Village Hopping...

I flew a total of 4 hours today... Our route of flight was king salmon to port hieden, chignik lake, chignik lagoon, perryville, chignik bay, port hieden, Egigik, and back to king salmon. Pretty neat. Hauled a lot of passengers and freight today. Saw a bunch of mountains and took some good videos. Saw herds of caribou and 5 or 6 brown bears. Pretty cool. The difference between a brown bear and a grizzly is that brown bears live on the coast and eat fish. They get MUCH bigger than grizzlies. Grizzlies live in the interior and eat berries and meat that they can catch. Very different looking. The bears are really blonde right now since summer ended. Kind of surreal to see them on a daily basis. King Salmon is crawling with moose and brown bear. They are everywhere. Even here at the hangar. Well, its getting late and I need to sleep for tomorrows flying. Talk to you soon.

First flights and Hunting

The last two days have been my first on duty. I passed my 135 checkride on Friday. Everything went really well. The plane is the funnest I have ever flown and has sure been exciting the past two days. Been flying to places like Egegik, pilot point, port heiden, chignik lake, chignik lagoon, and chignik bay. Been awesome. All gravel strips and some are on the short side. We carry up to 9 people at a time and lately the planes have been full of mail, people, and cargo. I am starting to get the hang of it but it will take sometime to get good at. Things happen very fast. Time is money and we are trying to maximize profits. I don't think there is better flying anywhere in the world than this. It is so amazing the amount of weight the caravan can hold. Today I took off from King Salmon with 8 passengers and almost 3000 pounds of cargo. Pretty crazy. I also got complimented today on my landings. Which is a very big compliment when it comes from people who ride planes as often as people in the lower 48 drive their cars. Proud of that. Went hunting today with my roomate. Shot 3 snowshoe hares. Gutted them and skinned them. Going to have a local make me a winter hat. Going to eat them in a couple days. That is the kind of lifestyle out here. Everyone fishes and hunts. For work they do something in the canneries or with the airport. I live above the hangar here in King Salmon, Alaska. Apartment is a two bedroom and similar to a frat house in appearance. I am warming up to it just fine. I cleaned the bathroom and febreezed the whole apartment. This life is really fun but I do miss my family and of course my girlfriend Alex. It's hard not seeing her but I know she will stand by me as my carrier progresses. She is calling the apartment phone every night to talk which is nice. I can't call out. But we can receive calls. So if you are interested call the phone and ask for me. 1-907-246-3458. Anyways, I am off to sleep. Long Day tomorrow! Goodnight.

King Salmon Alaska

This place is another world! Pretty neat. It's beautiful here and it's full of wildlife. Moose, brown bear, caribou, fox, wolves, and deer are everywhere. Culture shock... Can't believe it. First night here was last night... Was at the only bar in town within an hour of landing. Met the other first officers. All cool dudes. Everyone has been very nice and are helping us get adjusted to king salmon. Hunting and fishing are a way of life around here. For that I am stoked cuz we get Sunday's off up here on my 15 on. Gonna fish or shoot guns. Everyone has them and will give them to me if I bring bullets. Can't wait to get out and look around in the woods. The place I'm living is similar to a frat house. But is warm and out of the weather at no cost to me. Can't complain! Anyways, listen in for my first flights coming up in the next couple days!

Over half way done with simulator

The full motion simulator is pretty cool. Almost finished up. I have tomorrow and Monday then I take a checkride. We can do 85% of the test in the simulator. The other 15% needs to be done in the airplane. Tuesday I will head out to the bush to finish up. Hopefully if I get done I can come home for the weekend to see Alex and my family. It's been tough being up here for so long not knowing when or where I need to be. My training is almost done though. Hoping to get in the groove with how the company works and the routes we fly. Should be exciting. Sucks though. I don't get cell service out there. Only carrier that gets service is GCI Wireless. So no phone. But I may get one of their prepaid phones. We will see. Anyways, I got my alaska state drivers license the other day. 18/20 on the written. So easy! It was pretty cool.

96% Top of the class

Finished ground training today. Scored the highest in class. 96%! I will be the most senior out of anyone in our new hire class. So that means when it comes time to upgrade into the bigger airplane I will be chose first. I can not be happier with my accomplishment. I achieved what I set out to do. Simulator training starts tomorrow afternoon. I am paired with a captain from cold bay, Alaska. His name is Eric. Really nice guy. Retired military and has already told me about his sailboat. Look forward to flying with him for the next 5 days. Gonna be exciting. The simulator is at Merrill field. It's in the university of Alaska's aviation training building. It is a full motion simulator. That will be a first for me. Anyways, weather is great here. It's about 40 degrees for the high and 34 for the low. Not too bad but winter is definitely setting in here in anchorage. I like the cold. Very refreshing. I need to start wearing shorts and a tee shirt to train myself for out in the bush were it can sometimes be 30 below zero. Pretty intense but I have the carhart arctic gear. Should be just fine. Well, keep reading and I will write when I can.

Cheers

Systems in the Morning

Well, New Hire INDOC is completed. Tested out of the class with a 90%. Everything is coming together. I have already made a hunting/fishing buddy. He has a boat and lots of guns. We plan to hunt and fish as much as possible. Saturday night I went to a Halloween party at one of the other trainees house. It was fun. Good food and free beer. It was a well deserved night off. Starting tomorrow morning we have systems which is basically an overview of exactly how the airplane works. The airplane I am flying is a Cessna Caravan 208B. Once that is over on wednesday we will immediately start simulator training. That willmlast 3-5 days and then take a check ride out in king salmon. Then I will start work on the 31 st of October and it will run until november 15th. I am missing hunting season. First time I have ever missed. Sucks. The hunting here is much better so I woulnt complain. I have been reading the regulations and I can shoot 3 black bears, 1 grizzly bear, 2 caribou, 1 moose, 1 wolverine, and 2 Dallas sheep per year. I can also shoot wolves. 10 PER DAY! Once I get my drives license it will become instate and active. So I may hunt this year after all. Some of those tags have certain dates you must hunt. Others are year round. I could definitely get used to this!

3 more days of GOM training

Tomorrow is the beginning to the end of our general operations training. I can not wait to be done. It is good information but is very dry. After that we have 3days of systems. Once we test out of that class Penair will take 3 of the 5 of us and send us through the simulator training. The other two new hires will have to go home and be back on the 5th of November to do their simulator training. So I want to be the top three so I can have thanksgiving and Christmas off. I think I have a good shot considering my sim went well and my test score is better than anyone else's. Only a couple more tests to do well on and I will be set. Seeing alot of moose. It's an everyday thing up here. I saw a cow moose today that was pushing 2000 pounds. Biggest animal I have ever seen. It's been beautiful weather here. I will post pictures soon!

Days off in Anchorage

Well, today was my first day off after arriving in anchorage. It has been sunny and unrestricted visibility. So amazing and the moose and mountains have been crazy. It Is still very surreal to me that I am here. I saw Jim Tweto from the TV show flying wild Alaska's Cessna 180 here in anchorage. It must be down here for maintenance. Pretty cool. We stopped and took pictures. Have them on my phone. All the guys that are training for the caravan are pretty cool. We have gone out for beers and they are all nice guys. There are only 5 of us. I am pretty confident that I will be #1 in the class. I am the most experienced pilot that got hired for the caravan. I am looking forward to flying out in the bush. It is going to be a great experience. I have been watching a few videos on YouTube.com and it is pretty cool looking. I can't wait to hunt and fish out there. It will be cool. Well, anyways I will write soon.

Danny

End of the first week

Not much new has happened. Got to get out fairly early today. 1:30pm we were released from training. It was beautiful here today. Nice and sunny. Watched some planes takeoff and land at the airport. Explored lake hood seaport. Pretty neat. Matt, guy from central who too got a job with penair, and I have taken it upon ourselves to get to know our caravan pilots. We all hung out today and got a beer at Platnum Jaxx. The citizens got their reserve checks today. Are the freaks are out and about buying booze and cigarettes. Pretty funny. At the bar we had a native women with two teeth tell our group of guys that we were cute and she was buying us beers. Never happened but it was interesting nonetheless. All is well and tomorrow is our last day for this week of training. We have 3 days off next week and might try to get home to drop off what I dont need. We will see. No badge yet! Goodnight!

First Day of School

Today I learned a lot about our company... It started out at 6:15 with a morning shower and breakfast. On Glenn Highway 1, the road running north/south through Anchorage, I encountered a small traffic slowdown. I was shocked but it was only for about 100 yards. As I got closer I saw a police vehicle blocking the center lane. Once I got up to the car I noticed a 1,200 lbs Cow moose laying in the middle of the street. The SUV that hit it was totaled. No injuries! I have been in Alaska no more than 24 hours and already encountered a moose. Too bad it was lying dead on the road! Anyways, class was long and tedious today. A LOT of paperwork and signing things. My parents and spouse/kids all get huge discounted fares on a number of major airlines. I found out that I will be on the first rotation in King Salmon, Alaska. I will not be coming back to the lower 48 until the 15th or 16th of November. My training will only be 7 days of ground, 3 days of systems,and 5 days of simulator training. Then its off to the bush to finish up training. I am gearing up for the adventure. At the end of ground we get to do survival raft training and fire training at a local wave pool. Putting out real life fires and securing a raft with freezing cold hoses drenching us is gonna be intense. This company is very organized and definitely gives me the impression of a close knit, family oriented company. I get my official ID badge tomorrow and we are starting to go over operational considerations. Lots and Lots of fun! Later!

Anchorage October 5th 2011

I'm all settled here in anchorage, Alaska. Arrived at 10:30am this morning. It was a great flight and was pretty quick. I met a 25 year old guy named nick on the plane. He was really nervous about flying and immediately struck up a conversation with me as he was sitting next to me. We talked about everything for college to flying and beyond. He was a really nice guy and gave me his number if I wanted to see around anchorage. His uncle is a guide out here in anchorage for hunting and he thought his uncle would like me to go hunting with him at some point. I think I might check it out. Anyways, Rob and Lindsey live in a nice apartment building in south anchorage. They have been very gracious and welcoming. I can not thank them both enough. I went to Costco and Fred Meyer for my stock of food for the next month. Got all the essentials; bagel bits, trail mix, DILLA fixings, and some water. Prices are a couple bucks more expensive but its not too bad. Ground school starts tomorrow morning and I am excited for it. Should be fun. I got my room all set up as well. Nice air mattress and actual sheets. Got some coats hung up and everything laid out. It looks like my stay in anchorage is JUST getting started. Shall be fun. See you all soon!

36 hours till I head to the last frontier

As we approach wednesday I become more and more anxious. I have no idea what to expect. I feel like a kid that is going off to college all over again. I am partly nervous but also very excited to start. Forecast for Anchorage this week is highs in the 40's and lows in the 20's. Winter time is here for Alaskans. I have all my bags packed up and plan to spend the day with Alex tomorrow. Should be really fun and I hope the weather cooperates. We might go golfing but maybe I can convince her to go shooting. I have a make shift plan already in place for alaska. I am staying with a friend from school and borrowing his vehicle. I am very lucky that they offered me their home. It means a lot and I definitely don't forget friends that go out of their way to help out. My flight is this wednesday at 8am. Ground school starts this thursday at 8am. I can't wait. Well, its time to hit the hay. Goodnight

3 Days Till Ground School

I am anxiously awaiting my flight to Anchorage for ground school. I leave this Wednesday October 5th for a 3 week training session in Anchorage, Alaska for my new Job. I got hired September 21st 2011 at Peninsula Airways as a First Officer. I will be based in either Dillingham or King Salmon Alaska after training is completed. I will be working 15 days on then 15 days off. On my days off I will be living back here in Washington. While I am on duty I will be staying in company housing; all expenses paid. This is my shot at getting a good paying job in the future. I am very thankful to have a supportive family and friends that have backed me throughout college and my flight training. Stay tuned for more Information and stories to come!