Salmon Air or Mccall Air

[c140]

I'm Looking at a few of the 135 Idaho backcountry flying outfits, does anybody have any info on either of these two?

 

[Flying Rancher]

they are both really good companies. The down side is they both are seasonal type of outfits. You'll fly about 4 months out of the year then you'll have to find another job for the remaining time. They both have high turn over rate with pilots do to the limited time you'll spend working for them. Not companies to build a career around.

 

[flyingid]

If you do work for either one. It will be some of the funnest flying you will ever do. Nothing like backcountry flying.

 

[414Flyer]

Is that that the Islander is for?

 

[mu2cptn]

Read some of the NTSB reports on Salmon Air. They have had some incidents in the past couple of years. I was on the Garden Valley incident flight(as a pax) in 1998. The one where they ran out of fuel 1/2 way to Boise. They are under new management now, so they might be different. Good Luck. McCall looks like they have more opportunities for advancement, I think they have some type of citation.

 

[c140]

Thanks for the replies. I ended up talking to Tom the chief pilot for Salmon air and Rod the chief pilot for McCall air. I will see what happens.

 

[canyonflyer]

Either one would be a good choice. They operate out of some challenging areas, hot, short runways. They'll sharpen your skills. Both are seasonal, Salmon Air gives a bonus to guys that stick around to the end of hunting season.
I don't think either one operates with hard days off, so you're pretty much on call 7 days a week through the summer and fall.
Flying the Idaho backcounty is a thrill, one of the most beautiful places in the lower '48 to work an airplane.

 

[freight dork]

I worked for Salmon Air for three seasons, some of the most fun flying ever. You will work you A$$ off. Since they are unscheduled the only flight time limit is 500 hours per quarter so expect to fly 120 plus hours a month. I flew 160 hours in one month my first season. The pay sucks and the management used to be evil. The new owner, Tom, is great and it may be a good place to work nowadays. They've crashed alot of planes, two chieftains, a caravan, and a cessna 206, plus some others a long time ago. Several of these were fatal. The mx sucks there and the flying is extemely challenging during hunting season. Oh yeah, McCall used to be the better of the two, but they have changed ownership five years ago and all the old timers are gone, and I hear they suck to work for now. Good Luck.

 

[canyonflyer]

So what happened C140?

It's been a tough week in the Idaho backcountry. Are either one still hiring?

 

[c140]

So what happened C140?

It's been a tough week in the Idaho backcountry. Are either one still hiring?

I'm still around. It has been a real hard season so far for Salmon Air and McCall Air from what I have seen and have been told; between the two operators they have had 5 aircraft damaged.