You may not know, but my husband is a corporate pilot. Whenever I post anything about us flying somewhere, I always get a million questions about the process. I decided the easiest way to answer all of them was in a blog post.
When did Bradley start flying?
Bradley started to pursue his passion when he was a senior in High School. He decided to forgo a college experience to continue pursuing a career in the corporate world. No, you do not have to have a degree to be a pilot. He has worked very hard to get to where he is at, and he paved the way himself.
Does Bradley work for Delta?
NO. This is always the first question we get when Bradley tells someone he is a pilot, especially because we are in the South. Bradley is a corporate pilot. He flies for a company out of Birmingham, and doesn’t plan on ever going to the commercial world.
Does Bradley fly us everywhere?
No. Bradley doesn’t fly us EVERYWHERE. I should probably also say that we do not have an airplane. The plane that Bradley flies is his boss’s (or bosses’, whatever). We have very limited use of it, so we only use it if we really really want to. Honestly, most of the time we drive everywhere, but if we fly we always fly the airlines.
Do we have flight attendants?
No. The plane we fly in is a 8 person plane… so no need for attendants. Now, in college, when I played volleyball, we would charter a plane to other colleges and it did have flight attendants. That plane was WAY bigger and it held 25+ people.
Do you have to go through security?
No. I have never been through security, except for when we went to the Bahamas and had to come back through customs. When you go to a private airport, you usually can drive up to the airplane and unload your bags, then get in and go. I think this is a MAJOR plus for people wanting to go the private aviation route.
Have I ever flown the plane?
Yes! Don’t let Bradley fool you… flying an airplane is easy. You turn on the autopilot and BOOM! you’re done. JK. Yes I have flown the plane. But there is a big difference between taking over the yoke (how you steer) in the air and landing/taking off. I have never done that by myself, but I do like to sit up with Bradley and learn as much as I can when he flies.
Have we ever been in a scary situation?
I have never felt like my life was in danger. I have so much confidence in Bradley and his ability to fly and make good decisions. However, there was one time that Bradley and I were both a little nervous. We were coming back from taking Bradley’s brother back to college. There was a huge storm coming towards us so we had to do an emergency landing to avoid the storm. As we were landing, the storm hit and the winds were CRAZY. That was the first and only time I saw Bradley sweat. He didn’t tell me until a little later that he was scared/uncomfortable in those moments. That’s the worst weather I’ve ever been in with him.
Can anyone sit in the co-pilot seat?
Yes! On Bradley’s plane, yes. It is a single pilot airplane so if you are one of his passengers you can sit up with him.
How much does it cost?
It is expensive. You have to really want to skip the hassles of the airlines to have your own airplane. Not only do you have the cost of acquiring the airplane, but you have to pay for fuel, maintenance, hangar rent, insurance, pilot/pilots salary, and many other expenses that most people don’t think about. If you rent a plane for the day, you don’t have all of these expenses but you do have things like an hourly rental rate, fuel and pilot fees. Fuel is expensive. Really expensive.
Is there a bathroom?
Yes. On the plane Bradley flies it’s a pee tube… There are a lot of planes that are about the same size that do have actual seats. but his does not. This always stresses me out TBH. I pee a lot so I always freak out that I’m going to have to use the tube when we fly… is that TMI?
Hopefully I answered all the questions you may have had about flying private. I’m answering from mine and Bradley’s experiences, so some things may be different from your experiences. Bradley and I are so thankful we have the luxury to be able to fly private, and I am so lucky to be married to a pilot, an amazing pilot at that. If you have any other questions please leave them in the comments below!
As always, all opinions and text are my own.
Stay Sweet! Stay Healthy! ♡
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