Seasonal Alaska flight operations are geared primarily to tourism. This includes scenic flights, bear viewing, sports fishing and hunting (guided and unguided). Not all operators are involved with hunting, on the other hand, some are geared strictly to hunting.
Many of them focus on scenic tours and sports fishing. Scenic tours go on year 'round, but really crank during the summer months. Sports fishing happens from May through September and even into October for some areas of Alaska. There are also lodges which operate their own airplanes and, for the most part, cater to wealthy people seeking unique and remote fishing and hunting opportunities.
Many places in Alaska are busiest during the winter months (especially Bethel) because they transport supplies, mail and people to and from town and between native villages and remote settlements. Many villages and settlements are totally dependent on airplanes for the transportation of groceries, mail, construction materials and passenger flights to and from hubs such as Anchorage, Fairbanks or Bethel, Ketchikan, Sitka or Juneau, from villages in the interior and along the Yukon River and in southeast or western Alaska.
Oil exploration and supplying oil-industry-related camps on the North Slope provide other major wintertime uses for airplanes. Wintertime North Slope flight operations are usually flown by experienced pilots flying turbine-powered aircraft in the winter darkness...much of the time on instruments.
Some Alaska flying-jobs are offered any time of the year. But most Alaska pilot job postings begin seasonally in late December, increase in January and peak in February/March. They begin to subside in April and slow down more in May. Most initial and recurrent training classes for Alaska flight operations regulated by FARs Part 135 (most of them) are finished by the end of May and some classes are held as early as mid-April. There are a few larger companies that hold initial training classes at other times of the year, but most operators have hired their seasonal pilots by the end of May. Nevertheless, some pilot jobs do become available any time of the year.
There are many different kinds of operators in Alaska. Some of them pay well, even have medical benefits, provide their pilots with scheduled days off, and have excellent maintenance. There are a few that even have retirement programs.
On the other hand there are a few operators who have their pilots doing menial grubby tasks between flights or during slow periods, have no scheduled days off, provide no medical insurance or any other benefits, get by minimally on maintenance, and generally act like they're doing you a favor to put you to work. And there is everything in between. So, as has been repeated a couple of times on this thread, try to find out as much as possible about any given Alaska flight operation before committing.
Flying for lodges can be fun or problematic and anything in between. Generally you don't accumulate nearly as much flight time flying for a lodge as you do flying regular air taxi. Most lodges who operate their own airplanes do so on floats and tend to hire high-time float pilots. Many of them pay well, up to $10,000 a month for the 3 and a half to 4 and a half month season. Lodge flying consists mainly of flying out in the morning with a few fishermen, hanging out all day guiding, cooking lunch, and flying back to the lodge for supper. Sometimes, lodge flying will include changing locations one or more times during the day, but this is the exception rather than the rule. An advantage to lodge flying is that they provide your food and lodging and sometimes at the end of the season, substantial tips from tip sharing. Some lodges have you eat with the guests, others relegate their employees to a back room eating situation and food that is more utility style than the gourmet meals being eaten by the paying guests.
Since the winter of 1975 I have flown wheels, skis and floats as a pilot for various Alaska flight operations from southeast Alaska to the Arctic Ocean. I flew mail, parts, supplies, construction materials, groceries, equipment and passengers on wheels and skis to remote Alaska locations, and on floats to commercial fishing vessels, to various destinations on lakes, rivers and saltwater locations. I flew as a pilot/guide for flyout fishing lodges, for licensed big-game hunting guides, for biologists who were radio-tracking polar bears, musk ox and other critters, for geologists installing earthquake monitoring instruments, for scientists to their research vessels, for coal and oil exploration personnel, salvage operations, medivacs, gold miners, explosives for mining companies etc. I flew 18 seasons as a fish spotter for commercial herring fishing all over Alaska from Sitka to Togiak and 12 seasons for commercial salmon fishing in Prince William Sound, and have flown all year 'round and seasonally for various Alaska Air Taxi operations over the years.
The experience you'll gain flying in Alaska is invaluable from a personal and professional standpoint. Alaska time is looked upon by many airlines with unreserved respect. Nevertheless, lots of pilots who start out in Alaska end up staying there for their whole flying career because it's fun, challenging, personally rewarding and adventurous.
Your time as a professional pilot in Alaska will give you more personal satisfaction than almost any other civilian flying job. Alaskan pilots provide unique and necessary services that generate heartfelt appreciation, respect and enduring friendships.
Skill, judgement and intuition all come into play daily in various combinations as you gain Alaska flying experience. The trade off between flying five and a half hours in a straight line at 40,000 feet or winding your way up a wilderness river or flying low through a range of high mountains, is all a matter of personal priority. Money is probably a big influence. Alaska bush pilots don't make as much money as the pilot who carries hundreds of people in turbo-jets or many tons of cargo in long straight lines over vast distances, but they exercise their many skills on a daily basis and have a lot more fun.
www.flyalaska.com