FAA, Other Organizations Held A Day-Long Safety Program For Alaskan Pilots

By statistical count, August is the cruelest month for aviation in Alaska. Because of the number of pilots operating into short and unimproved fields for hunting and fishing expeditions, the accident rate in August is significantly higher among both commercial charter operations and private pilots.

In an effort to improve those statistics, the FAA, along with the Medallion Foundation, the Alaska chapter of the Ninety Nines, and Artic's Air Academy, offered a full day safety seminar at Palmer Municipal Airport in Palmer, Alaska August 1st.

The audience for the seminar was pilots who already fly into places like Black Rapids, the Talkeetna Mountains, and farther areas north in Alaska. The passengers are generally hunters and fishermen looking for back county experiences, which means the aircraft operate from gravel bars, airstrips cut between trees, or dirt strips on the sides of mountains. The Alaska Journal of Commerce reports that while operators generally spend a lot of money assuring their aircraft are up to the task, pilot proficiency is every bit as important.

"It is well known country-wide that if you hunt and fish and don't own an airplane in Alaska, you probably want to," said Dennis Ward, executive director of the Medallion Foundation. "I was one of those -- I wanted to hunt and fish -- so I learned to fly."

Super Cub File Photo

There were 22 aviation accidents reported in Alaska in August of 2007, the last year for which complete statistics are available. That's up from 14 in 2004. "Most of these incidents and accidents are on landing or on take off," said Ward, during a presentation on 'How Not to Wreck Your Super Cub this Hunting Season'. "Most of the time the injuries to the pilot and passenger are minimal, but the cost of getting your airplane ferried or even helicoptered out is astronomical," he said.

Other sessions covered topics like survival techniques. Palmer airport manager Chris Gates said he would like to expand next year's safety seminar to a two-day event.

FMI: www.faa.gov