starman2112
Well-Known Member
So i've always wanted to work in Alaska, what sort of minumums can i expect from the average employer? any one out there got any great tales about flying in the final frontier?
Flying in Alaska
- Thread starter starman2112
- Start date
ppragman
FLIPY FLAPS!
1000hrs at a minimum, unless the economy goes crazy to fly 135. Probably more in this market. I learned to fly in Anchorage, and worked in Alaska for the last 3 and a half years until I moved here to oregon. It is what it is. The gigs you can get low time aren't necessarily the gigs you want. Keep that in mind. Oh, and be ready to fly a single for an extended period of time.
Romulus
Well-Known Member
I would say you might get in with less than 1000, but not much. Employers look for Alaska time and things like tailwheel experience. Have you worked in a remote part of the world? Are you going to quit when the winter rolls around? All things employers consider. Knowing someone can't hurt either. Plan on fueling, loading/unloading your own plane, and flying as long as the weather is legal to fly in. And after a while in a single you will upgrade to a bigger single. But the job is awesome!
R
Roger, Roger
Guest
Agree. Also, to get a job up here you pretty much have to either know someone, or move up and start knocking on doors. Many places will hire seasonal people to start in March/April so that would be the most advantageous time to be available. Right now things are slowing down for the long, cold winter and as I understand it you'd have to have pretty good luck to pick up a job here any time between now and spring.
Just do your homework and make sure you know what you're getting into. Even reputable operators will expect you to fly VFR in weather that would be uncomfortable for many 1000 hour pilots, even the well-maintained aircraft probably average 30 years old and 1 crash and therefore have their quirks, and even if the freight and fuel weights are right the fat-ass passengers will lie. Now, my Alaska time is a grand total of 2.1 hours, so one of the real Alaska aviators can give you more first-hand information, but if you get on with the right operator up here Alaska flying is probably the most fun you can have with your clothes on in an airplane. With the wrong operator, it's sketchy as all get out.
starman2112
Well-Known Member
Anybody know of a website or websites i can look at some employers?
ppragman
FLIPY FLAPS!
flyalaska.net, but you've gotta pay for the job listing part.
esa17
Well-Known Member
You're not prepared to fly in Alaska. Nothing you will read will prepare you nor will anything any we say. Forget those romantic notions of being an Alaska pilot, that's a fairy tale plain and simple.
Flying up there is frustrating, cold, wet, dirty, and potentially dangerous. It can be VERY dangerous if you make bad decisions which you will do. Once you start getting the hang of it then it's only marginally more dangerous than any other single engine piston flying. That said, there are certain places where if the engine quits you're pretty much just boned.
The locals are an interesting breed. Be ready to be in cramped quarters with people who don't bathe, have few teeth, and are drunk by 8am. They will complain about EVERYTHING and will let you know what you're doing wrong. Remember, they've been flying these routes for 30-40-50 years.
After reading that you might think I hated Alaska, on the contrary, I loved it. I'm hoping leaving wasn't the biggest mistake I've ever made. It was by far the best experience of my life. The flying is just flying. The winds will gust to 50 and you still have to land. The turbulence will scramble your brains and you will still have to fly. The visibility will be absolute crap and you will still have to find the airport. You will be uncomfortable, miserable, annoyed, and scared out of your mind.
And I loved every second of it.
The friends I made, the people I met, and the skills I developed make me exceedingly proud to have flown in the Land of the Midnight Sun.
As mentioned the operators up there sometimes hire seasonally and I got my job with 1700TT and ZERO AK or mountain flying experience. I didn't know anyone at the company that hired me nor did I have any other qualification that made my resume stand out from the rest. I suppose I just got lucky.
These pictures are of the same spot in drastically different weather conditions to give you an idea of how dynamic that place can be.
Flying up there is frustrating, cold, wet, dirty, and potentially dangerous. It can be VERY dangerous if you make bad decisions which you will do. Once you start getting the hang of it then it's only marginally more dangerous than any other single engine piston flying. That said, there are certain places where if the engine quits you're pretty much just boned.
The locals are an interesting breed. Be ready to be in cramped quarters with people who don't bathe, have few teeth, and are drunk by 8am. They will complain about EVERYTHING and will let you know what you're doing wrong. Remember, they've been flying these routes for 30-40-50 years.
After reading that you might think I hated Alaska, on the contrary, I loved it. I'm hoping leaving wasn't the biggest mistake I've ever made. It was by far the best experience of my life. The flying is just flying. The winds will gust to 50 and you still have to land. The turbulence will scramble your brains and you will still have to fly. The visibility will be absolute crap and you will still have to find the airport. You will be uncomfortable, miserable, annoyed, and scared out of your mind.
And I loved every second of it.
The friends I made, the people I met, and the skills I developed make me exceedingly proud to have flown in the Land of the Midnight Sun.
As mentioned the operators up there sometimes hire seasonally and I got my job with 1700TT and ZERO AK or mountain flying experience. I didn't know anyone at the company that hired me nor did I have any other qualification that made my resume stand out from the rest. I suppose I just got lucky.
These pictures are of the same spot in drastically different weather conditions to give you an idea of how dynamic that place can be.
Attachments
ppragman
FLIPY FLAPS!
I won't extrapolate on some of my adventures in the great white north. People won't believe me, or will tell me that I'm dangerous. They don't get it, they don't understand. I miss it already. Its real flying, man against the elements. You do dangerous challenging things not out of some cowboy machismo, but out of necessity. When the conditions change, it rapidly becomes "do or die" sometimes. That is not an exaggeration. Its not something that's special. Its simply different.
You fly up north to provide a service to a community. You do it to bring civilization and the creature comforts to people living on the far flung edges of the earth. You know the names of the people in the community you serve, you know their histories. You know some words in Yupiq, Inupiaq, or can converse about the intricacies of Tlingit tribal government.
On the flip side, its humbling. Nothing puts you in check like the fear of death. Like losing a friend, or like looking at aircraft wreckage at the top of Merrill Pass. Some guys drink to get over it. Others internalize their stress. Some are religious. Your life as a bush pilot will be filled with both confidence and self-doubt, fear and love, happiness and sadness, but more than anything, life in that kind of an environment is one that changes your perspective on how we fit into nature, and how nature sculpts our life.
You will be dominated by the seasonality of the work. You will look forward to different parts of the year for different reasons. At the end of the day, it will be both incredibly stressful, and outstandingly laid back. There are issues that you'd never deal with outside of that kind of flying. However, more often than not, you get a high level of autonomy, and are treated with respect. Its a good job, but it certainly isn't for everyone.
You fly up north to provide a service to a community. You do it to bring civilization and the creature comforts to people living on the far flung edges of the earth. You know the names of the people in the community you serve, you know their histories. You know some words in Yupiq, Inupiaq, or can converse about the intricacies of Tlingit tribal government.
On the flip side, its humbling. Nothing puts you in check like the fear of death. Like losing a friend, or like looking at aircraft wreckage at the top of Merrill Pass. Some guys drink to get over it. Others internalize their stress. Some are religious. Your life as a bush pilot will be filled with both confidence and self-doubt, fear and love, happiness and sadness, but more than anything, life in that kind of an environment is one that changes your perspective on how we fit into nature, and how nature sculpts our life.
You will be dominated by the seasonality of the work. You will look forward to different parts of the year for different reasons. At the end of the day, it will be both incredibly stressful, and outstandingly laid back. There are issues that you'd never deal with outside of that kind of flying. However, more often than not, you get a high level of autonomy, and are treated with respect. Its a good job, but it certainly isn't for everyone.
ppragman
FLIPY FLAPS!
You've got about 5miles vis in that first one. Sweet!
swisspilot
Well-Known Member
:clap:
esa17
Well-Known Member
That actually was a really, really fun day. What are the odds we'll be back...soon?
ppragman
FLIPY FLAPS!
We'll see. Soon is a relative term. Frankly, I'm enjoying the shear lack of work I'm required to do in this gig, and . The only drawback is my pay is significantly lower than what it was (that said I work substantially less, so its all equal) and I'm not really moving into twins (as much as I like the van). That said, the Caravan is a fun airplane, and I enjoy the autonomy I'm allowed here. Not only that, but flying IFR again is very very nice. If I don't have to get a special again for awhile it won't chafe me too badly. My last day at work in JNU, I had to turn around on a trip from HNH to GST because the weather got so bad I could barely see a dammed thing. You remember, you were there. It is incredibly nice at this point in my life to cruise down the glideslope, hit mins, look outside, and see what I see. That beats the hell out of, "Tower can you click the lights up to high?" "They already are."
I don't know about you, but my problem is I have no clear cut aviation goals anymore. Everything seems like fun. Alaska is a blast. Running off to Africa to fly seems like a good time. Freight flying is a lot of fun right now too. Part of the problem with making a career out of the bush is that in many ways it is mutually exclusive to other forms of flying. My flight time-which is all AK time except for around a 100hrs-now clocks in at somewhere just shy of 3300 I think. In that time, I got about 600hrs MTSIC, which in and of itself is essentially worthless. Of my total time, over 2500hrs is PIC time in high performance piston singles, and about a dozen hours ME PIC, which, from an insurance standpoint doesn't amount to much in this market. I'm basically only qualified to fly pistons in the bush, or entry level 135 gigs in the states. Had I been a few years older, I suspect that I would have been able to move into twins sooner in Alaska, however without the ATP I'm pretty much limited to driving singles around. Combine that with fairly bad career planning on my part - I turned down two jobs I probably could have retired from (though something just didn't feel right both times) - and you get a guy who's confused about his aviation future in ways that he barely fathoms. As of right now, for me, its all about the journey (ugh terrible cliche).
Regardless, to the OP, just realize that if you go to Alaska, make sure you do it for the right reasons. I don't want someone flying around my friends and family back home that is doing it for the time building or even for the money. Those are ancillary objectives at best. If you go to Alaska, do it for the right reasons, do it because you want to provide a service to the people who live there. That is the only reason why you'll ever be employed in Alaska. Without the villages that dot the landscape, there would be no need for your service. As fun as it may be, realize that its not about your enjoyment. Also bear in mind that not everything you'll do will be wholesome. You'll provide communities with more alcohol than they need, and they'll drink it. It'll wear on your conscious a little, at least it did on mine.
cmill
Cold Ass Honky
I feel exactly the same way. The first time i was offered this job, i turned it down because i didnt want to move, stayed in dallas to fly the van. I got lucky enough that the job was sill on the table almost a year later.
I think no matter what you think you wanna do, its important to keep an open mind. I think in the beginning i was too worried about how floats would advance my career, but now i cant really imagine a career outside of flying floats.
Morale of the story, i think everyone starts out with an ultimate goal, but sometimes its possible to get so focused on the goal you miss some golden opportunities because they dont seem to fit in with your plan.
I would love to go fly in AK, ive always wanted to, but its not in the cards right now. Like Patrick said, just enjoy the journey, and try not to miss the forest for the trees.
Nark
Macho Superpilot
My foreign prose couldn't say it any better than whats already been said.
You'll learn more in a shorter period of time, simply because it's extremely dynamic; the clients, the weather, the operators etc...
If you have the means and ability I'd recommend it. Plan a road trip for early in the new year, knock on every door.
You'll learn more in a shorter period of time, simply because it's extremely dynamic; the clients, the weather, the operators etc...
If you have the means and ability I'd recommend it. Plan a road trip for early in the new year, knock on every door.