![]() The expertise required of Alaska bush pilots has become so difficult to find that Rainbow and other high-end lodges have begun grooming their own pilots-many from the ranks of fishing and hunting guides. Winds, tides, currents are constantly changing along with our loads. ![]() “Our pilots typically fly to about 30 different fishing locations, and each one has its own hazards. “The things pilots learn flying in other places aren’t necessarily transferable here,” said Chip Ferguson, a native Texan who worked as an Alaska camp hand and fishing guide before becoming a bush pilot and later buying the Alaska Rainbow Lodge with wife Amanda in 2014. It’s a vast, harsh, and extraordinarily demanding skyscape that rewards aeronautical skills rarely practiced in other regions: terrestrial navigation, contour flying, and self-reliance. ![]() Pilots gain real-world experience in a place where the weather can quickly turn violent, tides can rise or fall up to 20 feet in six hours, submerged logs or high waves can damage or destroy floats, and relatively warm and humid Pacific air blows to the icy Bering Sea with tremendous force.For the bush pilots who fly these workhorse aircraft, however, this epically beautiful and geologically dramatic stretch of southwestern Alaska is much more than a recreational area.
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