Work?

I am sitting reserve at work this month, which means I am on call. I have not been flying very much and the upside to that is that I am home alot. The down side is that reserve pay stinks. So I have been sitting around contemplating the things I hate about my job. There are some really good things about it also, mostly the scenery.

I started out with the goal of becoming a bush pilot in Alaska. I achieved the goal only to give it up after four months. The flying in Alaska was great, the town I lived in was not.

Typical Alaska load.

Typical Alaska "Overload"


Inside the "Sled" Cessna 207
It is nicknamed the sled because it essentially replaced the dogsled in Alaska. At least in rural Alaska you cannot go anywhere except by plane.


Video shot during Mustache May 2006 in the village Russian Mission, flying over the Yukon river. No Alaskans were harmed during the making of this video.
I loved this Job. I had no uniform, no facial hair restrictions, no other pilots sitting next to me. I basically got to fly around rural Alaska low and slow taking in the sights. Unfortunately, Bethel, Alaska is no place to raise a family and the commute was killing me. So, in the fall of 2006 I went to work for Salmon Air, flying boxes on a UPS contract out of SLC. If nothing else the Salmon job provided me with some beautiful photo ops.

Salt Lake in the morning.



More SLC.




Piper Chieftain.


Inside the Chieftain




Ice is bad JuJu for aeroplanes!



Typical uniform.



Welcome aboard, now sit down and shut up.

Heavenly View.
(man that was cheesy)


Then in the fall of 2007 Salmon Air went belly up after a string of bad luck and accidents (none involving me)

This is what happens to a propeller when the pilot forgets to put the landing gear down!    (again, not me!)


Last day at Salmon Air, bye bye long hair

So, In January of 2008 I started at Skywest Airlines. We are the largest regional carrier in the U.S. and we fly all over the continental U.S. and Canada and Mexico. I however am based in SLC as a First Officer in the Brasilia Turbo prop(jet engine that turns a propeller) and as such I fly to such exotic places as Rock springs, Wyoming and Elko, Nevada. The job has some serious downsides ie: Uniform, short hair, no beards, annoying pilot sitting next to me, whiny passengers, long days away from home, more

 regulation and less freedom. There are positives as well, mostly scenery. And for the first time in my adult life we have insurance.

Los Angeles

Landing on the south complex at LAX


San Francisco


Part of the overhead Panel in the Brasilia
lots of switches and buttons



Backside of British Airways 747


Somewhere in the Pacific Northwest


This is middle of NOwhere Alaska right be fore I came home for the last time.