Part 135 or CFI?
 

I'm in a pickle, should I try to pursue a job flying Part 135 in Alaska and rack up some Alaska time or become a CFI at my current flight school? I need some people with experience in both areas to help me out here. Anything is appreciated.

It really depends on your ultimate goals and how much time you would build at either position. Is it a busy flight school where you could fly 80 hours a month? How many hours at the 135 gig? What type of airplane and are sure you have a job there?

Can you afford to live in AK on the 135 pay? Is it in ANC or somewhere else?

Think about the cost of paying for your CFI. I don't regret having it, and loved instructing, but if I didn't need to get it, I probably wouldn't have.

I would have jumped at the chance to fly around AK. I was offered a job instructing in ANC one week after moving to OK for a different position... So close. Now I fly to/from ANC several times a month, but would love to see more to AK.

135 no question

I've got over 1200 hrs pt.135 Alaska time. Wouldn't trade it for the world. Hard work, but the best flying ever. Never boring. You will need at least 500 hrs to land a VFR pt 135 job there.

Good Luck.

Depending on the operator, I would go Alaska. There are some operators out in western Alaska that have had more than a 50% turnover the last couple years, and believe me there are reasons for that.

'Squatch
Who thankfully has less *******s than opinions

Alaskan 135 time, dude.

I instructed for six months, got a call to come up there and haul freight and so packed up in a week after I landed the job and told the flight school owner to shove it. Some of the best flying that I have ever done beyond a shadow of a doubt, and the jet flying that I do nowadays in the lower 48 is boring compared with that. Go up there and enjoy it. It will be hard work, but even the 24 hour commute up there and back out of Chicago was worth it while it lasted. You'll get a lot of actual time as well depending on what kind of aircraft you're flying, moreover it looks good on resumes.

Do you have a specific operator in mind?

I didn't do Alaska, but I managed to skip most of the CFI route with a 135 VFR operation in the San Juan Islands in Washington and southern BC. It was an absolute blast, and I still miss the flying. Go AK without a doubt!


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