ANC Based!

I went down to corporate today and talked with my new boss. He confirmed it! I am going to be living and flying in Anchorage. I am really excited about this news and now is the time for me to find a place to live. There are a few places I am going to look this week when I have time. My hope is to have the place before I go back to Seattle so I can drive/move all my stuff before CPT. CPT is here in anchorage and is just flow practice and call outs. This looks to be about 2-3 weeks out after the end of ground school. Which that is perfect for me to be able to move. So the plan is to go back to Seattle around Thursday of next week. Pack everything and drive up. Then CPT and the Minneapolis. When I am done with my 8 days of sim I will come back here for IOE before being placed on line. Then I will actually be working here. Exciting! Now I just need to get school down and Ace the test. Will not be easy this time. Lots of quirks with this airplane! Studying now actually and took time to write. Hope all is well with everyone. Will keep you posted on progress!

Stuck in the Lake

Another flat tire down in the chigs. Spent 4 hours at chignik lake. Pretty cool. Got to eat some canned king salmon sandwiches. It was nice to see the village. Storm is a brewing here in Bristol bay. Pretty windy right now and my power is flickering. I'm not going to be happy if the damn power goes out. Anyways, pretty good flight day. Chigs got worse and worse as we waited for another plane to get to the lake carrying a mechanic and a new wheel. Supposed to do a charter tomorrow. We will see. Also supposed to take a casket and family to Clark's point. It will be my first non living passenger. Kinda feel weird about it. It will be interesting.

Back in King Salmon for the last time!

This is my final shift... I am upgrading to the Saab! I am outta here! Haha... I'm flying with Captain Pip and Captain Mich! Easy flying and fun flying for me for the next week. Then Alex and my parents are coming up to anchorage to watch the iditarod and search for places to live! I'm getting anxious to move. I can't wait to have my own place and be flying the Saab! It's gonna be fun. I rode in the jumpseat out to king salmon with the captain and first officer. It's a pretty neat airplane. I am excited to eat at some of anchorages best places. It's going to be good. Moose tooth, glacier brew house, platinum jaxx, and humpy's. Joel left yesterday and is done out here in the salmon. We start school on march 26th. I was gonna see if Joel wanted to come check out Seattle in march since this has been the first month in awhile where we are both off. We will see. Anyways, talk to everyone soon.

Internet is back

Well, the Internet is back. The last few days have been uneventful. No flying yesterday due to a winter storm. Flew today once the storm cleared around noon. My hours are coming in pretty well. Talked to my boss and it has been confirmed, I am going into the Saab! I am very excited to upgrade because I make more money plus get to fly a twin turbine aircraft in Alaska. I am excited. I could end up being based in Boston or Hawaii. I already put in my bid for anchorage though and Jon said I would probably get it. So, we will see. Joel comes back next week. Super Bowl Sunday we might get off. If so I hope to go to Low T's place! Talk to you soon!

Back in king, Internet down, and look both ways!

Well, I am back in King Salmon. It's been a little chilly but not bad. Keeping warm and flying a lot. Joel is not back yet and he might not be out here for awhile. One of our planes has undergone a rebuilding of the tail. It was bent and cracked. Probably from Joel's escapades down in the chigs earlier this month. So we are all getting extra days off and working more hours. It's been great. Sucks being here alone though. Nothing to do! I'm at eddies at the moment. Internet is down at the Penair hangar so I have to go to eddies when I can. This has been my first time down here this shift. I got an Alaskan amber with a free token I got from a couple of chigs passengers that are here in the bar. Pretty nice of them. Anyways, the last two days have been eventful. Went to the chigs both days. Weather has been beautiful. Calm and high overcast skies. No bumps and good performance. So today I was flying with Captain Pip. We talked and did all of our stops in the chigs. I asked to land in chignik lagoon. This is our shortest strip we go to and it usually takes awhile to get enough experience so the captains trust you. Captain Pip let me take it. I flew a beautiful approach right on airspeed and landed on my mark. As soon as we touched I threw the caravan into reverse. Out of the corner of my eye I see a truck start to drive across the runway! Mind you this strip is maybe 1500 feet. With the road running through the middle. The village drives this road to and from north town an south town. It's well traveled. The gal was driving a truck full of garbage in the back. She must have been going to the dump. Anyways, she pulls out into the middle of the runway. She sees us and stops dead. I jammed the plane into full reverse, slammed on the brakes, and pulled the yoke full aft. Picture a 2000 pound truck in the middle of the runway, a 5000 pound airplane traveling at 85 mph with 600 feet to stop on an icy/snow packed runway. Wasnt gonna happen! We gave it everything we had. The gal gunned her truck and we missed her by a couple of feet! The truck literally went underneath the wing. The prop wash blew snow everywhere and blew half the garbage out of the back of her truck. I CANNOT BELIEVE WE DIDN'T HIT HER! Lucky! The lady was balling her eyes out and was being held by two bystanders who watch the whole thing. I was shaking. Biggest adrenaline rush since I've been flying here in southwest Alaska. No doubt in my mind that lady would have lost her life if we hit her. Who knows what would have happened to Captain Pep and myself. Airplane would have been done. New prop/engine and everything. Moral of the story... Look both ways before crossing the damn runway!

10F down and out

Well, still at home in stanwood. Only one airplane works in king salmon so they gave me the option to stay home. The plane needs serious structural repairs. Probably from the flight my roommate Joel had a couple weeks ago! Lucky it held till the routine phase check. So, I am flying here with one of my students so I can get some hours. I'm looking really good for meeting my goal of 680 by the end of February. I got an email confirming my upgrade to the Saab! So I will be moving to anchorage in April. Pretty excited but stressed about where to live and how I am going to move! Going to cost some money that I don't have so we will see how it goes! Hopefully I figure something out soon. Still have 2 shifts in king salmon to complete. So I will write soon. Possibly Friday or Saturday.

Seattle

Well, I think I may have brought this snow and cold weather with me from Alaska. School has been cancelled for days and the roads have been a mess. This of course complicates me getting everything done that I wanted to get done while I'm home in civilization. Still need to ship my supplies and go to the bank. Also need to go grocery shopping. Been stuck in the damn house for days. Starting to get annoyed. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to venture out and finish up what I need to. As for now I better go pack up my stuck! Talk to you in King Salmon!