Pilot Among Most Dangerous US Jobs

Small scale operations, such as bush pilots in Alaska ferrying fishermen and hunters into wilderness areas, account for many pilot fatalities. These flyers may be inexperienced, and their planes often aren't well maintained. Those new to an area sometimes get lost in unfamiliar territory or due to low visibility.

I'm suprised that they don't mention aerial firefighting...
 
Don't Aerial firefighting, Ag, and Bush work all get lumped into professional pilot? Night freight isn't exactly for the timid either I don't think.
 
I'll bet regionals are hell on the arteries. Terminal food is all that's available and all you can afford. Perhaps a Sekrit Plot by management to clear off the top of the seniority list at places like Eagle?
 
Small scale operations, such as bush pilots in Alaska ferrying fishermen and hunters into wilderness areas, account for many pilot fatalities. These flyers may be inexperienced, and their planes often aren't well maintained. Those new to an area sometimes get lost in unfamiliar territory or due to low visibility.

I'm suprised that they don't mention aerial firefighting...
There have only been a couple of fatals this year. Most of those guys are really experienced, you don't just walk into flying a turbine otter on floats, or the like.
 
Yeah but don't a lot of companies run cherokee 6s and the like up there?

For the most part, bush pilots are far more experienced than most. It is very unforgiving flying. There are some operators that skimp on maintenance, but most are very thorough and are in excellent shape.

I have flown in the bush, flown RJ's from both seats, and I am currently in the F/E seat of a 747. The pilots I flew with in the bush are some of the best I have flown with.
 
What's really funny is when a CNN anchor reported the story, she said that pilots made the list due to the "commuter planes that crash more often." I never knew the Dash 8 or CRJ-200 crashed more often! Stupid media.
 
Yeah but don't a lot of companies run cherokee 6s and the like up there?

In south east, in most of the state, Cessna is the work horse, 207s (what I drive) 206s, Navajos, Caravans. Only rarely do you see piper singles in the bush.
 
If you read some of the other articles then you can also find out that the best company that hires new graduates is Lehman brothers. I really doubt that Lehman brothers will hire anyone for a while. :)
 
In south east, in most of the state, Cessna is the work horse, 207s (what I drive) 206s, Navajos, Caravans. Only rarely do you see piper singles in the bush.
We had a guy who applied who flew PA-28s and 32s in Alaska out of Juneau so I didn't know how common it was
 
We had a guy who applied who flew PA-28s and 32s in Alaska out of Juneau so I didn't know how common it was

In juneau at LAB it was very very common. Cessna's everywhere else pretty much. There are exceptions, island air operates cherokees down in PADQ, and JP Air in Bethole operates some. But mostly 206/207.
 
What's interesting is that the list is on a per capita basis. Pure numbers show that truck drivers off-ed themselves to the tune of 900-ish last year. Pilots: 82. Of note: they included those pesky flight engineers in the total numbers too....so that skews everything. ;-)

Military is actually not a dangerous profession (at least not in the top 10): over 300,000 currently in the field and a grand total of about 4000 dead ACROSS 5 years...this does admittedly come out to 1333/100000; but it's across a 5 year period. I think the 300,000 is also combat troop numbers, not necessarily all the support staff and non-combat folks. Someone please correct me if i am wrong on that.....
 
What's interesting is that the list is on a per capita basis. Pure numbers show that truck drivers off-ed themselves to the tune of 900-ish last year. Pilots: 82. Of note: they included those pesky flight engineers in the total numbers too....so that skews everything. ;-)

Military is actually not a dangerous profession (at least not in the top 10): over 300,000 currently in the field and a grand total of about 4000 dead ACROSS 5 years...this does admittedly come out to 1333/100000; but it's across a 5 year period. I think the 300,000 is also combat troop numbers, not necessarily all the support staff and non-combat folks. Someone please correct me if i am wrong on that.....
The military kills more troops at home (DUI, car accidents) than they do in work related mishaps. I would assume cops and firemen must have a higher fatality rate.
 
If you count Pogues as "military", the military was the safest job I ever had. Granted, my other jobs have been cargo pilot, late night clerk, cab driver, etc. But it's not even a contest. I knew some guys in the reserves who could barely tie their shoes without at least an E-6 to supervise, but they miraculously survived to claim more of our tax dollars every day. The US is a paper tiger when the situation calls for reserve deployments (as all of them do these days). Your tax dollars at rest.
 
I'll bet regionals are hell on the arteries. Terminal food is all that's available and all you can afford. Perhaps a Sekrit Plot by management to clear off the top of the seniority list at places like Eagle?

Most of us pack around food.

I carry Slimfast Protein bars. Nutritious, high in protein, and light. I go through a box a day.
 
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