getting the certificate would be to pick up aerial photography missions outside of the 25 mile ring around our home airport. As a side benefit we thought we could also do some miscellaneous jobs that we're always getting calls for, like surveying tornado damage in the summer. And of course on top of those things, the only other 135 operators on the field are flying King Airs and Citations, so we thought we might pick up a passenger or cargo charter occasionally for a customer who is only needing a short hop and doesn't want to pay for a King Air.
I've already been talking to the FSDO about this and will probably fill out a preapplication statement of intent and get the ball rolling soon.
However, I still have a few questions: Has anyone gone through this process before? I talked to one other guy who did it several years ago and he said it wasn't difficult, but I'd like to hear more perspectives.
My next question is if this makes business sense. Has anyone seen VFR 135 operations combined with a flight school before? If so, was it successful? I don't expect to be flying a lot of 135 work, but if we even pick up 5 or 10 hours/month because of this, that can make a big difference during the leaner months when we're only flying 40 or 50 hours per aircraft.
Finally, from a personal perspective, will starting and managing a single pilot VFR 135 operation mean much on my resume in the future? I'd like to think it would, but I don't want to overestimate the impressiveness of it, either. I'm just curious about how it would be viewed whenever I move on from where I'm currently at.
Thanks in advance for the info!