Alaska Air Transit FAA Part 135 Pilot - Job Training Program

The objective of this program is to train both fixed and rotary wing military pilots to become Alaska based FAA Part 135 commercial fixed wing pilots. Initial training assignment will be in either the Pilatus PC-12 or Cessna C-208B Grand CaravanEX. Pilots with little or no prior Alaska flight experience will be trained and work as Second-in-Command (SIC) pilots in order to learn to operate in the challenging Alaska environment under the mentorship of pilots with extensive experience. The experience gained will qualify Skillbridge pilots to upgrade to an FAA Part 135 Pilot-in-Command position at Alaska AIr Transit (AAT). Nearly all flying days begin and end at AAT's home base in Anchorage.

Skillbridge Pilots will operate 9 passenger turboprop aircraft initially as a Second in Command. Then, as Alaska experience is gained, they will upgrade to Pilot in Command in mostly single pilot operations. Pre-departure duties include fuel and payload planning, weight & balance calculation, weather evaluation, both IFR and VFR flight planning, executing a flight risk assessment jointly with a trained flight coordinator, aircraft preflight inspection. Aircraft preflight duties include inspecting the aircraft and ensuring that it has been correctly serviced and loaded. Flight duties involve operating aircraft according to regulatory and company standards to carry mixed loads of passengers and freight to remote locations throughout Alaska. These include both paved and gravel airstrips at destinations ranging from Southeast Alaska to the Aleutian Islands, to the Arctic coast. Assistance with loading and fueling aircraft is provided at home base. Pilots will offload and reload aircraft at destination airports, normally with the assistance of the passengers or workers if at a commercial or industrial site (oil field, gold mine, fishing lodge, etc.)Nearly all duty is between the hours of 0700 and 2100, with very infrequent overnight assignments for duties such as supporting wildfire fighting operations.