Corporate F/A Dispatch

The Helium Report, dubbed as an “independent guide for wealthy consumers” is currently running a three-part series featuring their interview with Flight Options’ CEO Michael Scheeringa. As many of you may know, Flight Options is a fractional jet provider based in Cleveland, OH.

The first part of the interview discusses fractional jet providers and on-demand charters; the second part lists why fractional flying is safer than charter; and the third part will take a closer look at the Flight Options company and the changes they have made in the way that they do business over the past two years.

Although I don’t agree with the premise that fractional flying is any safer than on-demand charter, the fractional jet concept is one that corporate flight attendants may wish to explore further.

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It isn’t too early to bring it up, so I’m making an announcement today about next month’s NBAA regional forum in Fort Lauderdale, FL.

Date: March 22, 2007

Location: FXE

Details:

On March 22, 2007, a Business Aviation Regional Forum will be held at Aero Toy Store at Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport (FXE). The Forum will feature approximately 25 aircraft on Static Display, 50 indoor Exhibitors, and a number of seminars and briefings for the business aviation community. NBAA Senior Vice President of Operations Steve Brown will give a presentation on business aviation issues with local and regional officials.

Review the agenda or register online.

There are approximately five weeks left in this year’s NBAA Flight Attendant / Flight Technician Scholarship drive and already quite a number of people have told me that they are applying. This is good news as what you could win — free training classes — could save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars in fees.

The NBAA won’t say it and I cannot vouch explicitly what the odds are, but with 53 scholarships being awarded this year, your chances of winning are very good. If just 100 people apply, your odds of winning are 1 in 2…compare those odds with winning the lottery!

No, the NBAA isn’t telling me the number of applicants applying but I do know that my figure of 100 or so isn’t too far off the mark. Even if 200 people apply this year then your chances are still about 1 in 4 of winning.

Of course, if you don’t apply then your chances of winning are a big, fat ZERO. So, go ahead and enter — someone has to win!

You fly your corporate jet in optimum luxury out of Van Nuys, Burbank, or John Wayne Airports but how do you travel when on the ground?

If you are like many folks in the L.A. area, you leave your driving to Party Bus or Charter Buses providers especially when going with a group. By turning the driving to Charter Bus rental, Party bus rental, or Motor Coach Rental provider such as Royal American Tours you can take your group wherever you are going in luxury and style.

Don’t you and your guests deserve nothing but the best?

This has been a sponsored post.

It is very early in the game, but I am putting together a new job opportunities web site for members of the flying community.

Dubbed JetEmployment, the site is built on a blogging platform to give me an easier way to build the site as well as to measure traffic. Users will probably find the site easy to navigate with clearly named job categories featured in the sidebars.

I haven’t officially launched the site — that’ll come next week — but I wouldn’t mind if you paid the site a visit. This is my second “go” with an aviation job site and I am hoping that visitors will find this one to be an improvement over my first one (no registration, no membership).

For corporate flight attendants you may be a little disappointed if you think I’ll have more opportunities at JetEmployment. Instead, I’ll continue to feature those opportunities on our forums (we can’t have the entire world knowing about these opportunities now can we?)

Enjoy the sneak peek!

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An important part of the Corporate Flight Attendant Community web site is the catering section which can be reached by visiting www.corporatejetcatering.com. This isn’t the site’s direct web address, instead the URL redirects to visitors to an EZBoard site.

For those of you who have been part of our on-line community for some time, you probably remember when the main message boards were hacked back in May 2005. The overwhelming majority of EZBoard accounts were compromised, but Corporate Jet Catering (CJC) managed to weather the crisis intact. Since then the main message boards have incorporated within the www.corporateflyer.net domain while I left CJC alone.

The movement of CJC has been one of those “I’ll get to it” projects. I put it off because EZBoard fixed the security problems on their end and I didn’t have the time to make the change over. Now, I am working on a new format for CJC and am testing it as of this writing. The new site will be easier to use and most importantly it will be part of the www.corporateflyer.net address, completely unifying what had at one time been a farflung community of web sites.

I have no ETA set for CJC as I am doing plenty of backend testing as well as comparing various platforms to power the community. At some point over the next several months I’ll make an announcement about the new CJC section, unwrapping it for your participation. In the meantime, please continue to contribute to the existing site as I’ll be moving over your valuable comments to the new site.

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I made mention on our forums late last week that the 2007 NBAA Flight Attendants / Flight Technicians Scholarship period has opened. In case you missed the announcement, cabin crewmembers or those who aspire to become one are welcome to apply. This is a great opportunity for applicants as scholarships ranging from several hundred to several thousand dollars of free training will be awarded.

To enter, you must visit the NBAA site and follow the NBAA’s instructions for applying. This year, 53 scholarships from 18 vendors will be awarded. You must have your application in no later than March 30, 2007, with recipients being selected later that Spring.

The number of people who actually apply each year is quite small, so get your application in for the chance to win an educational experience which can only help your career as a corporate flight attendant.

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A few years ago I learned about the work of Angel Flight America, an umbrella organization with seven regional member organizations covering the USA. Angel Flight’s motto is best summed up in their mission statement:

Angel Flight® America (AFA) provides access for people in need seeking free air transportation to specialized health care facilities or distant destinations due to family, community or national crisis.

Several corporate flight attendants have told me that they have had an opportunity to fly people with life threatening illnesses. I can only imagine the gratitude of passengers who are able to fly privately especially when their lives are on the line.

If you are in the Washington, DC area on May 8, 2007, then that is when Angel Flight will be holding their Annual Tribute Banquet honoring their many supporters. It is also an important fundraising event for Angel Flight which has counted on the support of organizations, companies, and individuals such as the AOPA, Gulfstream, and the NBAA to sustain their operations.

Your flight department may be interested in sponsoring a table at this year’s event. If so, you’ll enjoy hearing keynote speaker Erik Lindbergh speak, the grandson of Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh. Lindbergh is a pilot and accomplished artist in his own right.

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