As an employee of ABS Jets since 2004, Stefan Kukura was one of the first to join the company, which now has offices in Prague and Bratislava. Since that time he has been pivotal in maintaining the operator's impressive safety record, and in addition to his flying duties, as flight director and head Legacy pilot he fronts the training and safety programmes, making sure that rules and regula-tions are correctly implemented and strictly applied to ABS Jets' missions. In 2012, his work was recognised by the NBAA, which gave him the Pilot Safety Award for 5,500 flying hours without accident, incident or damage and injury to people and property.

In 2013, the ABS Jets flight department employed a total of 40 crew members as permanent staff at its two bases of which 30 were pilots. Over the year, its crews safely clocked 3,146 flight hours and operated 1,954 flights, with commercial jets flying anywhere up to nine hours a day. Says Kukura: “Compliance with approved flying staff training programmes required that 276 ground training and simulator training sessions be organised. I ensured that each ABS Jets pilot spent an average of 36 hours a year in the classroom or by self-study on the computer, and cabin attendants 28 hours.”

In addition to Kukura's personal award, last year also brought recognition for the company as a whole, through the NBAA Commercial Business Flying Safety Award for operating business aircraft for nine years for a total of 21,177 consecutive hours without an accident. Kukura is proud of these achievements, but maintains that it took a great deal of hard work to bring the company to its current prosperity: “In 2004 we operated only a Citation Bravo and Legacy 600. These two business jets were two of the very first in all of the Czech and Slovak Republics and ABS Jets was also one of the first operators in the region, so you can imagine that the conditions were pretty tough.

“Being first meant settling the rules and conditions of business aviation from scratch, and required lots of education for pilots and flights crews. We had to cooperate very closely with local CAA represent-atives. Our operation has now turned into one of the biggest in the region. With a fleet of 11 aircraft, we need to keep standards consistently high in all respects.”

In addition to the regular responsibilities he encounters as chief pilot such as reporting to the flight operations manager, Kukura also engages in thorough checks of each aircraft type for suitability and safety in flight. The performance of the aircraft to be used must be adequate to comply with minimum flight altitude requirements, and all onboard equipment is checked rigorously. He cooperates with the technical pilot and technical department if problems occur. While pilot management is key, Kukura's duties extend to the welfare of the entire crew, and he rosters them accordingly and in compliance with time duty limitations. “I organise meetings of crew members whenever it is necessary, or when a violation of company regulations or procedures is identified,” he explains.

He does say that the 'permanent learning' can be a challenge, but is very enthusiastic about the range of cultures he comes across in his work. He concludes: “There is something important that people have to know about pilots too. They are not only pushing the autopilot button and then sleeping during a long range flight, but must be able to solve any unusual, abnormal situation even after 14 hours of duty.”