Alaska Float Flying
 

I'm a current Captain at Delta, looking to retire in the next 3-5 years. Interested in doing some seasonal float flying in AK. I've got tons of jet time, but not much SES time. Anyone recently made the same transition? I'm thinking I'll need somewhere between 100-200 hours of float time to get a job, does that sound right?

I figure I've got a few years to get the experience needed to find a job, would appreciate to hear from anyone else with some AK experience.

Thanks!

That’s the dream right there. My info is probably dated, but when I was looking to do it in 2016-17, seemed like everyone wanted 1,000 or more hours on floats. It was popular to instruct at a place like Jack Browns or Kenmore Air to get the time. In the late teens, some operators started lowering their mins, but shortly thereafter there was a rash of fatal accidents in SE Alaska, so I’m not sure if they brought them back up after that. I ended up flying wheeled planes in the bush instead.

I’d call a handful of the operators up there and see what they’re looking for. I will say that most of them won’t care much about how much time you have in the flight levels. They’ll be looking for low level/mountain flying experience and float experience (obviously).

Good luck! Sounds like the ultimate retirement gig.