Ohhhh! So if I'm getting this correct, the chief pilot is the manager of line pilots and not a line pilot himself (or herself).
Yes to manager, but he is a pilot for the company. He will fly a couple times a month. Really busy times, I've heard, the CP may just take a sim flight for currency.
Well then, what sorta qualifications would the airline look for when hiring a chief pilot internally?
The qualifications are posted above at my company. Most people are smart enough not to take the job. Our CP is a loveable guy, I think, but he spent 25 years as a swabby and just loves abuse.
I say forget that.
What would differentiate pilots on their chief pilot job application other than their Date of Hire or Total Time?
Hu? You mean their qualifications to get hired? Use your imagination kid. Take a look at that duties list above, what would YOU want outa a chief pilot? Because the answer to that question is gonna depend on an airline.
At Colgan, we had a chief pilot that was the owners yes man and golfing buddy. He was as bad as management, untrustworthy as hell. There were guys that sucked up to him for their own personal gain, called him every day, he used them probably had as big a chuckle out of 'em as we all did. He died now, God rest his soul, hopefully playing "pitch and putt" up in the clouds.
Chief Pilot for Airnow was hired by the owner because he was about the only lifer that had a brain in his God damned head. He was deadly loyal to the pilots. If they called up and said, "we ain't ing going", then he called up the boss and let him know the plane would be late because the "God damn equipment is falling apart, why don't you get us some more mechanics you cheap SOB".
My Chief Pilot at the old 134.5 I worked at was the owners 2nd son. Mark would have found his dumb ass in jail, or knifed in a bar if it wasn't for his family keeping him outa trouble and working at the airport. He was a piece of work, refused openly to follow his own SOP's and when he kills somebody scud running a Hawker 800 in and out of the mountains of New England I'll have a shot of Jack and toast the guy I learned everything about not doing in an airplane. It's no wonder him and his brother don't talk, course Mike spent most of his time trying to run the company as well as his late father.
I use my current Chief Pilot to try and get some stuff done around MEM because our ramp and it's equipment is falling apart. I figure it might save some buddies of mine someday. We had a real bad day with icing in MEM a year back and it about killed somebody. I declared war on Aramark ramp management and have been trying to get the lot of them thrown on their butts ever since. He's a good dude, hell of a man, like I said, 25 years of service in the United States Navy, but he's still management and he'll be back on the line soon enough I expect.
You ever work an Ops position Deuces?
