lzakplt

You don't know how it could be safer? Your posts describe certain extra legal piloting behavior. Try wrapping your mind around the idea that we are doing a better job of flying by the rules these days.

SkyHigh

We always followed the "rules". The problems with Alaska are the distances involved and multitude of variables that are out of your control. I don't know who you fly for or what you do but flying a beaver super cub or 185 in rural Alaska in an off airport environment always has a high risk factor and always will. Lake Clark pass doesn't follow any rules. There is no GPS that will make it any safer. There are no performance charts for a Super cub. Gravel bars don't have Jepp charts. If you are flying right seat (or left) in an IFR equipped turbine then you don't know what I am taking about. You might as well be in Wisconsin. A part of you might just recognise the risk and is clinging on to the FAR's as a security blanket thinking that it will save you.

SKyHigh

lzakplt

The title of your last post says it all: Rules? A short review of some of you "expert" Alaskan flying wisdom shows you don't know what the rules are.

[QUOTE=SkyHigh]How is a Super cub suppose to benefit from ATC when they never get higher than 300' and don't have a transponder? What good is a GPS when you are flying 100' or less above the ground?

[QUOTE=SkyHigh]If you tell your boss that you can't go because the weather is less than 1000 and 5 while he watches a competitor taxi out with your pax it still will not put a smile on his face.

If your really don't get how flying VFR at 500' or more (that comes out of that funny book that you have no aquaintance with called the FARs) is safer than doing it at 100' or less as you have described, there is really no way I can explain it.

SkyHigh

[QUOTE=lzakplt]The title of your last post says it all: Rules? A short review of some of you "expert" Alaskan flying wisdom shows you don't know what the rules are.

[QUOTE=SkyHigh]How is a Super cub suppose to benefit from ATC when they never get higher than 300' and don't have a transponder? What good is a GPS when you are flying 100' or less above the ground?


You must be a turbine guy. You sound like a pvt plt. What would you say to a crop duster? "Oh they fly too close to the ground. They are dangerous"! How about the military? Would you tell those fighters to "slow down"?

It is part of the job. When I flew part 135 in AK the rules were 500' and 2 miles vis. In order to come and go from an airport with an approach you needed 1 mile and clear of clouds for special VFR. Those were the rules. Outside of the airport and away from official observations it was anyone's guess as to what the WX was. I suppose you tell your boss that you had to turn around because at one point in the flight you suspected that the vis might of bumped 2 miles? Are you a surveyer? Can you accurately tell what two miles vis is from the flight deck? What then would you tell your boss when his reply is that all the other planes made it.

Your naivety exposes you as some kind of neophyte. If anything you are you are a new hire FO in a turbine twin. You probably haven't flown anywhere in Bristol Bay alone in a piston single. You probably haven't ever landed outside of the airport environment either. Once you mature a bit you will realize that rules are necessary and good to follow but every walk in life and every branch of aviation has to bend them from time to time in order to get the job done.

In case you are really that type "A" and out of touch with the realities of real world aviation then you would have an awesome career with the FAA. If you do reply to this please enlighten us with the position of privilege that you must have in order to posses such a green perspective?

SKyHigh

lzakplt

Hey Mr Potato Head,

I've already told you in this thread what I do and where I fly. Your short term memory and your lack of attention to detail didn't help you in the cockpit any, did they?

Are you even for real? I'm thinking you're employed by Airline Pilot Central just to say the stupidest things you can think of, just to egg people on so they use this site.

1 mile and clear of clouds is only for in the control zone of an airport, and is a very small portion of any flight in the "vast and scarry state of Alaska". You asked a question any new hire on the Yukon/Kuskokwim delta could answer. Determiming 2 miles of visibility is simple. While flying at 120 knots, you pick the farthest point in front of you in your line of flight which you can see. If after 1 minute, you can still see it, the visibility is at least 2 miles. (If you ask without drooling too much, maybe you special ed teacher can confirm the math for you.) If the visibility is less than 2 miles you turn around.

You want to know what my boss says when I turn around due to weather? "Good job, I'm paying you to keep our passengers safe." He could give a flying f#$% that the competetion made it and we didn't. I've been thanked many times by passengers for turning around and not putting their lives at undue risk. Because I care about the people in this state, let me offer some thanks. SkyHigh, thank you for leaving this state and ceasing your self admittedly unsafe flying.

SkyHigh

Whatever you say man, but I worked up there for nearly 8 years and never even scratched the paint. You and I still don't work in the same environments. Hauling the mail and picking up hunters are two very diffrent operations. Perhaps your boss is a little nervious when he watches you taxi out and dosen't want to pressure you. I understand, you sound more like an accountant than a pilot. We can aggree to disagree if you would like.

SkyHigh

lzakplt

I sound more like an accountant than a pilot? Congratulations, you may be on the cusp of understanding what I tried politely to point out 31 posts ago. Maybe the words I used were too big. Read this next line carefully. Commercial aviation has changed since you left this state.

SkyHigh

Still, perhaps your company has changed but I know from friends who still work up there that little has changed as far as lodge and hunter 135 flying goes. I also would like to mention again that Alaska goes through periods when it is conservative and times when they push it. Lucky for you that things sound easier.

You can't sit on one corner of the state working for one company and claim that the entire state has changed. When the WX is bad for days on end and there are hunters afield who ran out of food days ago you find a way to get there. When someone has a life threatening injury and needs to be medevaced to ANC you get there. When the mail contains someones life sustaining medication someone makes it happen. And finally if you are flying a single engine piston plane on the sunniest day of the year you are still in danger and no amount of book learning, rule following geekism will save you it the engine decides to explode.

Try coming down here and working for a garden variety regional airline or jet charter outfit and you will witness rule bending from time to time inorder to get through the day.


SkyHigh

lzakplt

Didn't you give aviaion up in order to pursue some career which suits you better? (Arby's manger, plumber, purveyor of gay clown porn?) Why don't you grow up, move out of your parents basement and find an online bulletin board catering to what you actually know? I'm sure there are plenty of services catering to star trek memorabilia and the like.

lzakplt

Though I’m disinclined to prolong this torturous exchange, a few more points:

I never said everyone in Alaska or elsewhere follows all the rules all the time. If a guy is VFR 100 miles from home and weather drops below mins he's not going to just throw up his hands and crash. However in most airlines and around the state, there is a continuing movement to fly more safely. (Podunk Mom & Pop operations? Maybe safety can be a little more pot-luck.) One example of our improving culture of safety can be found at www.medallionfoundation.org. Just for the record, I've had the good fortune to work in a few of this state's corners for 2 reputable airlines in 7 different types of aircraft. (Plus private flying in as many types.)

[QUOTE=SkyHigh]You can't sit on one corner of the state working for one company and claim that the entire state has changed. When the WX is bad for days on end and there are hunters afield who ran out of food days ago you find a way to get there. When someone has a life threatening injury and needs to be medevaced to ANC you get there. When the mail contains someones life sustaining medication someone makes it happen. And finally if you are flying a single engine piston plane on the sunniest day of the year you are still in danger and no amount of book learning, rule following geekism will save you it the engine decides to explode.

Hunters? They've probably got a goat or something to eat. If not, they should have packed a few more mountain house meals. (If they are sorry hunters, chances are they have ample fat supplies of their own to sustain them for weeks.) Am I going to let the problem they created by not planning for likely delays become my problem?

Medivacs? In 5 plus years I've logged hundreds of hours doing them around Bristol Bay, the Lake Illiamna region, down the Alaska peninsula, (a few visits to the Y/K delta), and to Anchorage. Interestingly, the hospital here approves of our safety policies, and continues to use our company exclusively. They've got this peculiar theory that if we push the weather to try to save one life, it might backfire, killing the crew of 3 on the aircraft. (You know this has happened.) Strangely, they aren't into hastening the demise of their medics or me. (If the weather really sucks, we call the professional heros: the Coast Guard or the National Guard.)

Medication? Refer to the above sensible method of decision making.

Geekism & single engine explosions (in wheel planes, in hospitable terrain (southeast Alaska)) on sunny days? Been there, done that, and I will agree with you that it is not very fun. (Thankfully, everyone was OK.)

I don’t doubt the experiences you describe having in this state. However, they do not paint a full picture of what it is like to fly here today, especially for a reputable airline. You are out of line trying to paint pictures of doom and gloom to anyone on this forum who mentions Alaskan aviation.