Grant Aviation

[ppragman]

Hi everyone,

Grant is looking for pilots up in Alaska. I work here part-time, it's a cool place with cool people. We have a January 8th groundschool we're looking to fill and we need some people. I figured I'd pass it on.

At a minimum we need 135.243(b) minimums (500TT, 100XC, 25 Night XC) for an entry level hire, but ideally someone with a little more would be great. The job is 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off in Bush Alaska in the Airvan or the 207 to start, chances are you'll end up in Bethel or Emmonak out of the gate, but we've sent new-hires directly to Dillingham and King Salmon as well. You can live wherever you want in the country, we buy plane tickets back and forth for all our pilots. Progression into the caravan is running about 6 months to a year depending on your flight time when you show up.

Like I said, it's a cool place, with cool people - we have our issues (search APC if you dare), but we're genuinely working to address them. If you're starting out, it's a great way to make decent money and have an awesome lifestyle while building PIC time. I genuinely love this place - it's a really cool company with a great pilot group. We have new upper management in the last few months and we're just getting started in "growth mode." If you have any questions let me know.

You can submit your resume at www.flygrant.com, or you can PM me and I'll get you the chief pilot's phone number.

-Pat

 

[alaskadrifter]

Really tempting, but I’m not ready to give up on the multiturbine thing yet. I really miss living in Dilly though.

 

[Akutan]

I shared an office with Grant in the '90's in Bethel and was contemplating working for them when PenAir offered me a job. My impression of Grant was always favorable, even if they were a bit different. They've always seemed to straddle a nice middle ground between the arrogant Bering Air and the incompetent Yute Air, and decent equipment and people to a tough job without micromanaging.

 

[ppragman]

Really tempting, but I’m not ready to give up on the multiturbine thing yet. I really miss living in Dilly though.

Let me know if you wanna come home.

 

[Delta Fox]

Is it VFR flying? per the mins?

 

[ppragman]

Is it VFR flying? per the mins?

In the airvan and 207 it’s absolutely VFR flying. Remember though that 600 and 2 is still VFR in class G.

 

[Urp99]

I just added up my night and XC time, I just barely meet 135.243 (b) minimums ... might be about time to send an application.

 

[z987k]

Is it VFR flying? per the mins?

VFR flying where you need to be very proficient at IFR flying.

 

[Plata]

I heartily recommend flying in the Y-K Delta. You will have great experiences, see amazing scenery, meet terrific people, and, as @z987k says, you will become proficient at IFR flying. [A night takeoff from most village runways is an IFR takeoff, even if the AWOS is reporting clear and a million. So is any flying in flat light or whiteout conditions.] You will learn good aeronautical decision-making. You will develop excellent crosswind technique. You’ll have a great time making new friends, and bumping into them in unexpected places (I once bumped into @ppragman in Sleetmute, and we were based about 300 miles apart at the time). Once Alaska gets in your blood, you’ll have a hard time leaving it. Definitely good stuff.

 

[BigZ]

Once Alaska gets in your blood, you’ll have a hard time leaving it.

There's something about the north that does that to people. Met a few like that in Kamchatka, dudes went up there to make a quick buck (northern pay override in Russia is very significant) and get the early retirement, but then can't make it work back on the mainland due to different life dynamics and priorities and stay up there.

Not to derail the thread or anything

 

[ppragman]

There's something about the north that does that to people. Met a few like that in Kamchatka, dudes went up there to make a quick buck (northern pay override in Russia is very significant) and get the early retirement, but then can't make it work back on the mainland due to different life dynamics and priorities and stay up there.

Not to derail the thread or anything

I have tried to leave Alaska multiple times, I keep coming back. I suspect I’ll alternate between Alaska, the west coast, and Hawaii the rest of my life.

 

[🦈💜]

Ha ... maybe I should go back to AK...

 

[ppragman]

Ha ... maybe I should go back to AK...

Groundschool is on the 8th.

 

[Urp99]

Groundschool is on the 8th.

Are there regular class dates, or are they scheduled as needed?

 

[ppragman]

Are there regular class dates, or are they scheduled as needed?

As needed - but that's usually monthly or bi-monthly.

 

[Roger Roger]

Ha ... maybe I should go back to AK...

This is sarcasm right? If you had reservations about the VFR flying in JNU then Bethel would not be your jam.

 

[alaskadrifter]

This is sarcasm right? If you had reservations about the VFR flying in JNU then Bethel would not be your jam.

At least Bethel is as flat as... a pancake.

 

[Roger Roger]

At least Bethel is as flat as... a pancake.

Hagey seems intent on marking what higher terrain there is with Caravan wreckage.

 

[🦈💜]

This is sarcasm right? If you had reservations about the VFR flying in JNU then Bethel would not be your jam.

Eh. There are a lot of factors outside the scope of this discussion. I'd consider going back to AK, though ideally it'd be to fly floats somewhere, or to fly something IFR-capable—with all the caveats that entails.

Also...

Hagey seems intent on marking what higher terrain there is with Caravan wreckage.

.. ouch.

-Fox

 

[av8tr1]

@ppragman lots of respect for you but I'll be honest, my time at Grant, I saw some scary stuff. I was really disappointed with the outfit and the way they treated their new pilots. Everything from having to fight for a bed at the pilot house (because the homeless loser who was leaving shift didn't want to give up the pilot room) to the company copying one airplane GOM for a completely different airplane and submitting it to the FAA for a addition of said aircraft to the GOM. Weight and balances were way off, airspeed, you name it. They took the 207 numbers and just changed where it said 207 and replaced it with GA8. The tests were a wreck too. I kept pointing out errors in the tests, instructor agreed I was right and suggested I chose the "most correct answer". He told me he would eventually get around to fixing the errors on the test. Then no one to check me out in the assigned airplane. I had to spend my own money 3x to get myself there and back to BET, somewhere along the lines of 7-8K. Eventually I said screw this.

Meanwhile the company never paid me a dime and demanded I be on the flight line every day in case they suddenly managed to get a check airman approved. Saying go take an orientation flight with so and so out to the villages when I could better spend my time studying. So I got lots of time riding around in the GA8 and the 208 but very little actual loggable time. Granted I was so sick I was near death on one of those trips thanks to the "bethel crud" (which is a real thing). But it was a complete waste of my time and money.

I hope for the sake of the new pilots your new management doesn't have their heads up their rear ends and is really committed to doing the right things for their pilots. Grants had a few mishaps that could be avoided if the company really wanted to improve like the keep saying they do.

Listen up kiddos, if the company isn't willing to pay you for your time training (and they don't pay for your plane tickets or housing or transport while training) then you have to wonder where else they are skimping. Maybe things have changed in the 2 years since I left........