What would be the best route for a lower 48 CFI to start flying in Alaska? I have 1550 TT with a little 135 experience, any chance?

Get a job as a CFI in ANC or FAI (ANC is better) and start stopping by operators and making it known you want to live and work in Alaska.

First thing to know is that you need to get out of Anchorage. The further out you get the better chance you'll have of finding some work. Bethel, Nome and Kotzebue are all good places to find 135 work for a guy with your experience level.

BTW none of those places are what you'd call a vacation garden spot!;) Of the three Nome is the best Bethel the worst and Kotzebue is just barely tolerable for a chechako. Keep an open mind, embrace cultural diversity, don't fall in with the drinking crowd and you'll have yourself one heck of a interesting time up there.

My humble $.02 from a guy who's been there. Take it or leave it.

Dillingham is nice this time of year:D

Right now pilot hirings in Ak is at a standstill. Most of the air taxi's have scaled down and have crew returning from last year or they are waiting until mid June to see how the tourist season developes before doing new hires. Not a pretty picture at all, especially when operators are getting a 100 or more resumes for a single pilot position, when one comes up. And most of those resumes are from atp's that don't have a seaplane rating or Alaska time and don't even know what a DHC 2 Beaver is!

On the otherhand if you have multi-engine with DC-3 tailwheel time, Desert Air in Anchorage wants you!! Thier number is 907-243-4700.

I've been out of pilot work for 19 months now and the prospects don't look good.

Right now pilot hirings in Ak is at a standstill. Most of the air taxi's have scaled down and have crew returning from last year or they are waiting until mid June to see how the tourist season developes before doing new hires. Not a pretty picture at all, especially when operators are getting a 100 or more resumes for a single pilot position, when one comes up. And most of those resumes are from atp's that don't have a seaplane rating or Alaska time and don't even know what a DHC 2 Beaver is!

On the otherhand if you have multi-engine with DC-3 tailwheel time, Desert Air in Anchorage wants you!! Thier number is 907-243-4700.

I've been out of pilot work for 19 months now and the prospects don't look good.

Standstill?

Yute hired 5... Hagelands and Grant will probably hire by late summer and the dozens of local operators will more than likely hire you on a handshake if they like you when they meet you. Even if it is at a "relative standstill" if you don't have time living in AK and time in an airplane in AK (at least 100 hours), someone from the outside will have a tougher time breaking in.

Thanks, In Germany I will be flying my ass off to get to CFI by next April/May. I made it to my PPL in 2 months and 3 days, and was making half the income I'll be making there, and the Flying Club there is cheaper than the flight school in Savannah.

I have been out since 2005, but i am determined to make a living wiggling the sticks instead of running the test equipment in the back. Since all my aviation experience has been flying in Helicopters from one LZ to the other low and fast I think I will be best suited for Bush flying. I have NO desire to fly the big shinny busses. Any help will be great!


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feel free to email, i cant figure out how to PM, or am not allowed to yet.

Hi Rino. My Two cents. Take it slow and easy. The best pilot in Alaska is a comfortable pilot; one who is cool, calm, and collected. "Bush flying" really means two things up here. The "Bush" is the outer villages (mostly west and northwest). The rest is backcountry (gravel bars, glaciers, lakes, tundra etc). Each have their own dynamic and special set of skills. Most pilots up here (including company chief pilots) don't give a #%^$ about how many students you trained or that you can recite the V-speeds of your superchicken or that you flew in the snow once. Come up here, be humble, cut your teeth on the little stuff like instructing and flight seeing and let your experience come at its own pace. Cocky gets you killed, weather it be by crashing your airplane or by one of us with a 2x4 behind the hangar. Most of us will welcome you, but we have seen many come and go. Most fail. Some stay and get the privilege of flying in this beautiful and unforgiving place.

I know that most of the carriers in Southeast all hired. Juneau looks busier than St. Louis these days...