

Part 1: Taking The First Step By Matthew C. Keegan S o, you're considering a career in corporate aviation. Congratulations! This particular segment of general aviation is one of the most exciting and well paying fields in all of flying. Tens of thousands of other individuals have selected a similar pursuit including maintenance technicians, dispatchers, charter salespeople, flight attendants, customer service representatives, cockpit crew, and more. Each person and position brings a special contribution to the corporate arena, one that is both similar and vastly different from the commercial or airliner end of flying.

How to begin

Follow the yellow brick road! Oh, were it that easy. Unlike in commercial aviation, if you want to become a flight attendant you simply attend a company's open house to find out more information, fill out an application, get interviewed, hired, trained, etc. A lot of hand holding goes on in commercial aviation, however if you want that type of assurance in corporate aviation many more times than not you will be disappointed. Corporate [business] aviation is simply not structured that way.

Time to do some research

For starters, you have reached the right place. The Corporate Flight Attendant Community website and message boards acts as a gateway to business aviation for flight attendants. It isn't the only gateway, but it is one of the most informative. Knowledge is power and we try to empower people from the newbie all the way up to the veteran.

Read the message boards, particularly Just For Newbies. In addition the General Discussion board is a great place for, well, general discussions. Also check out our Inflight Services, Safety and Security, and Stress and Health sections for additional valuable information. Finally, make sure you look over the Job Opportunities board for sample job listings. Most jobs in this industry are not posted or published, simply put you have to do a lot of legwork and research to uncover who is hiring. If you are patient, persistent, and very pro-active you stand a chance of succeeding in this business. If you are passive, overly particular, and inpatient, then corporate aviation probably isn't what you want. It is as simple as that.

In addition to the boards, check out the Articles section of the web pages. Several articles for "Getting Started" in this industry are included. You'll notice a similar theme in many of them: corporate flight attendants are essentially a cabin manager in charge of the aircraft from the cockpit door on back. The person who is well versed and trained in customer service and safety issues will stand a better chance of employment than the person who isn't as well equipped.

Get some training

Unlike flying for the airlines, training isn't standardized. In fact, you could get hired by a company who will take you "as is." In many of those situations, the job is less challenging, the pay much lower. If they are willing to train you, then you are fortunate. Most corporate flight attendants must pay for their own training. Several training companies exist out there [more in a future article] and some do better than others as far as equipping the student to work on a corporate jet. For starters, visit our Industry Links page for links to companies. Compare what they have to offer against each other; see which one works out best for you.

Next: What type of jets will you be flying?

Author Information: