on a Global Express, but I had zero
hours in the actual jet, so if you’re a
very wealthy individual and you’ve
just bought a $60 million shiny new
toy, are you going to hire a guy that
doesn’t have any experience to be your
captain?”
While contract work enabled
Essery to build his hours up on the
Global Express, the life of a contractor
had its challenges.
Pilots are often called to work at
short notice, meaning it is hard to plan
holidays with family or catch-ups with
friends.
Further, contract pilots are
responsible for maintaining their
qualifications, with refresher courses
often running at $25,000 a year, plus
travel costs if the only simulators
available happen to be in Dubai or
Long Beach, California.
“Even though contract does sound
great because you can theoretically
work when you want to work, in
practice it doesn’t really work that
way,” Essery says.
“And you have to say yes because
if they call you once and you say you
are busy and they call a second time
and you say you are busy, they won’t
be calling you a third time so you’ve
got to be prepared to pretty much say
yes most of the time, unless you have
already said yes to a different job.
“So it has pros and cons. If you have
built up a nice cadre of companies
that trust you, the work can be fairly
regular, fairly steady.”
Essery did eventually land jobs
working for several big Australian-
based companies, both corporate
jet management companies and for
privately-owned jets.
He says one of the major
differences working directly for the
corporate jet owner, rather than
through a management company,
is the way rules around fatigue
management and risk management
are applied.
This is particularly the case in
North America.
“There’s certainly a lot of
interesting characters out there who
are just trucking around and would
struggle to get a job flying with
an airline because their personal
standards are just dodgy,” Essery says.
“I’ve seen examples where they will
take off full gas out of a short strip
surrounded by hills just so they don’t
have to stop and refuel en route. But
if they lose an engine on takeoff they
are gone.
“Whereas when you fly charter it
is under the charter rules so you are
basically like a mini airline and youare beholden to all the standards of
things like fatigue management, fuel
management, all the good stuff. The
company can’t be dodgy, it has to
conform with regulations.”
In simple terms, Essery says it is
like being the driver for someone who
owns a Lamborghini.
“There’s nothing stopping
you going out and driving that
Lamborghini all the way to Ayers Rock
because the owner requires you to and
it’s a private vehicle, so you can do
whatever the hell you want,” Essery
says.
“But would you? Is it a sensible
thing to do? And most people would
say no. Most people would say what
the hell are you doing driving a
Lamborghini on red dirt roads all the
way out to Ayers Rock. It’s not a wise
thing to do.
“Some owners buy jets based on
the glossy brochures but its up to
the pilots to educate them so they
appreciate the safe way to fly them.”From the bush to the world
Clive Brookes’ career path was perhaps
typical of those looking at a career in
aviation in the 1970s and 1980s.
He self-funded his pilot training,
including paying for lessons, taking
mates away for the weekend to help
build up hours (to share costs of hiring
the aircraft) and eventually landed a
gig as a self-described “bush pilot”.
From those early days, Brookes
then flew coastal surveillance,
operated charters on King Airs and
then got into night freight flights on
corporate jets such as the Learjet and
Westwind.Sunrise as seen through the
head-up display of a Global
Express.MARK ESSERY‘When they
want to go,
that’s it,
you go.’
CLIVE BROOKESBiz jet set
An Airservices ARFF monitor
cross marks Clive Brookes’
retirement flight before focusing
on consultancy work.