Alaska Bush Pilot?

Question

Is a bush pilot in alaska a good job? How well do they pay an experienced pilot?

Answer 1

its a dangerous job

Answer 2

The answers so far are from people who are not or never were "bush" pilots. I spent 8 years in Alaska, mostly flying floatplanes to remote villages and wilderness locations. It's actually a great job (or can be) and I rarely had an airline pilot ride along with me in a Beaver or Otter on floats who wasn't totally envious...except for the paycheck.  Yes, it can be cold (that's what warm clothes are for), but summers are excellent. Yes, it can be occasionally lonely, but not greatly unless you are only hauling freight all the time. Pilots are always talking to each other over the radio, either exchanging useful information or just passing the time of day. It's a great fraternity if you belong to it for any amount of time.

Not only that, you become an important part of the community, not just another anonymous face in a crowd, because people really do rely on bush pilots as their lifeline to the outside world, so you actually get to know and interact with many of your passengers. You can't really do that flying for an airline, especially after 9-11. How many airline passengers actually know their pilots by sight if not by name, and vice-versa? Its extremely rare. Bush flying is far from a lonely job.

Pilots in Alaska can make reasonably good money, but nothing close to major airline pay, and you work pretty hard for what you do make, both physically and flying-wise. The pay rate varies widely of course, depending on what and where you are flying, and how much experience you have. Most of the work is seasonal, so you generally can't make steady pay all year round (short days, lack of tourism in winter)  and many of the jobs only last from about March through September or October. If you're single and can head south in the winter, that's actually a good thing, though in seasonal jobs you don't have health benefits or retirement.

There are jobs that pay $2500 per week with benefits and there are those that pay $500 per week with none. Most are somewhere in the middle depending on your experience, but compared to what you can make flying the same equipment elsewhere, the pay is pretty good. For example, my first year in Alaska I made as much money flying a Cessna 207 as I had been making as a 4th year captain on a Beech 1900 for a prominent commuter airline.   Right now I have a standing offer to go fly in Fairbanks for $9000 per month, plus per-diem. That said, it is quite a bit more expensive to live in Alaska, so the higher pay rate doesn't necessarily translate to proportionately higher savings.

Bush flying also requires a lot of skill because it can be hazardous if you don't know what you're doing, don't know the local area and weather, or don't set personal limits. It also isn't easy getting a job there. Hiring requirements are driven by insurance minimums, so there isn't much chance of getting a job there unless you have at least 1,000 hours logged. Even then, without some previous Alaska experience (such as doing some of your flight training there or instructing) many operators will not or can not hire you. The first question they will always ask is "how much Alaska time you got?". If its under 500 hours, the majority of operators won't touch you, even if you have thousands of hours of total time. I worked for one company whose minimum requirement was 3,000 hours total and 1,500 hours of Alaska floatplane experience.

Alaska is also huge. It's kind of like asking what flying is like in the United States. The answer depends on where you get hired. Southeast Alaska alone, from Ketchikan to Haines, is about the size of California, with a population of under 100,000. The state as a whole is about three times the size of Texas, with a population of barely more than a million (more than half live in the Anchorage area). The Aleutians stretch from the mainland almost 2,000 miles to the west and it's almost 1,000 miles from the capitol, Juneau, to the arctic circle. There are many places where there are more bears per square mile than people, and places where 1 out of 20 people own an airplane. Bush flying out of Nome, Kotzebue or Barrow is nothing at all like bush flying out of Sitka or Cordoba or Kodiak. It's about as different as flying situations can get, in terms of both weather and topography.

If you love the outdoors, aren't intimidated by hard or often stressful work, and have the desire, go to Alaska. It's not for everyone but I didn't regret a minute of it, and I'd still be there if it weren't for aging parent issues.  Great place, great people, and the flying can be very satisfying.

Answer 3

They use specialized planes (expensive), high insurance costs, and live a lonely and stress filled life

Answer 4

As mentioned, it is lonely, cold, stressful, and dangerous.  It pays near the low end of the charter range, like $15-18 per hour.

But there are pilots who love it, say it "gets into your blood," and would not do anything else.  I suppose it's like being a Chinese coal miner.

Answer 5

Well, was going to answer, but ben dere dun dat already did!  Listen to him, hun.  He's got all the answers.  There is nothing in the world like being in one of those little (sometimes larger the a two seater supercub) and looking down, only to see the largest moose you have ever seen.  Or to look and see a pack of wolves, or a bear.  It is beautiful, and there is nothing like it.  It is rewarding in it's own ways, not always financial.  But is always an adventure.