Series I - Vol 6

CARRIBEAN PHANTOMS

My name is Daniel Dunn and I own Aargus Air Charter, based in Grand Rapids, MI This is an new segment in an on going series of stories from my 38 years of flying that I hope you will find interesting.

Early in my career, during the late 70's, I did a lot of charter flying in the Caribbean out of Key Largo. A beautiful place and very "country" at the time. The old style double T telephone poles with sagging lines and a tightly knit local population where everybody knew most everybody else. I had a had house with canal access to the ocean side and a small 19' Robollo mono-hull with a 200 horse Merc on the back. Spent many pleasant days out on Molassis Reef.

In the summer of 1978, I had taken some friends over to Nassau, Bahamas in my single engine Piper Arrow to enjoy a weekend on the island's at the Casino. On Sunday about 3:00pm we departed the island in a single engine Piper Arrow headed back to Key Largo, our home airport. The airplane holds 4 persons and we were full. The sky was very blue and had loosely organized lines of billowing cumulus clouds most of the way making for a very scenic flight.

When approaching the US coastline from outside US airspace, which we were that day, there is an invisible perimeter line called the Air Defense Identification Zone, more commonly know as the "ADIZ". Every airplane entering the US from anywhere outside much pass over this line and must have filed a flight plan telling controllers who they are, what type of aircraft they will be flying, estimated time of ADIZ penetration, and where it will occur. This is there I way of identifying aircraft that may not be authorized and possibly up to something unsavory like smuggling drugs or worse. A call to local air controllers is generally made just prior to entering the zone to establish two way contact to further ensure that they know who you are.

On approaching the Zone and after making the mandatory call to ATC, I settled in for the last half hour of the flight. Minutes past and as I was studying my map with my head down, I sensed something in my peripheral. I looked up and to the left and was shocked to see and unmarked F4 Phantom military jet, just hanging the about 50 feet off my wing. He had after burners on to enable him to go slow enough to stay on position off my wing in a very nose up configuration. The pilot had a black visor helmet on and he did not attempt to look my way or signal in any way. He stayed that way for a good three minutes and just and quick as he came he peeled off in a steep descent to get his speed back. I watched him fade t the left. Suddenly from the right seat, where one of may passengers I heard a loud Woahhhh. To our right hung a second F4 in the same configuration, again with no marking whatsoever. It was not the first one because I could still see him exiting down to my left. As with the first, the pilot did not look our way. This was repeated again on the left with the first plane and a final time on the right with the second. And then they were just gone.

My next move was to contact Homestead Air Force base, about 50 miles away to ask if they had activity in my area, they said they did not. Once back on the ground I though the situation trough. We were only 75 miles form Cuba, but the aircraft could not have been from there because they were F4s. Cubans operated Russian Meg aircraft. My conclusion was that these aircraft were most likely part of some US based, convert operation. On seeing our small aircraft, they decided to have a little fun or perhaps just practice intercepts. That was definitely one of those "so glad to be back on the ground" moments for me. It could have very easily gone the other way. The Lord was truly riding the right seat that afternoon. There area were in lies directly inside the infamous Bermuda Triangle where usual things can happen. This was one of those things, but fortunate for us, it came to an uneventful conclusion.

Here's a very cool tool for those that have people coming or going on an airline flight. You can see real time where a given flight is and watch it progress. You can search for a given flight number to highlight it on the map. It also demonstrates how many aircraft there are in the air in the Midwest.

http://www.flightradar24.com/42.11,-85.76/8

Interesting cloud formation, is it not?

Watch Aargus Air Video

The most likely location of Malaysian Flight 370 is a location called Diego Garcia Air Force base, and American Base in the middle of the Indian Ocean, operated by the United States.
Click her to see maps and possible hangar it may be currently stored in.

http://aargusair.com/mh370.html

Where is Malaysian Flight 530 - Theory

Topic: More on MH Flight 530 (New additions to analysis items 6+ below)

FROM PREVIOUS POST (see new info items 6+ below)

Still dominating the media, the MH Flight 530 search has switched to a different part of the Indian Ocean. I have been very suspicious of the whole thing from about the first week in. As each day passes that no wreckage is found, I fear that the flight was somehow redirected to a country hostile to the US, probably Iran, Pakistan. Certain African countries, wittingly or otherwise, host a number of terrorist organizations' training camps. Should on of these organizations get their hands on a transcontinental Being 777, there could, in theory, load it with enough explosives and fly it to a destination that would make 911 look like a pack of fire crackers going off, with the potential to take out significant areas of wherever they may take it. Supporting this theory are that facts that;

1. The timing is right. Al-Qaida has not yet made good on their long term threat to do more harm to the US than 911. And perhaps the target is not the US, but some other country in the European block.

2. The tracking mechanisms (transponder and ACARS) were intentionally turned off many hours before the crash. This can really only happens if someone in control of the aircraft takes specific action to do it.

3. If the flight indeed did turn to the Northwest or West in the direction of locations that might covertly land the aircraft, they would want the world to believe and search in an area far from the aircraft's actual destination. If true, they could not have chosen a better area to make they world believe where it went down. Remote, high seas, bad weather... no better place on earth.

4. An arrival to a location mentioned above, or even Somalia , who is known for this kind of thing with large ships (but probably beyond the Somalian boat people's capability to pull off) would have been within fuel range of the aircraft. An arrival time would have been at approximately 5:00 to 6:00, still under the cover of darkness. A steep, power off descent, very quiet, in to a desolate area could have been made in a location where no general population exists within perhaps only 20 mile radius and no one but the perpetrators would have known.

5. The Malaysian Government may or may not have played a part in it. They have been less than forthcoming with information, have given less that accurate information on occasion and announced earlier this week to the relatives of the people on the flight have all perished, without any solid physical evidence. The relatives responded in uproar saying "we want proof". The very next day the Malaysian authorities gave them what they wanted, more alleged French photos of the area where 122 pieces were found of debris no one cold quite yet identify as pieces of an aircraft. In the an area of the Indian Ocean around where they were originally searching, the ocean currents essentially collect debris from the entire Indian ocean and spin into a center area of the ocean. Unrelated, there is another more infamous are in the Northern Pacific between the US and Japan the does the same thing. One would expect a huge amount of items of all types to be found in these areas.

NEW ADDITIONAL ANALYSIS

6. No debris found is a tremendous indicator that that aircraft did not go down into the ocean.
a. If the aircraft "ditched", the engines would have sheared off causing the aircraft to open fuel and oil ports, venting a slick of both into the ocean. This slick would remain and travel with the currents. Additionally, it would have been next to impossible for the best of pilots to ditch at night in relatively heavy seas and not have the aircraft at least partially break up. Aboard the aircraft are countless objects that would float and the debris, or at least a bit of it would have been spotted by now.

b. If the aircraft entered the ocean at a steep angle intact, driving the entire ship well beneath the surface quickly, the increased pressure on the descent to the bottom of the ocean would have caused a breakup. Internal cabin pressure on the 777 is about 6-7 psi and probably has a safety factor of 2 to 3 times that. Ocean pressure is 14.5 psi at only 33 feet. In such case, the aircraft would have begun to implode at somewhere around 100 feet and again, some debris would have reached the surface.

c. If the aircraft somehow ditched completely intact, and IF the engines did not shear off, and IF the cabin were breached prior to sinking, filling with water, equalizing the pressure, it is remotely possible that the entire ship could have descended completely intact leaving no trace... a lot of big IFs. If the captain knew the aircraft was meeting the ocean, he or automation could have equalized the pressure, possibly enabling a complete intact descent. This still does not address the issue of 2 engines meeting the water at 150 knots. They would have come off. The forces in play here would have been relatively equivalent to hitting a brick wall with a car at 175 mpg

7. Regarding the pinging that was heard from the black boxes, in a perfectly though out plot by our unsavory characters referenced above, the could have obtained a black box from a retired aircraft sitting in dome remote s desert somewhere, restore it's functionality. A day prior to the aircraft going missing, the box could have been purposely flown to where the pinging was detected and dropped in to the deepest part of the ocean, which is exactly where the pinging was heard. If they wanted the world to believe the aircraft truly went down, it would be the perfect addition to the plan. It will probably be years, if ever, that any final conclusion is reached that the aircraft can never be found.

8. The people on board the aircraft could have been summarily dispatched or perhaps held until the event they plan occurs, at which point their existence becomes irrelevant to
the terrorists. Eliminate them, let them go, it will not matter at that point.

9. Add to this the fact that no agency or media source has presented in detail this scenario. These are smart people and the probably reached the same potential outcome long before I did. It would be quite traumatic to the world at large and the airline industry to know that there is a Boeing 777 on the lose in the hands of a terrorist organization.

I do admit, this is certainly fringe thinking, but given all the circumstances surrounding this event, things just do not add up. Frighting as it is,
to date, this is the only analysis that encompasses every aspect of this event.

Topic: More on MH Flight 530

  Still dominating the media, the MH Flight 530 search has switched to a different part of the Indian Ocean. I have been very suspicious of the whole thing from about the first week in. As each day passes that no wreckage is found, I fear that the flight was somehow redirected to a country hostile to the US, probably Iran, Pakistan. Certain African countries,wittingly or otherwise, host a number of terrorist organizations'
training camps. Should on of these organizations get their hands on a transcontinental Being 777, there could, in theory, load it with enough explosives and delivery it to a destination that would make 911 look like a pack of fire crackers going off, with the potential to take out significant areas of wherever they may take it. Supporting this theory are that facts that;

1. The timing is right. Al-Quaida has not yet made good on their long term threat to do more harm to the US than 911. And perhaps the target is not the US, but some other country in the European block.

2. The tracking mechanisms (transponder and ACARS) were intentionally turned off many hours before the crash. This can really only happens if someone in control of the aircraft takes specific action to do it.

3. If the flight indeed did turn to the Northwest or West in the direction of locations that might covertly land the aircraft, they would want the world to believe and search in an area far from the aircraft's actual destination. If true, they could not have chosen a better area to make they world believe where it went down. Remote, high seas, bad weather... no better place on earth.

4. An arrival to a location mentioned above, or even Somalia , who is known for this kind of thing with large ships (but probably beyond the Somalian boat people's capability to pull off) would have been within fuel range of the aircraft. An arrival time would have been at approximately 5:00 to 6:00, still under the cover of darkness. A steep, power off descent, very quiet, in to a desolate area could have been made in a location where no general population exists within perhaps only 20 mile radius and on one but the perpetrators would have known.

5. The Malaysian Government may or may not have played a part in it. They have been less than forthcoming with information, have given less that accurate information on occasion and announced earlier this week to the relatives of the people on the flight have all perished, without any solid physical evidence. The relatives responded in uproar saying "we want proof". The very next day the Malaysian authorities gave them what they wanted, more alleged French photos of the area where 122 pieces were found of debris no one cold quite yet identify as pieces of an aircraft. In the an area of the Indian Ocean around where they were originally searching, the ocean currents essentially collect debris from the entire Indian ocean and spin into a center area of the ocean. Unrelated, there is another more infamous are in the Northern Pacific between the US and Japan the does the same thing. One would expect a huge amount of items of all types to be found in these areas.

Call me a conspiracy theorist if you like, but the whole thing at this point just seems a little too fishy. The known facts just do not add up.

Malaysian Air 530 - Article 1

Topic: More on MH Flight 530

Still dominating the media, the MH Flight 530 search has switched to a different part of the Indian Ocean. I have been very suspicious of the whole thing from about the first week in. As each day passes that no wreckage is found, I fear that the flight was somehow redirected to a country hostile to the US, probably Iran, Pakistan. Certain African countries,wittingly or otherwise, host a number of terrorist organizations'
training camps. Should on of these organizations get their hands on a transcontinental Being 777, there could, in theory, load it with enough explosives and delivery it to a destination that would make 911 look like a pack of fire crackers going off, with the potential to take out significant areas of wherever they may take it. Supporting this theory are that facts that;

1. The timing is right. Al-Quaida has not yet made good on their long term threat to do more harm to the US than 911. And perhaps the target is not the US, but some other country in the European block.

2. The tracking mechanisms (transponder and ACARS) were intentionally turned off many hours before the crash. This can really only happens if someone in control of the aircraft takes specific action to do it.

3. If the flight indeed did turn to the Northwest or West in the direction of locations that might covertly land the aircraft, they would want the world to believe and search in an area far from the aircraft's actual destination. If true, they could not have chosen a better area to make they world believe where it went down. Remote, high seas, bad weather... no better place on earth.

4. An arrival to a location mentioned above, or even Somalia , who is known for this kind of thing with large ships (but probably beyond the Somalian boat people's capability to pull off) would have been within fuel range of the aircraft. An arrival time would have been at approximately 5:00 to 6:00, still under the cover of darkness. A steep, power off descent, very quiet, in to a desolate area could have been made in a location where no general population exists within perhaps only 20 mile radius and on one but the perpetrators would have known.

5. The Malaysian Government may or may not have played a part in it. They have been less than forthcoming with information, have given less that accurate information on occasion and announced earlier this week to the relatives of the people on the flight have all perished, without any solid physical evidence. The relatives responded in uproar saying "we want proof". The very next day the Malaysian authorities gave them what they wanted, more alleged French photos of the area where 122 pieces were found of debris no one cold quite yet identify as pieces of an aircraft. In the an area of the Indian Ocean around where they were originally searching, the ocean currents essentially collect debris from the entire Indian ocean and spin into a center area of the ocean. Unrelated, there is another more infamous are in the Northern Pacific between the US and Japan the does the same thing. One would expect a huge amount of items of all types to be found in these areas.

Call me a conspiracy theorist if you like, but the whole thing at this point just seems a little too fishy. The known facts just do not add up.

     Aargus Air has a new mobile site. Check it out   aargusair.com (from your cell)

      616-956-7600

How Valuable is Your Time

What's your time worth?

How about effective group communication while traveling and precise aircraft departure and return times tailored to your schedule? Using private charter, be it a charter jet or other type, saves time, adds flexibility, schedule convenience, and the knowledge that your trip will go smoothly, affording you business focus. Arrive at the airport and your charter flight will be taxiing out within minutes. On arrival at your destination, you'll be well rested, fresh, and ready for your business day.

Airline travel, as it evolves, becomes more and more frustrating and subject to delay inducing events, not to mention the unpleasant security checks, long lines, and those potential missed connections at mid-route stopovers. Missed connections can ruin or seriously delay your travel plans. Private charter relieves you of all of that risk.

We provide affordable charter jets and other aircraft to U.S. airports and select International destinations, departing from and to anywhere in the U.S.. We depart and return when you need to... the only schedule that's kept is your own... your limousine service by air!

Call today for a free quote... http://aargusair.com 616-956-7600

Business Aviation Means Millions of Highly Skilled Jobs | No Plane No Gain

Business Aviation Means Millions of Highly Skilled Jobs | No Plane No Gain

Road Trips in Half the Time!

Forget about jets for a minute. Let's talk the most basic business aviation out there...the twin engine airplane. An example would be the Beech Baron. Twin engine business airplanes can be incredibly cost effective and frequently out-perform travel by road.

From La Porte, IN to	Driving	Business Aviation	Time Saved	% Saved
• Chicago (Schaumburg)	2:00	0:45	1:15	63%
• Indianapolis	2:45	0:54	1:51	67%
• Detroit	3:30	1:05	2:25	69%
• Cincinnati	4:15	1:21	2:54	68%
• Cleveland	4:30	1:36	2:54	64%
• Columbus, OH	4:30	1:20	3:10	70%
Drive times shown are 1-way, as calculated by Google Maps from La Porte, IN

We recently did a comparison for a company in La Porte, IN comparing driving and business aviation to cities they often visit. (La Porte is 26 miles west of South Bend.) We used a basic twin engine airplane for the comparison, not a fancy business jet.

In all cases, airline flights weren't a viable option because the client would need to drive to South Bend, catch a commuter flight, go to a hub, and change planes. By the time they did all that, it was no faster than driving. But the business aviation flight could use the La Porte Municipal Airport.

It's not just the time saved in travel...it's what you can do with that time! If you find yourself dreading an upcoming road trip, you owe it to yourself to get a comparison like this.

Why You Need to Know How to Charter a Plane

Business Aviation Education from Aargus Air Charter                                                                                  Volume 1, Post 23

Have you ever had a morning like this?

At 10:45 AM, I checked with the airlines to see if I could fly four people from Grand Rapids non-stop tomorrow morning for 9:00 meetings, then back home anytime after 2:00 PM. I compared two cities, one that is a non-stop and the other that always requires a connection.

Cincinnati Trip

• The airlines: The best the scheduled airlines could manage was two seats on the 7:20 flight arriving Cincinnati at 8:41. You won’t make a 9:00 meeting from the airport in Covington, KY except by pure dumb luck; but maybe your client will push back the meeting to 9:30 for you. Round-trip airfare per person was $1,141. The non-stop return flight gets home at 9:11 PM.

• Aargus Air Charter: A turbo-prop was available to carry all four passengers to and from Cincinnati for a total of $5,534. Compares favorably to the airline’s last minute full-fare coach cost of $4,564 (assuming four seats had been available.) You’d depart Grand Rapids at 7:15 AM arriving downtown Lunken Airport at 8:30 AM in plenty of time for your 9:00 Meeting. The flight home departs six minutes after you get to the airport and lands in Grand Rapids 75 minutes later.

Pittsburgh Trip

• The airlines: The earliest arrival in Pittsburgh departs Grand Rapids at 5:45 AM and gets to PIT at 9:37. And there are only 2 seats left, not the four you need. Price per person was $1,001. The best return leaves PIT at 3:10 PM arriving Grand Rapids at 5:53 PM. The outbound flight connects in Detroit; the return connects in Cleveland.

• Aargus Air Charter: A turbo-prop was available to carry all four passengers to and from Pittsburgh non-stop for a total of $5,800 or $1,450 each. Compares favorably to the airline’s last minute full-fare coach ticket of $4,004 if four seats had been available.

In my research, I couldn’t get any people to a meeting on time tomorrow morning using the airlines. My only choices were send them today and stay overnight; or try to get the meeting moved back to later in the morning. And unless some folks traveled today, I couldn’t get four people to either city at all tomorrow morning.

And that’s why you need to know how to charter a plane!

Call Dan Dunn at Aargus Air Charter with all your questions and to arrange your trips.

(616) 956-7600 or (616) 822-0099

When Should You Fly the Airlines?

Business Aviation Education from Aargus Air Charter                                                                                  Volume 1, Post 22

You should use the airlines for most of your trips. Shocked? Airline travel often is the right choice. We’d never suggest using business aircraft for every trip.

What kind of trips should you take on the airlines?

• Weeklong round trips would be a good choice. If you’re flying from Grand Rapids to Sacramento on a Monday morning, working all week, and coming back on Friday, using the airlines usually makes sense.

• Same day round trips where you can go non-stop. Say you’re flying from Grand Rapids to Chicago, working in town all day, and flying home after dinner. You may need to get up at 4:30 AM to catch the first flight out.  And the last flight home is often delayed. But you'll likely be in bed by midnight.

• Trips for that rare client who lets you bill for travel time. If you miss a connection, or there’s a delay taking off, at least you’re billing for it.

When should you fly in business aircraft? When time, speed, privacy, delivery, or flexibility gives you an immediate advantage greater then the difference in cost.

Call Dan Dunn at Aargus Air Charter with all your questions and to arrange your trips.

(616) 956-7600 or (616) 822-0099

Save “At Risk” Accounts Using Business Aircraft

Business Aviation Education from Aargus Air Charter                                                                                  Volume 1, Post 21

At least once this year, you're going to come very close to losing a major client or customer to a competitor. Even though the client is using your services, there are competing firms trying every day to get that client away from you and onto their books.

Although a business customer may have been using your products for years, your competitors have never stopped calling on them, building rapport, and asking about needs. One day, all your competitor’s efforts start paying off…and you are in serious danger of losing this account you’ve always assumed was “safe.”

I guarantee you a conference call or web meeting isn’t going to save this account. 

You’re going to have to save it in person.

Don’t waste time with the airlines. You’ll never get there fast enough. By the time you learn the account's at risk, you’ll be lucky if you have 24 hours to save it. In many cases, you’ve got less than a day.

You need to go straight to the airport, hop into a business jet, and get to your client or customer by the fastest means possible. If you get that “goodbye” call at 9 AM, you need to take them to lunch that very same day. If you get the call at 1 PM, guess what city you need to eat dinner in that night?

When you’ve got hundreds of thousands of dollars in sales and revenue riding on one account, don’t try to save it flying on the airlines. You don’t want the lowest fare. You want the fastest trip and you need to go right now!

Better call Dan Dunn at Aargus Air Charter!

(616) 956-7600 or (616) 822-0099

Visiting Reference Accounts in Business Aircraft

Business Aviation Education from Aargus Air Charter                                                                                  Volume 1, Post 20

Prospective customers often want to visit a reference account to see your product or service in use. The prospects also want to questions the folks that have been using it every day.

Visiting a reference account is a routine part of your sales cycle; but it’s fraught with peril. What happens if the prospect is a six-hour airline trip from your reference account…and that’s if the connecting flight is on time?

If the prospect arrives frazzled and upset from the trip, you’re going to have a rough visit. And because it was a six-hour trip one way, the prospect might have to stay overnight. That means, in most cases, only one person made the trip and the rest of the decision makers stayed behind.

Imagine, instead, that you charter a jet to pick up your prospect…and the entire decision-making team…and fly them non-stop in two hours to an airport 15 minutes from the reference account. You have cars standing by to whisk them to the location. No muss, no fuss, happy relaxed prospects eagerly looking forward to seeing your product or service being used.

When the visit is over, the cars whisk them back to the field, and six minutes later your future customers are wheels-up and heading home for dinner with their families. But wait! That’s not all.

Imagine you're on that jet, sitting with your prospects, discussing everything they learned during their visit. You’re helping them debrief, organize their observations, and…since the entire decision-making team is aboard…why not close the sale at 35,000 feet?

Call Dan Dunn at Aargus Air Charter with all your questions and to arrange your trips.

(616) 956-7600 or (616) 822-0099

Shorten The Sales Cycle By Flying Instead of Driving!

Business Aviation Education from Aargus Air Charter                                                                                  Volume 1, Post 19

How often do your top sales people spend 8 hours driving for a 1-hour sales meeting? Let’s say you’re based in Grand Rapids and have a sales meeting with an Indianapolis company. Google Maps show it’s an 8-hour round trip.

How likely is it you’re going to convince people from manufacturing, shipping, customer service, and technical support to squeeze into your mid-size sedan for an 8-hour road trip? If you’re lucky, maybe one of them agrees to make the trip.

That helped, but the prospect still isn’t sold and now wants a face-to-face meeting with someone who didn’t make the trip. At the next meeting, someone else at the prospect’s company insists on meeting in person with one of your people who did not make the trip.

Your 8-hour road trip ends up being four or five road trips, that get spread out over five or six weeks. Any wonder the sales cycle is so long? On top of that, you’ve just killed an entire week of productivity driving 40 hours to meet 5 hours face-to-face.

Why not shorten the sales cycle by putting everyone you need in a chartered twin-engine business airplane?  You could fly there and back in 2 hours or less.  A typical aircraft would be the Beechcraft King Air or the Cessna Conquest. You’d have comfortable seating, fold out worktables, and complete privacy in which to plan the meeting and debrief on the way home.

It’s your choice. 40 hours on the highway, listening to passengers whine about being dragged along to a meeting, “just in case the prospect has a question,” or having people begging to go so they can get a ride on the “company plane.” And closing the sale on the first meeting!

Call Dan Dunn at Aargus Air Charter with all your questions and to arrange your trips.

(616) 956-7600 or (616) 822-0099

Business Aviation Is More Than You See on TV

Business Aviation Education from Aargus Air Charter                                                                                  Volume 1, Post 18

Based on what you see in the movies and on television, you’d reasonably assume all business aircraft were luxuriously appointed, 14-passenger large cabin jets. But did you know that the vast majority of business aircraft seat six passengers in a cabin roughly the size of a large SUV and fly average trips of less than 1,000 miles?

I’ll bet you also thought that only major corporations use business aviation. It turns out that Fortune 500 companies fly about 3 percent of the approximately 15,000 business aircraft registered in the U.S. Small companies operate the majority of business aircraft. Most companies (59 percent) operating business aircraft have fewer than 500 employees, and seven in 10 have less than 1,000 employees.

TV and movies would also have you believe that only the President or CEO of the company uses the business jet, with most of the seats going empty. The facts are quite different. Most business aviation flights involve time-critical trips by sales, technical and middle management employees, not trips by top executives.

How does this information change your thinking about business aviation? What have you taken for granted about business aviation, based on television, books, and movies? What questions do you have and what assumptions can we confirm or clarify?

Facts in this post are from the 2010 NBAA Fact Book available online at http://noplanenogain.org

If The Airlines Don’t Go There, Anymore…

Business Aviation Education from Aargus Air Charter                                                                                  Volume 1, Post 17

If the airlines don’t serve a city you need to visit regularly, you owe it to yourself and your company to investigate using business aircraft on a regular basis. Chances are, if you’re going to a city frequently, so are others in your company.

Did you know you could set up a corporate shuttle? While you might have thought you needed to fill a regional jet to have a shuttle, the fact is you can set one up for as few as three passengers using an aircraft the right size for the trip.

Even if the airlines can get you there, how difficult is the trip? You can fly to only 23 cities from Grand Rapids non-stop on the airlines. That means at least one connecting flight each way to go anywhere else.

The commercial airlines service about 500 US cities. To get anywhere else, you’ve got to drive…and that’s after making a connecting flight to the closest commercial airport. Business aviation serves 5,000 cities because business aviation uses all the public airports…not just the ones served by the airlines.

Call Dan Dunn at Aargus Air Charter with all your questions and to arrange your trips.

(616) 956-7600 or (616) 822-0099

Business Aviation Lets You Stop Along The Way

Business Aviation Education from Aargus Air Charter                                                                                  Volume 1, Post 16

Have you ever sat in a window seat on a commercial airliner, looked out and thought, “Gee, I wish we could land here. I’ve got customers in that city.”

One of the best things about business aviation is that you can land there! While the airlines have inflexible routes and schedules that fit their needs, business aviation allows you to pick the cities you need to visit, and arrange a schedule that works best for you.

Let’s say you've chartered a cost-effective twin engine plane for your sales manager, one of your technicians, and yourself to fly from Grand Rapids to Evansville, Indiana for a morning sales presentation. After closing the sale (bringing the technician was a smart move) and taking the new customers to lunch, you head back to the airport.

Realizing it’s only 1:30 and you’ve got the entire afternoon free, you ask the Captain if you can fly home by way of Dayton, Ohio where you’ve got a key supplier you’d like to visit. The Captain gets on the phone with the dispatcher, files a revised flight plan, and in almost no time at all has you airborne and headed for Dayton. Try that on a scheduled commercial airline!

Call Dan Dunn at Aargus Air Charter with all your questions and to arrange your trips.

(616) 956-7600 or (616) 822-0099

Privacy When You Fly

Business Aviation Education from Aargus Air Charter                                                                                  Volume 1, Post 15

As we all know, there is little enough privacy in a public airport terminal and none at all once you are on board a commercial airliner. Even the airline membership clubs have virtually no privacy. You’re typically within earshot of a competitor.

Why not take advantage of the privacy afforded by business aircraft when you have urgent and confidential matters to discuss and prepare before reaching your destination? If you need a private conference room, almost every business aviation terminal, or FBO, has one for your use.

Once aboard the plane, you can review materials, discuss matters, and work on presentations without strangers looking at your laptop or listening in. Most business aircraft offer club seating. Use that seating arrangement like a flying conference room. Your sales team can use it as a place to debrief the calls they just made and to discuss the next steps in the sales cycle.

Call Dan Dunn at Aargus Air Charter with all your questions and to arrange your trips.

(616) 956-7600 or (616) 822-0099.

Introducing Your New Sales Rep

Business Aviation Education from Aargus Air Charter                                                                                  Volume 1, Post 14

Sometime this year, odds are pretty good you’ll be hiring a new sales person for one of your territories. When that happens, please keep in mind that chartering a plane for a few days makes good sense. The rep and the sales manager can blitz the territory, seeing a lot more customers in a few days than driving or flying the airlines.

Since this would be a new hire, the sales manager will need to observe, critique, train and coach. If they travel by car, one of them would always be driving, and couldn’t make or refer to any notes. And if they flew on the scheduled airlines, there would be no privacy to discuss confidential matters.

I’m not suggesting a business jet. To cover a typical sales territory in a few days, you would often be better served with a cost-efficient twin-engine business airplane, typically carrying 2-4 passengers. 

While slower than a business jet, these personal-sized business airplanes are perfect for barnstorming a sales territory, as they can land at any airport near the customers and prospects. They are also cost-effective. We can often demonstrate, to your CFO’s complete satisfaction, that you can break-even when compared to driving and spending extra nights on the road.

Call Dan Dunn at Aargus Air Charter with all your questions and to arrange your trips.

(616) 956-7600 or (616) 822-0099.