I'm glad to here that there are outfits with sense up there. My friend's is
the only first hand report I've ever gotten about that way of life.

Standards probably vary widely up there, just as they do here. It may also
be easier for an established operation to maintain a good attitude than one
just starting out.

I'll make a note of their name in case I ever want to do any flying in AK.

--

Roger Long



"C Kingsbury" wrote in message
om...
"Roger Long" wrote in message
. ..

You are right about the bush pilot ethic.

I got my ASES at Alaska Float Ratings on the Kenai peninsula, which
also does a moderate amount of part 135 charter ops in the area with 3
floatplanes and 2 landplanes. The owner is a 30+ year bush pilot with
20k hours, most of it on floats up North. Suffice it to say that
while I was there for 4 days, there were probably 2 or 3 charter
flights to fishing lodges that either didn't take off, or turned back
on the way, including ones he flew himself. These were familiar routes
they flew sometimes a dozen times a day every day of the season for
over ten years. "I've never lost a plane, and no pilot I've trained
has ever died up here," he told me. True or not I could see that
unless Little Nell was waiting for her medicine on the other side,
there were plenty of flights they weren't going to push their limits
to make.

-cwk.