Page 11 - Volume 13 Number 11

using the Avcon Industries’ King Air Special Mission pod. Another plus factor is that the experience already gained of the precision flying required for mapping and relay flights, feeds directly into the skillset needed for surveillance and calibration tasks.
The legal framework is also under development for a shared ownership scheme, allowing private customers to purchase equity in the King Airs. Herman describes it as, “You get the benefits of part-owning an aircraft without the challenge that comes with managing it. Owners will have portal access allowing them to view availability of the aircraft and to schedule flights using a real-time system developed by Schedaero. Then we handle every trip detail from catering to maintenance. A unique feature of our program is that the pilots and crew are all Zeusch endorsed. You get the same aircraft, same staff and a team operating to the same high standards, every time you fly. The benefit is consistency, trust and familiarity – just as if you bought your own aircraft.”
Zeusch is a lean organisation, with just six fulltime staff, three in the office – a flight operations manager and two first officers. There are 10 freelance captains and eight monitoring pilots, though a staff captain will soon be appointed. The business model aims to have each aircraft flying at least 400 hours per year, with all flight crew being current on both types of King Air
aircraft. Opportunity is also given for enhancing flying qualifications and progressing to aircraft captaincy.
Having spent some time at Lelystad with Zeusch, I was left with the impression of a very friendly, committed, enthusiastic and knowledgeable staff, who, importantly, like working together. Con Zwinkels has a mantra, “Once it starts looking like work, you should really be doing something else for a living.” He has a light touch, meeting Herman once a fortnight to discuss everything, but otherwise empowering the staff with trust, freedom and responsibility. KA
Grateful thanks are due to Herman, Martha, Boudewijn and Yvette for their hospitality and help with this article.
Guy Warner is a retired schoolteacher living in Carrickfergus in Northern Ireland. He has written more than 30 books on aviation, military and naval topics and is working on several more. He has contributed articles to many magazines in Ireland, the United Kingdom and the United States. Guy
has also taken part in several radio broadcasts and TV programmes on the subject of aviation and naval history, reviews books for a number of magazines, gives talks to local history groups and other societies throughout Britain and Ireland and has acted as a consultant to the Royal Air Force, museums, local authorities and universities.
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NOVEMBER 2019
KING AIR MAGAZINE • 9