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A moment of commemorative silence for all the aviators out there: it’s officially summer. 

When summer kicks in, the business aviation in Europe starts to spin around like a washing machine. 

It’s basically an apnea of 4 months in a row, with a little bit of truce in the two middle weeks of August. 

VIP pilots and flight attendants are all super busy in trying to face the rise of demand for private jets. 

Concept clarification first. 

In particular if you work for a charter-operation-based company, your routine will be very high from May to September. 

By charter operations I mean when the jet is rented to a customer who wants to fly somewhere. 

The customer on board your flight is therefore not the owner of the jet but somebody who paid for it for that specific flight. 

And after you happily took him/her to his final destination,  you have another customer who booked the jet afterwards. 

And it goes on like this every day for the entire length of your rotation (for example 15 days) for a general amount between 2 and 4 sectors per day, if they are short flights.  

In business aviation those four months are the moment of highest revenue for a private jet operator. 

It’s basically the only moment when the music is on and you are on the dance floor. 

Of course you dance! As log as possible, as many songs as possible!

Daily hassles.

Eat, sleep and even visit the toilet is a daily hassle in particular if your day is 10-12 or even 13 hours of duty, for multiple days in a row.

Only if you fly long haul you do one sector per day.

But don’t forget that a jet who can fly 14 hours non stop can also fly for 2 hours, two or 3 times a day!

Do you know that feeling when you are so much tired you can’t even stand straight for the time of a shower?

Well, I usually impose myself to keep on going with the personal beauty routine despite the tiredness, however I admit that sometimes is difficult. 

Keep the focus with strategy.

Also organising so many flights in one single day is very tiring. 

What I find useful is to impose myself to keep the count. 

I start in the morning with a mantra like this:  today I have 4 missions. Fine! Minus one, minus two…”

To count backwards is helping your brain to release the stress because you make it lighter, somehow. 

Also, try to think a few steps forward in order to save time.

Remember that your brain becomes rubbish when you are tired.

Oh yes! This is a fact. 

When you have lack of food or sleep you can’t concentrate for much time. 

Make notes. A lot of notes. 

How many laundry bags with table cloths and linen have you left for cleaning?

How many cool bags are stowed in the fridge by the airport or the hotel?

How many days can the flowers still be used for?

Are you sure you have all the equipment you need for the flight/s tomorrow?

Do not even try to remember things when you have busy working days!

You’ll end up seedings items around the world and then to recall them all is quite difficult. 

Make some room for self-time.

You need to unplug your brain at least once per day for several minutes. 

Do not procrastinate for too long, however keep in mind that you can write the flight feedback reports after dinner or tomorrow morning. 

Just give yourself the chance to breath. 

Do not always talk about work, and try not to complain. 

Not because complaining is impolite but because you need positive energy around you!

Keep the contacts with your family ad loved ones with video calls. 

We are social animals, I find that, to see them even just trough a video is a real booster!

Last but not least, have respect for your body and the signals that it sends to you. 

If you are tired, stop. 

The rest of the crew and your customers counts on you, your attentiveness and rapidity to take actions.