After flying aerial survey work in Alaska as a low timer, he transitioned to flying a King Air, followed by a Cessna 414 and 206. During one trip, two King Air crews landed in Casper, WY and refueled. The FBO told them, ‘it usually takes us a month to go through that much fuel!”—another example of how business aviation contributes to small town economies across the United States. “One of the perks of flying 135 is traveling to small towns and supporting small town airports, FBOs and restaurants,” said Pratt.
Pratt was eventually promoted to managing personnel, hiring and maintenance for a fleet of eleven Cessna 206s. Afterwards, he transitioned to flying jets. “Transitioning to jets can be a bit of a learning curve if you don’t have experience in a high performance aircraft,” said Pratt. “Typically, they’re looking to see if you have had any formal training – are you doing diverse flying and how many hours do you have?” His experience with the King Air, a high performance aircraft that requires a type rating, worked to his advantage; as it meant that he had already undergone a formal training program with Flight Safety.
First Officer Pratt has the following advice for pilots who are just getting started: “Focus on learning the ins and outs of your profession. Focus on airmanship. Focus on learning the regulations. In the part 91/135 world there’s a lot of gray area, and that’s where you have to be strongest – especially if you have low time – that will really shine in the interview process. Knowledge can translate into ‘being trainable.’ They’re investing a lot of time and resources into you and there’s some risk involved; especially if you’re a low time pilot. And I can’t emphasize it enough, but networking!”
Last updated May 5, 2020
International Business Aviation Council Ltd.