Multi engine job Anchorage area?

[DE727UPS]

One of the Fire Boss pilots I work with is moving to Wasilia at the end of the season and is looking for a time building multi job. Lot's of single engine turbine time, seaplane, commercial multi. Needs multi time to move up in the fire flighting world. Anyone know of anything?

 

[ahw01]

Worth networking at least The Goose Hangar: Flight Instruction | MES Ratings in a Grumman Goose

 

[Roger Roger]

Tell him to enjoy the meth.

On a serious note, maybe one of the medevac ops Aero Air, Guardian, Security would throw him in the right seat of a king air? Not sure if they’re desperate enough to do it knowing it’s short term. What kind of time does he need? Just multi time or does it need to be PIC?

 

[alaskadrifter]

One of the Fire Boss pilots I work with is moving to Wasilia at the end of the season and is looking for a time building multi job. Lot's of single engine turbine time, seaplane, commercial multi. Needs multi time to move up in the fire flighting world. Anyone know of anything?

Part 135 or 121? For 121 there’s Aleutian, Ravn, and Horizon. There are tons of 135s, Lake Clark, Denaina, Security, TransNorthern, just to name a few.

Edit 1: I wouldn’t recommend medevac for a time building gig. It’s a good job, but not typically many hours.

Edit2: Everett’s or another cargo operation might be a good foot in the door.

 

[DE727UPS]

I think 135 would be fine. I wasn't sure if anyone was flying Navajo's anymore. Something like that would be perfect but he doesn't have anything more than a wet multi in spite of all his other experience. We were laughing about how the US Forest Service wants 500 hour multi to fly light twins but regional are taking guys with 25. Are there still Navajo's doing bush flying?

 

[Roger Roger]

I think 135 would be fine. I wasn't sure if anyone was flying Navajo's anymore. Something like that would be perfect but he doesn't have anything more than a wet multi in spite of all his other experience. We were laughing about how the US Forest Service wants 500 hour multi to fly light twins but regional are taking guys with 25. Are there still Navajo's doing bush flying?

Less and less every year. I’ve bemoaned it elsewhere but parts availability, the loss of maintenance expertise, price of jet a vs avgas, etc are all just making a caravan or a PC12 such a more attractive option anymore.

 

[DE727UPS]

Tell him to enjoy the meth.

On a serious note, maybe one of the medevac ops Aero Air, Guardian, Security would throw him in the right seat of a king air? Not sure if they’re desperate enough to do it knowing it’s short term. What kind of time does he need? Just multi time or does it need to be PIC?

I think at this point he'd take whatever would get him to the next step. If he had some right seat King Air time that could easily lead to something else.

 

[Roger Roger]

I think at this point he'd take whatever would get him to the next step. If he had some right seat King Air time that could easily lead to something else.

Any of those three would be worth at least looking into. Used to be if a dude was just looking to do it short term they wouldn’t be considered, but nowadays anyone isn’t working most of those places very long before going to Alaska, Atlas, etc so he might have a shot. @alaskadrifter knows the air taxi market in the area much better than I do, I just know a little about the medevac scene

 

[alaskadrifter]

I think at this point he'd take whatever would get him to the next step. If he had some right seat King Air time that could easily lead to something else.

There definitely are still some Navajos around, off the top of my head I think Regal, Lake Clark Air, and maybe Alaska Air Taxi still have some. Honestly going to Aleutian or Ravn for a year or so to get some right seat turbine time going to some really cool places would probably be good experience. His best bet is probably to go around Merrill and Lake Hood with some resumes.

 

[DE727UPS]

Okay. I'll pass that on. Any seaplane outfits that also fly landplane twins? Maybe take a single engine job that could lead to a twin? I was looking at Bizjetjobs and seems like the 121 outfits are looking for street Capts. But I told him I'd keep my eye open for F/O jobs.

 

[alaskadrifter]

Okay. I'll pass that on. Any seaplane outfits that also fly landplane twins? Maybe take a single engine job that could lead to a twin? I was looking at Bizjetjobs and seems like the 121 outfits are looking for street Capts. But I told him I'd keep my eye open for F/O jobs.

Regal I believe. I’m not up on 135s like I used to be. I’m guessing that fire season ends in the fall, which isn’t a great time to be looking for a float gig.

 

[PenguinAviator]

Check out Northern Air Cargo. 121 cargo op flying 737 CL and now NG.

 

[Plata]

I don’t think AAT is flying Navajos any longer. I know they show Navajos on the website, but I think they’re gone - I don’t think Jack is doing much flying. Good catch on Regal, though. They were flying Navajos to King Salmon for most of the summer. Nobody mentioned Alaska Central Express (“little ACE”, B1900s) or Kenai (Tecnam Travelers and King Airs). Everts will take delivery or has recently taken delivery of the C408 SkyCourier. Ryan Air is getting at least one, as well. Nobody mentioned Bering Air, either. I don’t think they’re flying Navajos any longer, but they have CASAs and B1900s (as well as newer C208s and a bunch of helicopters).

TransNorthern is a good suggestion. They’ve been doing a lot of flying this summer.

I think both Wrights and Warbelows are still running Navajos up in FAI. I think, but I could be wrong, that 70 North is running a Navajo in Deadhorse.

Guys I know who have been looking to make a change have passed on Aleutian: evidently their fleet has reliability problems.

Not to be argumentative: @alaskadrifter suggested that medevac wouldn’t be a good place to go to get multi hours, but there is a medevac operation on our hangar alley and those guys are flying ALL the time. KA200 and Lears. There are some good ex-Hageland folks at that operation. One definitely won’t build time as fast as they would in a conventional 135 operation, but it doesn’t look like it would be as slow as the Lower 48 fixed wing medevac outfit I flew for (150 hours/year).

Conoco/Phillips recently advertised for Q400 FOs. And there’s the Twin Otters operated by Hilcorp (I could be wrong on the name).

@DE727UPS, your buddy could take Jack Barber at AAT out to lunch in exchange for a comprehensive rundown on all the operators. Plus a bunch of wild stories!

As a general observation, this summer has been much, much slower than last summer, and that may translate into fewer openings.

ETA: I forgot about Grant. I think they’ve got at least one KA. And Empire flies ATRs for FedEx: I’m told it’s an awesome job because all the flying is on the front side of the clock and FedEx handles all the freight. Don’t know about the pay.

 

[Plata]

Any seaplane outfits that also fly landplane twins? Maybe take a single engine job that could lead to a twin?

Regal Air (already mentioned by @alaskadrifter)

 

[alaskadrifter]

I don’t think AAT is flying Navajos any longer. I know they show Navajos on the website, but I think they’re gone - I don’t think Jack is doing much flying. Good catch on Regal, though. They were flying Navajos to King Salmon for most of the summer. Nobody mentioned Alaska Central Express (“little ACE”, B1900s) or Kenai (Tecnam Travelers and King Airs). Everts will take delivery or has recently taken delivery of the C408 SkyCourier. Ryan Air is getting at least one, as well. Nobody mentioned Bering Air, either. I don’t think they’re flying Navajos any longer, but they have CASAs and B1900s (as well as newer C208s and a bunch of helicopters).

TransNorthern is a good suggestion. They’ve been doing a lot of flying this summer.

I think both Wrights and Warbelows are still running Navajos up in FAI. I think, but I could be wrong, that 70 North is running a Navajo in Deadhorse.

Guys I know who have been looking to make a change have passed on Aleutian: evidently their fleet has reliability problems.

Not to be argumentative: @alaskadrifter suggested that medevac wouldn’t be a good place to go to get multi hours, but there is a medevac operation on our hangar alley and those guys are flying ALL the time. KA200 and Lears. There are some good ex-Hageland folks at that operation. One definitely won’t build time as fast as they would in a conventional 135 operation, but it doesn’t look like it would be as slow as the Lower 48 fixed wing medevac outfit I flew for (150 hours/year).

Conoco/Phillips recently advertised for Q400 FOs. And there’s the Twin Otters operated by Hilcorp (I could be wrong on the name).

@DE727UPS, your buddy could take Jack Barber at AAT out to lunch in exchange for a comprehensive rundown on all the operators. Plus a bunch of wild stories!

As a general observation, this summer has been much, much slower than last summer, and that may translate into fewer openings.

ETA: I forgot about Grant. I think they’ve got at least one KA. And Empire flies ATRs for FedEx: I’m told it’s an awesome job because all the flying is on the front side of the clock and FedEx handles all the freight. Don’t know about the pay.

Good call on Ace, Ryan, and Bering. Not sure why those didn’t come to mind. I’m sure other medevac operators fly more than others. It’s been a while since I’ve talked to any King Air drivers, but last I heard they were only flying 200-250 hours a year. Pay is decent and QOL is good though. If I was starting out right now I think I’d be knocking pretty hard on Ace’s door. They fly their butts off and go to every corner of the state.

 

[Roger Roger]

Every medevac operator up here is flying their butt off right now, the health care system is in free fall from the follow on effects of the pandemic and tourism ramping back up and for profit healthcare generally being a disaster plus all the medevac operators are bleeding personnel constantly to the airlines so there are always extra shifts to be had. Still not as much flying as an air taxi but not the cushy retirement/renovate your house on the clock gig that it used to be. Ace might be a better option than they used to be, I think they have all new Garmin glass and autopilots in their 1900s. Lots of difficult flying but the plane to do it in.

 

[ShortField]

Ace is the place. They’re busy and seem stable. Bering has traditionally been more of a long term gig, and I think it still is. I’m pretty sure even in this hiring environment nobody will hire a wet multi into a Navajo in AK. That takes some time, plus as mentioned earlier, they’re becoming harder to find.

 

[DE727UPS]

I was looking at Ace's website. What are they looking for in 1900C F/O's? Or are they single pilot like Amflight and their 1900's. Talking with this pilot brought me back to the "it's hard to get multi time" days which I thought were long gone. Guys going to the regionals with 25 hour multi and the sim time will count bringing them up to the hiring requirement of 50. Maybe he can hook up with someone with an Apace up in Anchorage and pay for gas.

 

[ShortField]

I was looking at Ace's website. What are they looking for in 1900C F/O's? Or are they single pilot like Amflight and their 1900's. Talking with this pilot brought me back to the "it's hard to get multi time" days which I thought were long gone. Guys going to the regionals with 25 hour multi and the sim time will count bringing them up to the hiring requirement of 50. Maybe he can hook up with someone with an Apace up in Anchorage and pay for gas.

Ace is two pilot crew. It used to be wet commercial would get you in the right seat, and I’m pretty sure that’s still the same. Ryan Air has Casas and a 340 and probably worth a call. The right seat jobs are usually for newbies, so a guy with lots of time already would probably be looking at a Caravan.

If he’s got a lot of single turbine time, maybe have him give Grant a call. He could start in a Caravan and once he’s a known quantity, move into a Navajo and eventually the king air in Dutch.

The state of Alaska has always been kinda funny about advancing through airplanes. You can get hired with real low time into the right seat of something, but it takes a while before you’re cut loose in your own plane. And that plane will be a 207. Since your buddy already has quite a bit of time, he’ll be able to skip some steps, but just showing up to a PIC job in a twin is pretty unlikely.

 

[mightynimbus]

I think 135 would be fine. I wasn't sure if anyone was flying Navajo's anymore. Something like that would be perfect but he doesn't have anything more than a wet multi in spite of all his other experience. We were laughing about how the US Forest Service wants 500 hour multi to fly light twins but regional are taking guys with 25. Are there still Navajo's doing bush flying?

You sure about that 500 hours? they want 500 cross country for some things, 200 category and class is pretty common.
Not a criticism, just an observation that if correct might affect your friends strategy.
Might be prudent to get a second look at what he believes are minimums