Alaska offers the most
interesting, fun, and adventurous civilian flying available on a daily basis
anywhere on the planet. If you are interested in exploring flying-job opportunities in Alaska, the membership section of
this website provides the most complete and comprehensive information available from any single source.
If you have questions,
E-mail me
and I will answer you within 24 hours with an in-depth answer.
The information in the membership section of this website now includes:
Job offers for 2009 posted daily or as they come up
A comprehensive directory of about 325 Alaska flight operations
including website links to 215 of them
Job opportunities directory, listing operators who hire pilots, their aircraft types
and minimum pilot experience requirements
Companies that operate DeHavilland Beavers
Companies that operate single or multi-engine turbine-powered aircraft
Helicopter operators
Companies who sometimes have co-pilot positions for low-time pilots
Companies who hire low-time pilots
Postal addresses, telephone and fax numbers Company websites and e-mail links
Detailed in-depth information on aerial fish spotting for commercial fisheries
NEW A Directory of Alaska Floatplane Operations" listing 80 of them
with website links to 78 of them.
And also a complete listing of Alaska flight operations that hired pilots in 2007 and 2008
most of whom hire pilots each each year. These 2007 and 2008 job postings are also useful in
planning a job-hunting strategy for 2009 and beyond.
All of the information presented in the membership section provides you with the information necessary to
create an intelligent, well-organized and efficient game plan for sending out resumes and/or for planning an efficient
face-to-face or door-to-door job-seeking itinerary to flight operations in Alaska.
Sign up here, $27.00 for a year of unlimited access to
the membership section of flyalaska.com.
Your registration comes with a 30 day unconditional money back
guarantee.
If you have any questions, e-mail me
and to the best of my ability, I will answer your questions with an in-depth personal reply (no autoresponder).
Seasonal Alaska flight operations are geared primarily to tourism. This includes scenic flights, bear viewing,
sports fishing and hunting (
guided and unguided).
Not all operators are involved with hunting, on the other hand, some are geared strictly to hunting.
Many of them focus
on scenic tours and sports fishing.
Scenic tours go on year 'round. Sports fishing happens from May through September and even into October for some
areas of Alaska. There are also lodges which operate their own airplanes and, for the most part, cater to wealthy people
seeking unique and remote fishing and hunting opportunities.
Many places in Alaska are busiest during the winter months because they transport supplies, mail and people
to and from town and between native villages and remote settlements. Many villages and settlements are totally dependent on
airplanes for the transportation of groceries, mail, construction materials and passenger flights to and from hubs such as Anchorage,
Fairbanks or Bethel, Ketchikan, Sitka or Juneau, from villages in the interior and
along the Yukon River and in southeast or western Alaska.
Oil exploration and supplying oil-industry-related camps on the North Slope provide other major wintertime
uses for airplanes. Wintertime North Slope flight operations are usually flown by experienced pilots flying turbine-powered
aircraft in the winter darkness...much of the time
on instruments.
Some Alaska flying-jobs are offered any time of the year. But most Alaska pilot job postings begin seasonally in
late December, increase in January and peak in February/March. They begin to
subside in April and slow down more in May. Most initial and recurrent training classes for Alaska flight operations regulated by FARs Part 135
(most of them) are finished by the end of May and some classes are held as early as mid-April. There are a few larger companies that
hold initial training classes at other times of the year, but most operators have hired
pilots for the season by the end of May. Nevertheless, some pilot jobs do become available any time of the year.
September, October, (Several new job postings for October and November) November and most of December are the slowest months for Alaska flying-job offers.
However, your membership at any time during these slow months
gives you the time to evaluate the huge amount of information provided in the membership section and to come up with an intelligent
and well-thought-out plan for landing a job as a pilot in Alaska.
For 33 years I have flown wheels, skis and floats as a pilot for various Alaska flight operations from
southeast Alaska to the Arctic Ocean. I flew mail, parts, supplies,
construction materials, groceries, equipment and passengers on wheels and skis to
remote Alaska locations,
and on floats to commercial fishing vessels, to various destinations on
lakes, rivers and saltwater locations. I flew as a pilot/guide for flyout fishing lodges,
for licensed big-game hunting guides, for biologists who were radio-tracking polar bears, musk ox and other critters,
for geologists installing earthquake
monitoring instruments, for scientists to their research vessels, for coal and oil exploration personnel,
salvage operations, medivacs, gold miners, explosives for
mining companies etc. I flew 18 seasons as a fish spotter for commercial herring fishing all over Alaska from Sitka to Togiak and 12 seasons for
commercial salmon fishing in Prince William Sound, and have flown all year 'round and seasonally for various
Alaska Air Taxi operations since 1975.
Most recently, for seven seasons, starting in 2000, I flew
for Rust's Flying Service (straight floats in Beavers and Cessna 206s).
The experience you'll gain flying in Alaska is
invaluable from a personal and professional standpoint. Alaska time is looked upon by the airlines
with unreserved respect. Nevertheless, many pilots who start out in Alaska end up staying there for their whole flying career
because it's fun, challenging, personally rewarding and adventurous.
Your time as a professional pilot in Alaska will give you more
satisfaction than almost any other civilian flying job.
Alaskan pilots provide unique and necessary services that generate heartfelt appreciation, respect and enduring
friendships.
If you are looking for a truly interesting career as a pilot, or for an exciting change, Alaska will satisfy that desire.
Once you have experienced the freedom and beauty of Alaska as a pilot, you'll be hooked.
It's truly enjoyable to fly airplanes for a living. The day-to-day adventure provided by Alaska
bush flying is hard to rival unless you're an astronaut, a test pilot, a miltary fighter pilot, a hurricane-penetration pilot or an
off-the-wall covert-ops pilot engaged in some weird flying mission somewhere in the world.
Skill, judgement and intuition all come into play daily in various combinations as you gain Alaska flying experience.
The trade off between flying five and a half hours in a straight line at 40,000 feet or winding your way up a
wilderness river or flying low through a range of high mountains, is all a matter of personal priority.
Money is probably a big influence. You can eventually make a substantial salary flying high...in a straight line...on instruments in
turbine-powered aircraft, That kind of flying job is occasionally interpersed with amazing events,
but is filled mostly with hours of straight-line boredom.
Generally, high-flying mainland commercial pilots, experience feelings of exuberance, the joy of applied skill, and
moment-to-moment intuitive confidence only on hand-flown instrument approaches and during takeoffs and landings. Alaska bush pilots
don't make as much money as the pilot who carries hundreds of people or many tons of cargo in long straight lines over vast distances...,
but they exercise many skills on a daily basis and have a lot more fun.
Sign up here, $27.00 for a year of unlimited access to
the membership section of flyalaska.com.
Your registration comes with a 30 day
unconditional money back
guarantee.
If you have any questions,
e-mail me
and to the best of my ability, I will answer your questions with an in-depth personal reply (no autoresponder).
From an email to me dated Nov. 17, 2008:
Thank you Jay, for providing a valuable service to those of us looking for flying jobs in Alaska.
Without the information you provided on your web site, I am not sure that I'd be flying floats there now.
It has been one of the best experiences I have had.
D. W.
"Jay,
I can't say enough good about your site, as I've acquired three jobs through flyalaska.com.
I flew in Alaska a bit as a young man and promised myself that I was coming back when I turned 60. ( That
happened, and I did).
Sincerely.
Rob Raiff"
Hi Jay,
This is somewhat overdue - but a big thanks for providing the accurate information that got me the job at Wings of Alaska this summer.
Three months in and I love it. The hours are long, but on those beautiful days the hours just fly by.
I can recommend this company to other seasonal would-be pilots for the '08 summer season.
Hope your own summer is flying along smoothly, and thanks again for your help getting me up here!
sincerely, Jonathan B.
If you have any questions,
e-mail me
and to the best of my ability, I will answer your questions with an in-depth personal reply (no autoresponder).
Sign up here, $27.00 for a year of unlimited access to
the job listings and job opportunities section of flyalaska.com.
"Jay,
It has been too long since I visited your site. I used it a couple of years ago and finally got my break to fly in
Alaska. Logged about 1300 hours up here now and am in the "immortal Beaver". I am loving it and just want to say thanks
for a GREAT webservice.
Francois Bakkes"
"Jay,
Flyalaska is one of the most comprehensive and impressive web sites I've visited and/or joined. Keep up the good work!
For us Lower 48ers who missed or passed up the opportunity to make the move to the full-time Alaska life style, the site
gives outstanding extemporaneous experience
Thanks!
J. Compton"
"Jay,
I have been a member of flyalaska.com for a few years now and I don't think
I have taken the time to tell you what an amazing job you have done with it!
It is an incredible resource, especially for those of us looking at Alaska from the lower 48.
I greatly appreciate all the work you have done!"
B.J.S."
"Dear Jay,
Thanks for your very interesting, comprehensive and useful website. I have secured a flying job out of Talkeetna Alaska
for the summer season of 2006. Also many thanks for your personal and professional advice that enabled me to "live my dream."
Vic Valli,"
Ocala, FL
"Jay
The money I spent to get into the website is the best few dollars I ever spent. At the time though I was dead
broke with no job and praying it would help me get a job. It did and I am thankful for the work you have done
compiling all those possible job opportunities in Alaska.
Sincerely,
D. Williams"
"Thanks, Jay,
FLYALASKA.COM helped me to find Alaska flying jobs two years in a row.
You helped me to avoid the hot Texas summers!!"
--Chuck
"Jay,
I used your site to find the job I have now in Kodiak, and I'll be browsing it for
future jobs in interior Alaska. Great Stuff...Thank you!
J B"
"Thanks Jay,
for your outstanding and informative website. It has been
indispensable in my finding a summer flying job up north. I got hired to fly Cherokee
sixes out of Bethel this coming summer."
Alaska Jim"
"Hi Jay,
First off, let me congratulate you on a comprehensive, informative, and easy
to use website. I'm a pilot from Alaska and still learned a lot from it.
You're doing a great service to pilots and that state we love
so much.
J. Johnson"
"Mr. Kelley,
Wanted to thank you for a great website.
I got hired to fly out of Kodiak
based on info I gathered from your website.
I'm sure you get lots of emails like this,
but just wanted to let you know all your work goes to good use.
Thanks in part to you,
I hope to start a long and enjoyable Alaska flying career.
Adam"
