Flying Wild Alaska – A day in my life
Traveling around Alaska with my job I have the pleasure/pain of flying all over the state in various aircraft. Most days I have an early morning departure from the main Anchorage airport, Ted Stevens International Airport flying Alaska Airlines from my base in Anchorage to one of several ‘hub’ airports. It has been from the southern end of the Alaska in Ketchikan, Sitka, or Juneau to the “island”; Kodiak or out to the delta area of western Alaska to Bethel or Dillingham. For my trips farther north it has been to Fairbanks, Barrow or Kotzebue in the arctic regions of the state. Once I arrive in a hub airport I go over to one of several smaller carriers which are the typical “bush” plane operations which may use both float planes and more conventional small aircraft. Some carriers use turbine engine planes which carry more passengers or more cargo depending on the pilot’s mission for that particular flight. Most days the pilot will make multiple flig...