Low time VFR FAR 135 pilots Juneau, AK

[NW_Pilot]

Yeah but 500-2 is still an eye opener, especially if you don't have floats.

Hey 500-2 is Fun!!! Some times rather exciting I am from the Pacific North West I am used to marginal VFR & Scud Running! Would be great to be paid and have fun at the same time.

 

[imacdog]

Yeah I guess, five years in the NW and BC flying 135 VFR on floats and wheels was enough for me. It's fun looking back on it, but no more of that for me, at least without floats. A rocky shoreline may qualify as gliding distance of shoreline but realistically it's not the safest thing to do.

I wonder if LAB still makes you bring a mic to plug into the intercom?

 

[Say Again Over]

Let's see, add low time pilots, VFR aircraft (with GPS), lots of IMC and high terrain = Many accidents, don't know how they buy insurance up there. Good place for guys like this though:

I would be game Alaska don’t scare me by NW_Pilot

Just another accident waiting to happen.

 

[highnpressurize]

Lab

Hello All,

I flew for LAB for quite a while and to this day nothing in my career has surpassed the experiences I had in flying in Southeast Alaska. Before I go on I would like to clear up this “safety record.” that LAB has. As most of us know airplanes don’t crash themselves. Read any of the NTSB reports posted by PA-44 and you will see that in nearly every instance the pilot crashed the airplane. Weather is almost always a factor but disaster can almost always be averted by superior decision making. The most common non-visibility related accidents in Southeast are related to wind-shear. If you pay attention in ground school you will learn how to avoid the worst of it and deal with it when it cannot be avoided. When wind shear does take out an airplane, I assure you, LAB had nothing to do with it. The remaining causes are mechanical failures. If you were to do your research I’m sure you would find that LAB’s record is no worse than the average for the state of Alaska or for general aviation as a whole. Remember, the pilot has the final responsibility for determining whether or not an aircraft is safe for flight.
Like many things in life, operator safety seems to be cyclical. If you looked at other Southeast operators you would find that they have all had a “run of bad luck.” There was a time when other companies were the “Black Sheep” because of a string of crashes.

No matter how good you think you are you don’t really know your full potential as a small aircraft pilot until you have spent at least a summer and a winter in Alaska. You learn things up there that you never learn anywhere else. And most of the time you don’t learn from an instructor, you learn from experience…..the best teacher. There is no need for me to go in to my personal exploits, many books have been written about flying up North. As outrageous as some of the stories may seem, if you’ve been there, you know just how true they can be. As a low time pilot you will learn what it really means to be “Pilot in Command.” It’s not a student in your other seat; it’s a family of five on their way home from a shopping trip in Juneau, or a man on a stretcher that you are flying to Juneau so he can get to the hospital. You encounter below minimums weather and your running out of light. What do you do? Push on to get him to the hospital or turn around? There are many outside influences that will attempt to sway your decision one way or the other on any given day. This isn’t the controlled environment of flight instructing, this is for real, and you have no copilot to talk it over with. Your decision making ability will be honed to a point you never thought possible. Fatigue, weather, get there-itis, passenger desires or complaints, pride, competition and more…all these things you read about in your text books will become reality. And you have to deal with it. I am currently a Captain in the Metroliner….(Ok everybody, you can stop being jealous now!) My being an effective and safe manager of the two pilot crews we operate with has more to do with what I learned in Alaska than anything else. My recommendation….do it! You will be a better person and pilot if you do.

PA-44 Typed – Aviation is a small community. Dont Lie. I was in Alaska at the same time labbutt was and I remember you. I flew with you. You never passed your check ride. You were paranoid about taking it with Lynn (the DO). Remember that a future employer may want to see a copy of your 8410-3 to prove that you did pass. You don’t have one. And as far as your comment about people who couldn’t cut it as flight instructors……you’re full of it. Flight instructing is a valuable and rewarding experience, I did it myself for almost two years, but it does not compare to what you will learn in Alaska. Had you stayed around maybe you would know that. To all others, the rumors are true, the old man and the son that run the place are just plain crazy. But they are two of the best bush pilots that have ever flown and if you listen to them not only will you be highly entertained, you will learn many lessons that WILL save your life.

NW Pilot – I too learned to fly in the Pacific Northwest. Don’t kid yourself. The first time you see 500-2, or lower in Alaska, is not fun, its nerve racking. You will learn how to do it and it will become fun as well as a source of pride, but you have to learn first. Stop making excuses and go do it. If you have financial commitments that prohibit you from taking less than 2k a month then fine, don’t do it. But how much can you be making if the ferry business is so slow? If you’re in flying for the money then you really should find another profession, and you certainly should not go to Alaska. There is money to be made up there but its blue collar flying and you have to work hard to earn your way.

Bottom Line – Every experience is what you make of it. If you fail to make it rewarding and memorable, it’s your own fault. The hardest decision I ever had to make was to leave Alaska for my current position. A little part of me will always regret it. The community of pilots who have flown in Alaska is small and the gate to that community can be hard to open. LAB is your foot in the door. Go fly!

 

[agpilot34]

Very well said.

 

[PA-44Typed]

highnpressurize,

I'm not sure what your deal is! I took my checkride with chirs, not lynn. Would you like me to scan my 8410?

 

[agpilot34]

I think the point that is trying to be made here is the fact that if you want to look at the NTSB reports, you wont find a single operator that flies in Alaska that hasnt had a string of accidents at some time. Now, if it was 4 or 5 per year, I would look very closely. 16 over the last 10 years, however, is not a huge deal considering the environment, and the fact that they hire mostly pilots who are still wet behind the ears and may not have the best decision making abilities. Regardless of what you would like to think, the COMPANY is not responsible for the pilot making a dumb mistake. LAB is one of the oldest flying services in Alaska, that is a fact. They must be doing something right, or they wouldnt have survived this long.

 

[irapilot]

If you are really thinking about flying for L.A.B. or in southeast Alaska PM me - there is a lot more to the "story" than one might think.