Originally Posted by
SkyHigh
Money is better in the short term but far worse in the long view. Many make a career out of it but end up living like loner hermit bush geeks. In order to maintain sanity most get out after a few years at best. Alaska is a tempting and fun place to fly but if your dream is a normal life and the airlines I would avoid it if I were you.
Lower 48 employers don't like Alaska bush pilots and have a bad impression of them. It took years for me to be able to loose my Alaska Bush Pilot Stench. I was stuck there for a few years longer than I wished. I finally got hired by a Wyoming company that flew contract planes in Fairbanks for the forest service. The WY on my resume was enough to break the spell.
SkyHigh
Skyhigh, thanks for reminding me. I meant to mention this as an aside in our previous discussion, but I got distracted and forgot.
I have about 2000 Alaska bush hours, for better or worse, flying for a couple of the companies named earlier in this thread, and a few that aren't. I now fly for Fedex, and interestingly enough, my Alaska time was the most commented on aspect of my resume during the interview. The comment was, of course, "Now that's real flying. Wish I had done that." Coincidentally, my new hire training partner at Fedex was also from Alaska, and had almost literally flown nothing but Navajos and Beech 1900's, entirely within the state of Alaska. I know of a few other guys, just from my Alaska bush outfits, who now fly for Southwest, United, and Delta, as well as others who have lucrative corporate gigs. None of them had any issues because of their Alaska time. The Southwest guy in particular is convinced that he got hired because of the Alaska bush flying pictures that he brought to the interview.
Skyhigh, I am familiar with your agenda, and I can respect it to some extent, but your Alaska bush pilot to airline pilot correlation is inaccurate. I'm sure it's colored by your personal experience, and that's OK, however, it is just incorrect.
I would expect you to call my attention to any faulty information I might provide to new guys in this industry; I am doing the same for you.
Cheers,
SC