TheGreatChecko

No worries...

Honestly, I don't know people keep the spelling for half the villages in Alaska straight.

My favorite (more for the meaning and I had to look up how to spell it):

Anaktuvuk Pass

Frozen Ronin

Yeah, and why is Napaskiak and Napakiak side by side? Just to mess up new pilots? Thankfully even the villagers know them by Paka and Wana, cuz they're lucky to get that much straight outta me~ Lol.

USMCFLYR

This was my experience is trying to get a job in Alaska. I very much wanted to be a "bush" pilot and called a place up and spoke to the Chief Pilot. The above could have alomost been taken word by word from his conversation with me. He asked where I was from (Oklahoma) and when I told him he practically laughed and told me that I would need "ALASKA TIME"
His advice was to take my savings and move up to Alaska and get an efficiency apartment right next to the airport. Then everyday I should go to the airport and tryto find some job that would get me working around pilots or the companies (like the ground school job), then he said that if I had a job by the time my savings ran out the "welcome to Alaskan flying and if I didn't at least I gave it a shot and move back to Oklahoma"

In the end I didn't take that chance (I didn't get to fly "bush" in Africa either) but as they often do - things worked out OK. I still think about it often though and on a recent detachment to Alaska I once again tried to experience the moment and life STILL got in the way. So I'm thinking that there is some fate/karma that doesn't want me in Alaska

USMCFLYR

Alti2d

I'm a believer in fate then... I was in the same boat, but looking for CFI work in the lower 48. One resume to Alaska, and a follow-up call that didn't result in a job, but that resume got passed on to the right person in a different company, which did result in a job.

Not trying to rub any salt in... just saying sometimes it is just luck... If that's the case, I'm hoping it's good luck.

TheGreatChecko

I'm sure you've used the NDB's

(Native Direction Beacons - their heads turn as you pass the village)

USMCFLYR

I know you're not trying to rub salt in the fantasy wound
there are a couple of things that I would have liked to have done and many are past that chance now so I'll make my peace.
Btw - the chief pilot for that company I talked to was employed by the business who had a B1900 crash after picking up a hunting party and didn't do the W&B correctly or at all - this would have been back in the 80s. Sound familiar? If I had know about a board like this back then I think my chances might have actually been much better!

USMCFLYR

Frozen Ronin

Flyer: I've met and handful of pilots who came to Alaska after a career doing something else down south. Several stories were remarkably similiar. Retire or sell the business, buy airplane or ratings, and come up for a month vacation in some touristy part of the state. Hit up the operators, hang out, take the CP/DO out to lunch and pretty soon they're sitting in a ground school class. Many find their place in the seasonal side of bush flying, spending summers bouncing around the bush. Come October, it's homeward bound, back to the wife and friends. I know a handful of friends doing that now. Several are retired military pilots, others are prior graphic designers, insurance sales, one fella ran a grocery store. It seems to be a time of second careers, and flying tends to attract those with boyhood (girlhood) dreams. Even if they've never been a professional pilot before. So keep this in mind, maybe your time will come. Right now it doesn't seem to fit, but maybe it will later on.

Checko: Capstone came out just as I started up here, and I can imagine prior to this, Native NDB was a useful tool. I asked alot of questions as I flew along, and got to know a few of the fishcamps along the normal routes. It was great hearing pax stories about their experiences growing up in these camps. The Alaska Gazeteer (like an Alaskan road atlas without the roads), gives many of these fish camps and hunting camps the same symbols as the villages on the map. I expected to see some big sprawling ghost camp for "Bill Moores cabin". They gave it the same print and symbol as Alakunak! 50 years ago it might have been big, but now it's just a cabin frame on the riverbank. I'm up north, now. No Captsone. VOR's and GPS's, though. And if it gets hinky enough to need Native NDB, I'm outta there anyway. It is kinda nice knowing there's so much local knowledge sitting behind you, just in case things get weird. But weird things never happen up here, right?

Kilgore Trout

Howdy,
This is my first post on APCF, and I appreciate this opportunity to do a little bit of writing about my experience with Alaska flying and wrenching. I'd appreciate it if ya'll go easy on me. Please indulge my vanity, my excuse for this spiel is the hope that it may provide some guidance and/or hope for somebody out there.
To start, I guess this goes out to all of you who may be reading this thread and pondering a move North. The original poster was from way back in 2006, and from what I've read on here, that was a time of boundless opportunity for any pilot with a fresh CMEL and some shoulders itching to wear epaulets. All kinds of cool opportunities. Not so anymore from what I've read (and seen in my own personal job search) lately. What's old is new again I guess.
By way of introduction, I've flown and wrenched in Southeast Alaska for a fair bit now, started in '97. Sleds and Beavers. Pre and post Capstone. If you're familiar with Juneau you can guess where I've drawn a paycheck. I hope I don't come off as an ass, plenty of people I've worked with have forgotten more about aviation than I'll ever know.
I agree with most of the posts on here. In addressing pros and cons of going North, these guys know what they are talking about. Alaska is a Great Land. You've read the statistics, it's a huge place. You can do all kinds of flying. From Cubs (or more likely a Cherokee 6 or 207) to DC-6's and 737's. VFR OR IFR.
Piston and turbine. All the equipment used to deliver people to golf courses, expensive hamburgers, or a week in the sun is used in AK to provide a connection to the outside world for people living in truly remote circumstances. I make light of lower 48 flying only to make the point that AK aviation is truly a lifeline that exists to provide connections to places without roads, isolated by distance and terrain.
It is different. High cost of living, sometimes very crummy weather which may involve an adjustment in how you approach your flying, and isolation from friends and family in the lower 48.
I'll let you figure out your cost of living. One thing to keep in mind as previous posters have written about, is that the AK aviation industry is fairly well insulated from some of the economic challenges faced by other outfits down south. The mail has to get there. People have to get to town to see the doctor. Diapers, Pepsi, and Victoria's Secret catalogs gotta get there! And for you, the pilot, or mechanic, the pay is generally better than anything I've seen referenced on threads regarding comparable duties at an entry to mid level job down south. If you are looking for a seasonal Southeast AK job (March or April through early October generally) look for outfits that service tourists off cruise ships for flightseeing and lodges. "Adventure-y" looking websites. There's a bunch, although I wonder how that's gonna go in '09 with the economy apparently screwing the pooch. Taquan, Pro-Mech, and Wings of Alaska for new float pilots in Southeast. Unfortunately for new wheel guys in Southeast, LAB is no more. Wings hires lower time pilots for 207's and Caravans. Don't have a lot of float time? And/or AK time? Call em! You might be surprised. They've had problems finding good candidates the last few seasons. In my humble opinion, for longer lasting employment, and maybe a more varied learning experience and duty day, look for established outfits that are truly year round Part 135. They are the ones with webpages showing year round schedules, and often photos of muddy airplanes with cute Native Alaskan kids on 4 wheelers nearby, or floatplanes unloading sacks of mail at a dock. Mostly wheels though. Year round float flying is pretty much a Southeast Alaska flying thing. Out of Juneau and Ketchikan. So if you're not float rated, you may want to start further North. There's a sled with your name on it somewhere. Study the areas of operations for outfits you are interested in.
-Weather. It's bad sometimes. In fact sometimes it seems it's bad all the time. In Southeast you'll be flying in seriously marginal VFR. A lot. I don't know what it's like further North, but I know it's no piece of cake. Things are better these days with Capstone. "Capstone" refers to a bit of miraculous FAA spending and policy that ended up installing a super beautiful moving map and forward looking terrain display in just about every Alaska based fixed wing for hire aircraft. Now you can even see other Capstone equipped aircraft on the screen. Google it. It's neat. And has apparently, based on statistics and projections, saved lots of lives that would have been lost if we did not have it. I like it. Not much fun being in the marginal murk, but it makes it better. This comes with the caveat that if your flying VFR, please try to stay that way. I don't want to spend too much time on weather, that's another post, and I don't want to incriminate myself. So I'll stop there with that one. Just be careful.
Take some time and read some Alaska NTSB accident reports. Ugh, they make the hair stand up on the back of my neck.
Isolation- Well I'll try to come full circle on this one. Tie it all together kinda thing. Wish me luck.
As I mentioned earlier, I'm looking for a job. In the lower 48. East Coast. My parents are getting on in years and I kinda figure I'd like to take a break from being the prodigal son and try to help out more. It's all good. I like the East Coast, especially in the fall and winter. What I'm finding though, as referenced in an earlier poster's comments, is that I really don't have what I need to get an interesting, rewarding flying job down here. Single engine VFR, even gobs of it in Alaska, ain't gonna cut it. 15 hours of multi out of 3500tt does not look that impressive on a resume south of Canada. Even though my experience, judgement skills, and general knowledge of how not to screw up too badly has been gained in some really challenging flying and turning of wrenches, I'm still gonna lose out on that right seat to someone who looks much better on paper. I feel really old down here now. And I'm not even forty. Most of the places I could maybe qualify for are staffed by twenty somethings. I forgot to mention to the geezer pilots like me- Your age will not be a factor in Alaska. In fact, passengers there are definately comforted by pilots who look like Santa Claus in Carharts. As far as my prospective lower 48 career, we'll see. Maybe I'll take a break and go to truck driving school.
I guess what I'm getting at here is this. If you are a pilot who is only interested in bigger and higher and faster and maybe someday getting paid really, really well (does that happen these days?), Alaska may not be the right place for you to spend too much time. It may not look that great on a resume if you end up like me and need or want to take a break or get out of it.
However, if you are genuinely interested in doing some rewarding (in ways more important than just a check) and supremely challenging flying, seeing truly beautiful country, providing an important service to Alaskans, and meeting some wonderful aviators, by all means check it out. I really doubt that when you look back on your time in Alaska you will regret it. You might even stay.
In fact, Heck, maybe next spring I'll see you there! I think I just convinced myself to go back!
Cheers, Friends.

USMCFLYR

Kilgore -

Now that was an informative post full of useful and relevant information; presenting the good and others of an opportunity in Alaska. I wish I had read this post many moons ago when I was comtemplating the move north - epsecially since you gave the name of a few companies that maybe would have given me a second look. I often wonder if I would have stayed. Btw - southeast Alaska was where I was concentrating my search at the time.

Welcome to the forum. I look forward to hearing more from you. Do you have any pictures to share in the Photo Forum?

USMCFLYR

chongololo

Great post Kilgore. A well thought out, informative and interesting read.
Thanks for taking the time to compose that one.
Good luck with your search.