Why visit ACE ’25?
Chris McGee works as chief pilot at CAM Air Management, the company she established in 1983 when she first earned her PPL. Though CAM Air isn't an AOC operator, the company manages aircraft for high net worth individuals in the Middle East and has a certificate in that region.
Says McGee of her early career: “I was part of the 'self improver' route while it still existed. I worked two or three jobs at the same time for money, and then flew it off at the weekend to get my hours. Then I was fortunate enough to get my first aviation position as a pilot's assistant, which used to exist in those days. This allowed me to build up some more hours, and get the ratings on the aircraft that they flew.”
When her employer fell on hard times, McGee was back on the market, and through some jet charter contacts, she managed to develop a familiarity with Citations. “I managed to gain some experience on the Citation, and when I'd got a couple of hundred hours on that, again it was time to go and get the rating.
“All of these things have been self-funded. I've never had any input from anybody, and my parents weren't particularly well-off, so I saw it as an investment to try and spend the money that I was earning on furthering my future career.”
A Hawker 125 series rating followed, and this led on to the Learjet 30 series, mainly the 35 and 31. The next type was the Citation X, and eventually she progressed to the Gulfstream 550, which she continues to fly today.
“It's quite a range. But I guess you could almost say it's like technology these days – you buy a laptop and you think it's absolutely fantastic, and then two weeks later it's obsolete, and you can't just upgrade to the next one!”
As to her current responsibilities, McGee says that the team she manages is excellent, and her main duty is just to let them do their jobs: “They are all experts: professional, enthusiastic and conscientious. They don't need me meddling!
“More accurately I can talk about what my responsibility isn't, and my responsibility isn't micro-management. I see my responsibility as almost like the simulator instructor would see his responsibility, in that he is God's eye. It's the viewpoint you have; a case of maintaining an overall viewpoint of the way the company is running in terms of safety, efficiency, morale and service to the customers.”
Often, her role is to keep a close eye on strategy, the direction the company is taking, and other legislative issues which require addressing. Delegation forms a crucial part of this too: “My job is to pull in the appropriate resources to deal with the job at hand. It is not a case of doing everything yourself.
“If something pops across your desk, your job is to read it, be aware of it, digest what's in that information and pull in the appropriate expert. I'll give them their brief, and then they will go off and do it.”
McGee doesn't believe that her personal role as chief pilot has altered over the years, but does feel that the role has changed in the industry at large. “As we get loaded up with more and more legislation and regulation, the job of keeping track of where things are going is becoming increasingly complex. It used to be easier I would say for a chief pilot to have that legislative knowledge at the tip of their fingers and be responsible for that. These days you do need a team of experts with you to help.”
Recruiting new members of the team is the part of her work which she takes the most pleasure in, and seeing these new recruits grow in confidence and display leadership qualities is especially rewarding: “Rather than waiting for that instruction, as they become more proactive and they start to build their own projects and make suggestions and make input, the confidence in their voice and their own opinion just increases. It really makes me grin when that happens.”
The 'meshing of cultures' in the Middle East can be challenging, and McGee has to regularly ensure that difficulties are smoothed over. She is not afraid to be at the front line and engage in activities which may be undesirable and beyond the realm of some chief pilots. “I don't just sit in the office without venturing out. Perhaps people will be surprised to see me on the ramp assisting the FBO guys with the lavatory service. Sometimes if the hostesses are a little bit overloaded with things coming into the galley, and I've done what I need to do and my co-captain or crew member doesn't require me at that moment, I'm more than happy to pitch in and help with washing-up or anything else which is required.”
McGee sees flying the line as another essential requirement however, because spending too much time in the office will isolate her from crew and passengers alike. “If this happens you can lose sight of the big picture quickly. It's a cliché but it is vital to fly the line because that is where the coalface is. You've got to keep an eye on what is going on.”
It has been a long and eventful journey to progress her career to its present level, yet her fondest memory harks back to the first time she was offered the job as a pilot's assistant and drove home knowing she had got the position she had always dreamed of. “That was the first step on the road to being a professional pilot and that was the first time that somebody put faith in me and gave me the dream that I'd been working towards since I knew what I wanted to do as a living. I still see that moment as magical.”