He’s Capt. Jerry Ward, and he’s flown it all for 20 years with USA Jet. For him, cargo variety is the spice of cockpit life. No flight is ever the same and it’s that spontaneity and diversification that keeps him happy.

Ward, who was born and raised in Detroit, says working at a smaller airline like USA Jet suits him—and his family—because it means lots of opportunities for him when he’s working and more time at home when he’s not. At work, it translates to wearing more hats than just that of captain, he says. The “never-a-dull-moment” environment at USA Jet means no boredom or predictability when the call comes in to fly a trip.

Ward is the embodiment of the term, veteran, having flown every airplane that’s been a part of USA Jet’s fleet. “I feel I have a broad perspective on the entire company,” he says. He began flying Cessna 310s when USA Jet was born, shortly after its founders identified the auto parts industry as a potential customer and carved their niche as an on-demand charter operator. Ward retains a very clear understanding of the airline’s customer base.

“The economics of an assembly line are so costly that the cost for hiring charters is a small percentage,” he calculates. “Those customers want performance, speed … the job done now. So we go all out to service them. If our flights can meet FAA-legal minimums to get there, we are going to give it a try. We’re like fighter pilots that scramble as quickly as we can. We’ve all become very professional about it all and we’ve learned to deal with the spikes and lows that characterize this business.”

As an example, Ward recalls an ice storm in February 2003 that abruptly stopped auto parts coming from Mexico through the Midwest via truck. “We were going day and night once airports opened,” he says. “You get up for it, often flying in the worst weather anyone can fly in, and often at night.”

Ward admits it can be difficult for pilots “flying on the back side of the clock,” and points out that USA Jet has sometimes lost experienced pilots when the demands of the job overwhelmed them. “Some say they want to drive the airplane, but can’t deal with the type of stress, schedules, and long days that we encounter.”

Don’t expect Ward to sugarcoat anything. But do expect him to tell you what’s great about flying at USA Jet. “It’s just plain exciting, going to a different place every day.”

Plus, he stresses that USA Jet offers excellent pilot training. “We’ve probably got one of the best training departments of any airline this size that you’ll ever see. Although we operate Part 135 airplanes, all of our training is done under Part 121. We have a dedicated ground instructor staff, computer-based training programs, and our own DC-9 simulator—the only one in Michigan. Our training is reminiscent of a much bigger airline. The most important thing, however, is that I’ve never missed a paycheck in my entire career.”

USA Jet, Ward believes, is successful because “it has all the systems in place to make everything go. Nobody in the country does it better. When you buy USA Jet’s service, you’re buying the whole airplane and people committed to your needs.”

No question, scheduling a USA Jet charter is expensive, costing between $15,000 and $30,000 for a trip, “but a manufacturer could lose from $5,000 to $50,000 a minute if they shut down the line,” Ward points out. “Everything downstream of that shut-down stops, too, and a thousand workers could be idled. If a manufacturer sees a problem coming, he calls us because he knows we’ll deliver.”

That ability to rise to the occasion repeatedly and professionally is due in no small part to the cockpit crew. Ward, like any pilot and like USA Jet’s hiring committee, doesn’t welcome personality clashes and he respects the lengths to which USA Jet goes to screen, hire, and train the best pilots who also possess other critical attributes.

Ward says he’d personally opt first for an applicant with excellent flying skills, preferably with experience in the jet environment. Second, he’d choose a person with a good attitude. The response, “It’s not my job,” won’t cut it at USA Jet, he says, where everyone pitches in for the common good.

“I like flying with someone who’s not afraid to lend a hand generally or help with cargo. Sometimes we have to monitor servicing of the airplane, usually at remote stations. We hire people to load, but the FO may have to supervise, monitor fueling, make sure all preflight items are handled, and if any post-flight issues are present, he needs to get them fixed prior to the next flight. Back at home base, we have employees to do that, [but] this is not a major airline job. We button up the airplane, plug the engines, make sure the plane is secure, unload our bags, find our way to the hotel. We’re not prima donnas and we like it that way.”

Add to Ward’s ancillary duty résumé his work on obtaining the airline’s passenger certificate: “I worked on it the last four months doing proving runs and FAA-required maneuvers.”

Ward lauds management’s recent decision to expand its operations to include passenger charters for sports teams and other special-interest groups.

“They said, ‘We’ve got an airline, so let’s do something with it.’ We’ve done a nice job and we’re getting rave reviews,” says Ward, who flew the first trip on Nov. 13 last year for Auburn University’s women’s basketball team, plus their coaches, parents, and boosters.

Indeed, cargo comes in all shapes and sizes, as a USA Jet pilot soon learns. Ward remembers flying Learjets for the company when a call came in from a DC-8 operator in Newark, New Jersey.

“It was during some bad weather and somebody had lost an oil cap for an engine. We had one at Willow Run, so I put it in a sandwich bag and stuck it into my pocket. Then I flew it to Newark. It’s probably the smallest thing I ever flew,” he laughs.

But it wasn’t the least important thing—no way. For Ward, every shipment is deserving of the best possible performance from USA Jet and from him. It’s all in a day’s—or more likely—a night’s work.