want info on jobs in alaska

[robh]

I'm moving to anchorage next april or May and would like any info on who to apply to who to stay away from. I want to get on with one of the regionals up there but will probibily have to fly for a 135 operator in the bush till they start hiring. I have alittle over 3000tt. There are a couple of books you can buy out of the flying mags about alaska operators but they seem out dated. Any advice from anyone up there now or who's been there would be helpful. Fly safe.

 

[lifetimeflyer]

Info on jobs in Alaska

Hi. Well, I haven't gotten a job in Alaska yet, but I've also been looking and just subscribed to a service on the website www.flyalaska.com

There's a lot of info on that website, but if you PM me I can give you a little more of the scoop.

Hope it helps

 

[dogg]

For you hopefuls coming to Alaska,
You almost have to be here before you are going to get a job. It is to expensive to fly up for an interview and don't believe any operator that offers you a job sight unseen.

PenAir and ERA are the only regional operators based in ANC. They are both typical Alaska operators. The last person in the door usually gets the job. There is Frontier Flying service out of FAI. They have recently sunk to the scumbag level with a scam that costs 12,000 dollars and gets you a couple hundred hours of navajo sic time and no job. Don"t buy into that no matter how desparate you are.

Lots of good bush operators:
these are the best

Bering Air--Nome Alaska
Cape Smythe-- Barrow Alaska
Hageland Aviation--St Marys Alaska
ATS--Unalakleet Alaska


Lots of other little guys that you just have to take what you get.

Good luck and dont move here unless you have good financial staying power..

 

[Singlecoil]

None of those jobs are float jobs. In fact none of those companies have any float planes. I thought the same thing when I moved to Alaska ten years ago with 1000 hours, no Alaska time, and no job.
Times then were almost exactly like they are now; lots of pilots on the street after the folding of Pan Am, Midway, and Eastern. I moved up to Anchorage in April of 1991 and it took me three months of pounding the pavement to land a job flying a 207 in St. Mary's for the worst company in the state.
A lot of more established companies like Bering Air, probably won't talk to you unless you have Alaska time.
Probably the best thing to do if you really wanted to fly up here would be to at least get to Anchorage and mercilessly call every Chief Pilot once a week. Let them know you would live anywhere in the state and could move on a moment's notice. Bethel is pretty god awful, but there are worse places, like St. Mary's. Of course some people don't mind living in a dry town with 500 people and no restaurant. At least in Bethel you can get a ten dollar hamburger and import your own beer.
The flying is the best the further north you go, in my opinion. The Bethel area is flat, so it is easy in that respect, but a lot of the flights are under 30 minutes, with some under ten minutes. It sucks to take the seats out of your 207, load it up with 1000 pounds of mail, fly it literally 15 miles away, unload it, fly back to Bethel, put the seats back up (don't forget those *@&%ing seat pins), get ready for your next flight, and get paid for .3 hours. But you are building Alaska time. Get a job in Nome or Kotzebue, or Barrow and the runs are longer, meaning more money for the same amount of work. Nome has some lousy weather, lots of freezing drizzle all winter long and plenty of mountains.
You can expect to make $40,000 to $60,000 flying a 207 and $60,000 to $80,000 flying a Navajo or 406. Maybe more for all I know.

Good luck. ...and be sure you know how to fly instruments, even in the 207, or you will drive right into the tundra in a white out. Happens a few times a year.

 

[ratherfish]

Singlecoil or is it Jimi,

I had to revive this old thread after reading your post describing the joys of flying in western alaska. I got that teeshirt too, around the same time. I'll never forget that experience. I worked for another dog of the YK Delta, everyone's most loved to hate company (cargo and pax), Markair Express. My favorite customer complaints: "Hey markair, how come you late?" and "Hey markair, wherez my check?"

My best "there I was story", that has given me considerable milage in job interviews, involved a drunk pax punching my head in and me awkwardly trying to punch back, while I was turning my 207 around from a pass that I'd decided I couldn't get through due to wx. He was upset that I'd decided not to use that pass. "Using my best CRM skills, I enlisted the help of another passenger to restrain him..."

Your post cracked me up. Good avtar. Thanks for a good laugh.

Do I know you?

To those wanting to fly up there, the previous posts are good info. I would also do as much pounding of the pavement ahead of time from home as possible via the phone/mail, etc. Distances are great up there and travel and accomidations are very expensive. Flying single engine "VFR" in AK provided me with my best and worst experiences in aviation. I wouldn't trade it for anything.

.

 

[Singlecoil]

Do you know me?

Probably.

I was a Skidmark too!

 

[dogg]

Single,
How can you say such things about St Mary's, my old home town. At least up at KSM we never had "fecal dust warnings". Life on the Andreafsky may be a bit slow but it was always good...

 

[Singlecoil]

Except for the turbidity in the water in the spring.
Not to mention, brewing your own beer was, and still is, a felony.

 

[dogg]

Well, we got a brand new water system in about 96' and if you are in with the troopers than brewing beer and having your own still are all ok... and no it is not really home.. just spent some time there...and preferred KSM to BET...just a personal thing

 

[iflyabeech]

PenAir flies Goose's