July 16th, 2015

Well, It's been a couple of years since my last post. My Granny told me that I should start keeping this blog updated. I decided that maybe I will start writing on this blog periodically. I hope some friends and family will keep up on reading it. Anyways, A lot has happened since my last post. I was hired by Compass Airlines October 2013. My fiancé and I decided to move home to Seattle. We were both very excited to be back in the state we both grew up in. The trek home was much more tame the second time. Poppy came up to Alaska once more and drove with me all the way home to Seattle. This time we drove my Chevrolet Silverado. Much more comfortable for the both of us. I am sure lucky to have such awesome grandparents that support me. After we moved home I began the 2 months of training required to work at Compass. I got to stay with my wife, mom's cousins in Minnesota during training. It was such an unbelievable experience to be welcomed into someones house and have them treat you like their own. I now will forever have family in Minnesota. I can't even begin to explain the gratitude I feel for Ken and Kathy Looper. Thank you. The Seattle Seahawks also won the Superbowl that year so it was quite a year for me. I have been a fan of the Seahawks since 1986 when Seattle got their NFL team. What a year!!!! I sat on line for two weeks at Compass, until I broke my ankle. Unbelievable. I had two surgeries and casts for months on end. I missed 6 months of work. It was the hardest recovery I have ever gone through. However, I was able to see my sisters final year of high school softball. I also got to plan a lot of the wedding with my wife. Looking back on the whole situation makes me feel so strongly that everything happens for a reason. I can't even imagine the things I would have missed had I been working for those 6 months. Blessing in disguise! Since September of 2014, I returned to work as a first officer. I worked hard and six months later, I upgraded to Captain. That has been an unbelievable journey. I am only 2 months off of training and it only gets funner and funner. Compass has been growing like crazy. When I was hired in 2013 they only had Minneapolis and Detroit bases. As of June 2015, Compass now has Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and Seattle. I have been with Compass for 18 months now and I am loving it. I am a Captain and I am based at home. I am so very lucky. The decision to go to Compass was the best decision I have made to further my career as an Airline Pilot. I do think about Alaska quite a bit. I miss the fishing and the hunting the most. The flying is much more exciting up there but I feel much safer navigating the skies of the Lower 48! I know.... A lot has happened. I promise to keep you all updated more often then I have. Currently, my wife and I are looking to buy a house. Thats the latest news. I will keep you updated on our findings! Wish me luck!

May 18, 2013

Hello Everyone,

It has been awhile since my last post. A lot of you may have been caught up by other family members  but currently I am working 2 jobs. I am still flying for Penair. Times at Penair haven't been very encouraging in the last year but things are hopefully on the turn around. I recently got a job as a handyman at the apartment complex I live at. Money is getting better. Hopefully soon I will get a great opportunity to fly elsewhere. That is currently under review so I have my fingers crossed. I also need to get my Airline Transport Pilots license soon. That is due by August 2013. It has been federally mandated so its not optional. It will cost somewhere in the neighborhood of 3200 bucks. That is my current focus. I just had Granny & Poppy up here for 1 week. We went clamming and shopping. We ended up finding Poppy an AR-15 at Sportsmans Wearhouse. It is pretty slick. Going to go shoot it tomorrow and make sure it is right on. I need to come down soon to have a visit. I also got engaged recently. That was an awesome experience. They wedding isn't until next summer so we have some time to plan. Hope all is well for everyone!

Danny

Spirits are low

It's hard to believe that just a few months ago things were peachy. I was getting paid and flying and meeting new people. Everything has been taken away now. Spirits are very low here in Anchorage. I am now the last person on the seniority list for the FOs. All of my friends from here have been let go. It is not looking good. I am torn between just toughing it out and just giving up and moving home. I have been looking at other opportunities both here and elsewhere but no luck yet. One of my friends that was let go has gotten an awesome opportunity back in his home town. I am super happy for him and I wish there was another spot for me! Maybe just in a few months I might be able to get on there. You never know. I just wish things would work themselves out and get my time in here. I also need to worry about my final License which could cost me 3,000 dollars if I don't find a company that is willing to invest in me. Plus when I think about my current situation, I am 2500 miles from home with no family or friends here and I am making peanuts for money. Im ok with starting low and working my way up but shit. If I am going to suffer I would prefer it be with family and friends nearby. Instead I need two jobs and have no friends! Haha. I am hoping this doesn't last long and I find something more stable to support myself and my loans. Going to take dozer to run! Talk to everyone soon!

August 25, 2012

Well, I am officially on Vacation as of thursday night. I am really excited! Great news at Penair... Two of our guys got hired on at Alaska Airlines. Bad news.... We are firing around 6-8 more guys. We are all hoping it will be the useless FOs that make too much money. I hope to still have a job when I return which I do believe I will. We are the cheapest pilots in the company. It wouldn't make sense to fire us. But you never know I guess. Hopefully, I impressed everyone I flew with. Mexico is looking good. We have all the paperwork and the tickets. Everything is lining up. All of us here are hoping the company survives. I really need this job in order to move on with my career. If not there are a lot of hopefuls down in the lower 48 who are hiring. Anyways, nothing is really new here. The weather is still staying semi nice. Today we are off to the Alaska State Fair!!! Shall be a good time! Alex is excited for her fair food. Packing and getting things ready for mexico tomorrow and monday. We leave tuesday afternoon at 3:30 ADT. We will be in Dallas at 6am. Then on to cancun around 9am. We will be back on the 2nd hopefully. Dozer is so excited to go back to summer camp! He is counting down the days and it sometimes feels like he is pushing us out the door! Have a great weekend everyone!

Danny

B Season Coming to a Close

It has been a very busy month here in Anchorage. I originally was scheduled to fly SHELL charters. As most of you may know the oil companyn SHELL has recently decided to drill here in the Arctic. They chose our airline as one of its charters companies to fly them to and from Dutch Harbor. Usually it is twice a day with two different crews. Unfortunitaly I was told that I needed 1000 total hours in order to qualify for SHELL. This wasn't a company restriction. It was soley SHELLS idea. So this entire month has turned into me doing whatever was left. I have gone to King Salmon and Dillingham a ton this month. It has been crazy. I was also able to do some freighters earlier in the month to Unalakleet, Dillingham, and St. Paul and St. George Islands. It was really fun to get to fly the freighters because you really can toss the aircraft around and not worry about passengers in the back. As a pilot you definitely learn a lot from being able to just fly and not wprry about people vomiting and getting pissed in the back. Recently we recieved an email from corporate informing us the Penair is enacting a hiring freeze and will not be giving any raises until March of 2013. Which as many of you may know I was slated to get a 2 dollar raise for flight hours and a 200 dollar raise for my base pay. I was really looking forward to it because it would help out A LOT! So I have applied at the Brown Jug Liquor store and FEDEX to make extra money. I am hoping I can get one that is super flexible so I can come and go as much as I want. Alex and I have also got two bikes off of craigslist to start exercising all over town. We have been riding a lot and it has been going well. Today I am sitting at home waiting to go to St Paul and St. George. The weather has been really bad all day. We were supposed to takeoff at 1145 this morning. So we will see. I am scheduled to fly to Dillingham tonight at 9pm. Hopefully that will be all I do today. I am trying to go to Arctic Thunder tomorrow. Its a major flight sho at Elmendorf Airforce Base. The Thunderbirds have been training for it for the last few days here and been able to see them on our bike rides. Hopefully I can get tomorrow off and go see them. Alex is leaving tonight for Seattle. I leave next thursday for a good friends wedding in Seattle. I will be there until the 5th. We have got Dozer all set up to stay at a Dog kennel in Anchorage. We shopped around a lot and this place is amazing. Its called AK Must Love Dogs. Anyone curious to check it out? http://www.akmustlovedogs.com/ Here's the link. Anyways, Hopfully we will see everyone soon!

Unalakleet

Well, I saw the infamous airport where the show on Discovery channel took off today. It looks very similar to the town they shoe on the TV. Jim Tweeto's Cessna 180 was parked over by their hangar. Must not have been flying today. Our hangar is about 300 yards down from the ERA hangar. I took a few pictures on my phone and I will post them on here for everyone to see. It is a very mountainous region. I thought it would be really flat but as we got lower it got very hilly. It looks like great hunting and fishing area. Very beautiful day today there. The captain and I had to unload 7,300 pounds of food and mail because our contractor out there couldn't muster up more than two rampers. Penair corporate is pissed because now the captains back is hurt and we pay them top dollar to unload us in Unalakleet. So we will see what happens. I have to go back to King Salmon tonight at 9:30pm. All the touruist in King are going home now so we will be flying to King pretty non-stop for about two weeks till they are all home. Lots of flying this month for me. Not getting a lot of time off. Next month though I have 13 days off. Im excited to finally get some vacation!

Tweeto Sighting

The last week has been great. Alex is finally moved up here and living full time. We are getting her all settled into the apartment and getting her insurance and looking for jobs. I have been flying a lot and have been very busy. I have 3 days off starting tomorrow. I have flown with a couple new captains. I like all but 1. The guy today was an asshole for no particular reason. I don't understand why. Lighten up! My landing was WAY better than his. Maybe that was part of it! Yesterday Alex and I saw Jim and Ferno Tweeto at the ERA gate. We were going to go over there and get a picture but of course we didn't want to bother them. They were heading back home from what I heard. The weather was crappy in Unalakleet yesterday so I wonder if they made it out there. I have seen a few of those guys from TV. Today we finally got our new uniform stuff. It looks alright I guess. Not really fond of the puke yellow epaulets but I will get over it. Going to the store today and getting a few things! Talk to everyone later!