Non-Flying Jobs In General Aviation

Aircraft Sales and Brokerages

The buying and selling of aircraft is an art form unto itself. If you have a persuasive and persistent personality, then this might be just right for you. As in most sales positions, the pay can be high and is usually based on a commission. You must know a great deal about airplanes in general, or you may specialize in one make or even one model.

If you wish to demonstrate an airplane to a prospective owner, you must be a pilot with over 200 hours. However, in the case of higher-end airplanes and especially jets, the owner may often not be a pilot and will hire or have an aircraft management firm hire a crew.

At this altitude, aircraft sales are made or lost on the basis of numbers – fuel efficiency, depreciation, tax credits and all the “financials” that form a total package to the prospective buyer. In the end, a multimillion-dollar purchase is more dependent on numbers than anything else. If you are persuasive, analytical and good at working the numbers, then you might enjoy a job as an aircraft broker.

Sales, Sales, Sales

It is held that until somebody sells something, nothing happens. An aircraft charter doesn’t happen until someone sells one. Aviation people need lots of products and services, such as charts, headsets, electronics packages, maintenance overhauls and so much more. It all finds its way to market through sales people, whether through an FBO, a pilot shop or through an avionics dealer or maintenance facility.

Aircraft insurance brokers sell pilots and aircraft owners essential liability and hull (meaning the aircraft itself) insurance without which an airplane can fly, but at huge and unacceptable risk to the owner. Brokers are in the business of protecting their clients from financial disaster in case of a crash or physical damage to the aircraft, just as we buy car insurance.

Aircraft appraisers are an essential part of both the selling and insurance process, as when there is a loss due to aircraft damage, perhaps in a hurricane. Professional appraisers do their best to fairly establish the value of an aircraft based in part on its age, maintenance status, reputation, equipment on board and more. Reputable appraisers can earn six-figure incomes.

When All is Said and Done

At the end of the day, is aviation is just another segment of our large and diverse economy? No, not for those who love it. Whether for its dynamic nature, or because it’s a little unique, or for some other inexpressible reason, many who work in aviation accept smaller financial rewards because they love going to work every day. As someone wise once said, “If you love what you do, you will never work a day in your life.