Do you meet the minimums? If so I would agree with the previous post by 250kts as to the unofficial signs of recovery. Ameriflight has several postings for type rated positions (which generally are easily filled by current 99 employees and therefore not listed publicly). Cargo 135 operators may soon be back to scraping the bottom of the barrel (so to say) as they were pre-covid. Good luck.

The last post was a few months ago, anyone know if they have started hiring again? If you check out their website, they show openings at all of their bases. Anyone have more up to date information?

Hey guys, I’m a line pilot at Alpine Air. I don’t think many of us visit this forum very often, but I’ve started to, so I setup an account to help you out with questions. I’m not a recruiter, we don’t really have recruiters, but I’ll do what I can to help if you’re insterested in flying freight with us.

Are we hiring? Yes we’re still hiring, but like many places it slowed down for a while when nobody was leaving during the past year. We need both 99 and 1900 pilots, but with more and more of the new 1900D cargo conversions reaching the line, we usually have more of a need for 1900 qualified pilots. If you have a 1900 type rating with any SIC or PIC time we could probably use you at any of our bases right now.

Where do we need pilots?
Salt Lake City, UT
Denver, CO
Sioux Falls, SD
Billing, MT

Denver and Sioux Falls only have one or two 99 runs each. The 99 drivers are usually needed in Billings and Salt Lake City more.

Qualifications? The hours listed on the our website are current. If there’s any changes I’ll update you. Here they are as of now:

B1900 Flight Time:
1200 Total
100 Multi

BE99 Flight Time:
1100 Total

BE99 First Officer:
900 Total

Must have a Commercial with ME and Instrument
Must possess FAA Class II Medical Certificate

Do we hire part time pilots? Occasionally, but it’s rare and depends on our needs.

Do we hire First Officers? Yes, but not very often and only in the 99 for now. We are looking at expanding a pilot development program that may include hiring into the right seat of the 1900’s, if they make any announcements on that I’ll post them here.

I’ll check back for more questions and you can also send me a private message.

Can you upgrade to the 1900 within the same base you were originally hired into if starting on the 99? Say if someone is hired into the 99 in Billings, can they easily upgrade within that base, or will they likely need to move to upgrade?

Sure, it's most common for people to upgrade and stay in their original base. However, some people occasionally chose to move to another base. They've never forced anybody to move from one base to another that I've ever heard about. Also, you don't necessarily need to be at your upgrade point to swap bases, but there would need to be a need with an open position first.

Also, I've talked to a couple people that had solid qualifications but didn't hear back from anybody after applying, so I directly delivered their resume to get looked at. If you meet the minimums and you really want to give Alpine a try, feel free to PM me and I'll gladly forward your resume directly to one of the Chiefs.

Great info, thanks for sharing! And yes I am interested in moving into 135 freight. I’ve been looking at Alpine for some time now, I will submit an application in the next couple of days. Currently I have almost 1000 hours turbine PIC. Not interested in the airlines. What is the training program like? Is it done in house or do they send you to one of the sim centers (I.e. flight safety)?

Indoc for new hires is done at the Billings base.

The BE99 training is done in Billings, Montana. You have about a week of ground training and about a week of flight training, and all of the flight training is all done in an actual aircraft.

The B1900 training is done at ATS in Centennial, Colorado. Again, you have about a week of ground training and about a week of flight training, but this time all of the flight training is done in a 1900D full motion simulator. Also, we lease a classroom and a simulator at ATS, but all of the actual instruction in the classroom and sim is provided by Alpine Air instructors.

For recurrent training, every 6 months you travel to either location for a few days.

I'm at ATS right now and just took several pictures of the facilities, but I guess I'm not allowed to post attachments yet. When I level up and gain some abilities I'll share them with you.

I got a TBNT response when I applied a couple months ago with 1550TT/700ME PIC, 2 masters degrees, etc. No idea why I got it, but have since moved on and accepted a job with a regional. It's crazy out there and I have no idea what they are looking for from company to company....lol. I would have loved to have been considered for the B1900 cargo position in any of the bases you listed, especially given the fact that 99% of my flying has been single pilot. I believe it would have been an easy step up from the current Beech twin I'm flying now.

Yeah, I have no idea what happened on that one either. I'm not directly part of the hiring process, so all I can do right now is answer questions and help you guys throw a resume on the right desk if you want. But hey, good luck at your regional!