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Speaker 1: Everybody, welcome to uh this that we're gonna call this

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Speaker 1: an Alaska wop. This is a FWOP episode many we

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Speaker 1: recorded it comes right out and we're in Alaska, so

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Speaker 1: it's an Alaska fop. And I'm here with my friend

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Speaker 1: and I like to think of him as my personal pilot.

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Speaker 2: Vance.

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Speaker 1: Here's a Robertus Roberts. Robert's okay, we always call you Roberts.

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Speaker 1: I knew Vance is. Vance is a floatplane pilot. This

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Speaker 1: is his floatplane right here. This is personal plane. You'd

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Speaker 1: call him like a You're a bush pilot. Yeah, like

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Speaker 1: Alaska bush pilot flies on floats. I knew Vance prior

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Speaker 1: when he was flying down here in southeast Alaska for

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Speaker 1: an aviation outfit. He left the aviation outfit started his

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Speaker 1: own aviation outfit called black Rock Aviation. And he's a

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Speaker 1: one man, one plane show right right. You've been flying

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Speaker 1: for how many years floatplanes?

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Speaker 3: Twenty three years?

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Speaker 2: How long flying in general? Thirty born in Nebraska.

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Speaker 3: Colorado, Colorado, lived in Nebraska for a while.

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Speaker 1: Okay, yea born in Colorado, lived in Nebraska, came in Alaska.

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Speaker 2: What age?

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Speaker 3: That's probably about thirty five thirty six? One?

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Speaker 2: Had you always known you want to fly.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, it just kind of grew up out in

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Speaker 4: rural areas and like the just watching crop testers and stuff, and.

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Speaker 2: Oh that's how you got it.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: So at what point if you want to be a

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Speaker 1: pilot and you want to and you want to you know,

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Speaker 1: any love remote areas and you like to hunt, you

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Speaker 1: like to fish, at what point in your life, at

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Speaker 1: what age did you be like, man, if you're going

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Speaker 1: to do it doing Alaska?

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Speaker 2: What drew you to that part of it?

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Speaker 4: I worked for for the airlines is an aircraft mechanic

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Speaker 4: for several years before I finished.

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Speaker 2: All my ratings the big airlines.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I worked for Content Airlines way back when and.

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Speaker 2: Wrenching on airplanes.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I worked for Boeing.

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Speaker 4: Anyway, I saw those guys that you know dragging the

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Speaker 4: black suitcases around and none of them are smiling.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, so it's.

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Speaker 4: Like living out of a suitcase. And the ones I

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Speaker 4: knew were all divorced. They're different, you know, going through

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Speaker 4: a divorce.

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Speaker 2: So I drinking in hotel bars every night.

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Speaker 4: Oh yeah, I don't think I want to do that route,

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Speaker 4: but I want to fly. And then had my private life.

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Speaker 4: I actually I had been commercial rating, and then I

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Speaker 4: went and uh went and got a floatplane add on,

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Speaker 4: and I'm like, Okay, that's it, that's what I want

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Speaker 4: to do. I want to fly floats. Yeah, I kind

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Speaker 4: of knew I wanted to do that, But getting in

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Speaker 4: the door somewhere to do it, it's the tough part

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Speaker 4: getting what do you mean getting getting the hours before

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Speaker 4: someone will even put you in in the seat.

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Speaker 1: Or you mean, like to hire you. You gotta have

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Speaker 1: hours commercial hours.

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Speaker 3: You gotta have float time, you gotta have Alaska time.

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Speaker 3: You gotta have got it. You know all this. Everyone

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Speaker 3: has all the requirements.

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Speaker 2: But gotcha. So it takes a while to get You

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Speaker 2: need to have the job.

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Speaker 4: To get the job right, you got to start somewhere else,

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Speaker 4: usually in Alaska, like flying wheels or something.

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Speaker 2: I see.

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Speaker 4: I flew out of Bethel, fair Banks for a year

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Speaker 4: and then racked up a bunch of hours up there,

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Speaker 4: and then I got back down here as a to

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Speaker 4: fly floats.

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Speaker 1: And this is like, this is like the world's capital

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Speaker 1: floatplane activity Southeast Alaska.

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Speaker 3: I don't know if it is anymore. It used to be.

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Speaker 4: Uh Lake could's pretty busy with floatplanes two up and

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Speaker 4: anchorage and stuff.

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Speaker 2: Okay, got it.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, there's not as much industry as there used to

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Speaker 4: be here as far as like commercial industry. There's a

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Speaker 4: there's a tourism, but there used to be a lot

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Speaker 4: of logging camps and stuff. And I kept floatplanes are

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Speaker 4: really busy almost year.

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Speaker 3: Round, got it.

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Speaker 2: Got it.

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Speaker 1: So as as that industry is dried up, that's affected

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Speaker 1: how many floatplane operators are working and how many hours

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Speaker 1: you can get.

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Speaker 4: I would say, so, yeah, you guys aren't find as

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Speaker 4: many hours as they used to. Yeah, unless you're hauling,

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Speaker 4: unless you have the mail contracts or something like that.

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Speaker 1: And a ton of guys, like in, a ton of

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Speaker 1: guys in your occupation do flight seeing, right, but you

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Speaker 1: tend to do you do some of that when you do,

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Speaker 1: but you tend to work for outfitters, you fly guys

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Speaker 1: like us, right, Yeah, you don't do as many flight

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Speaker 1: seeing tours as you do.

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Speaker 2: Kind of like working working operations.

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Speaker 4: Right, I'll do yeah, fishing lodges and and you know

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Speaker 4: people's cabins like you remote remote stuff yea, hunters, yeah,

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Speaker 4: stuff like that. But yeah, everyone has to do tours too,

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Speaker 4: just fill in the gaps and make some extra extra

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Speaker 4: money for the air you know, So.

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Speaker 1: How do you here's the thing that often comes up

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Speaker 1: and you guys get sick of asking about it.

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Speaker 2: How do you, like, how.

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Speaker 1: Do you in your mind, how do you quantify the

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Speaker 1: risk of being a floatplane pilot in Alaska? And just

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Speaker 1: to just real quick, like, you guys are flying by

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Speaker 1: You're not instrument flying, no, you're flying by what you

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Speaker 1: can see.

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Speaker 2: Visual flight rules.

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Speaker 1: So like, how because it's the anytime I'll talk to

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Speaker 1: people and be like, oh, yeah, we have a cab

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Speaker 1: and we go out to our cabin, we charter a plane,

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Speaker 1: and people always comment on like what is the risk?

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Speaker 1: How do you picture like, how do you deal with

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Speaker 1: or imagine the risk of being a pilot? Like you

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Speaker 1: have to know, I'm sure you do. You have to

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Speaker 1: know in your career a lot of pilots who've had REX.

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Speaker 1: Some some survived had REX, and some died. How do

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Speaker 1: you begin to think about it.

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Speaker 4: If you're not thinking about it about the risk. If

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Speaker 4: you're not, if you don't have a little bit of

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Speaker 4: a you know, if something doesn't scare you anymore, huh,

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Speaker 4: I mean even just a little bit, then you're probably

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Speaker 4: not you know, if you're too numb to it, then

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Speaker 4: you probably shouldn't be doing it, you know.

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Speaker 2: Oh you think so, Yeah, I.

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Speaker 3: Mean there's there's risk out here, you know.

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Speaker 5: I mean, but but dude, do you ever feel like

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Speaker 5: as a pilot do you ever you don't feel afraid

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Speaker 5: because you like you're making like you're always making your

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Speaker 5: calculation like you're the final say, but yeah, like we

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Speaker 5: go where we don't go right right?

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Speaker 2: Yeah?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, but there's still always that you know that, Yeah,

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Speaker 4: that gut feelings like yeah, nope, not going to do that.

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Speaker 3: You gotta you gotta listen to that.

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Speaker 2: Do you get you get like a do you get

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Speaker 2: like a feeling?

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Speaker 3: Oh yeah you do.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, you don't want to be flying and and uh.

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Speaker 3: And have that.

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Speaker 4: But you get into situations where it's a little windy here,

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Speaker 4: a little gusty there, and it's like, yep, I'm not

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Speaker 4: landing there, you know, no good?

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Speaker 2: So what is it? What is the biggest enemy? Is it?

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Speaker 2: Is it visibility or wind?

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Speaker 3: It's usually a combination.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, it's usually like it's usually just like wind, sheer,

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Speaker 4: gusts and visibility. Yeah, yeah, a lot of times it's

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Speaker 4: a combination. Here in Southeast you get all of it

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Speaker 4: at one time. You get love visibility with gusty winds

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Speaker 4: and and just yeah, it's all.

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Speaker 3: It's all. It could be a combination of it.

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Speaker 4: It could be I don't know, but the winds are

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Speaker 4: it could be pretty bad sometimes here, you know, get

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Speaker 4: in the seventies and stuff. But yeah, you're not flying

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Speaker 4: during that stuff.

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Speaker 2: Seventy miles an hour.

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Speaker 3: Oh yeah, winter time, but yeah, we don't fly in that.

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Speaker 1: There's this idea and I always tell people just don't

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Speaker 1: even know if it's actually true. Is it like when

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Speaker 1: you're in an area that's all water and you're on floats.

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Speaker 1: Isn't it some solid that you can always there's always

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Speaker 1: a place to land or is it not that simple?

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Speaker 3: Depends on the water. Yeah, the middle of strates when.

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Speaker 2: It's eight footers what happens?

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Speaker 4: Then you might get it down, but it ain't gonna

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Speaker 4: be soft anyway soft and it may not stay together

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Speaker 4: on you.

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Speaker 3: I see, it may bust the part on you.

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Speaker 2: So what is the best?

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Speaker 1: Uh, how how do you describe like what kind of

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Speaker 1: seas can you land in? Or what kind of seas

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Speaker 1: has becomeing inadvisable?

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Speaker 4: Well, I mean you can land in two footers pretty

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Speaker 4: easy and in this thing, but you start getting bigger

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Speaker 4: than that, it starts it's pretty rough landing.

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Speaker 2: So like six foot is no good?

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Speaker 3: No, yeah, no good.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, because yeah, there's nothing smooth to hit.

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Speaker 4: No, you're gonna you're gonna hit one wave and go

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Speaker 4: into the next one.

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Speaker 2: Got it.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, the uh there's the thing that I iced to

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Speaker 1: think it wasn't true, But it's gotta be true. Okay,

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Speaker 1: we talked about rough weather, rough water. Let's talk about

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Speaker 1: calm water.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Is it true that you.

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Speaker 1: Can have a body of water be so still that

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Speaker 1: you need to create chop Yeah, so that when you

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Speaker 1: start going, the float's got something to bounce on or else,

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Speaker 1: like the surface tension of the water holds the plane in.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, it's almost like a suction. Yeah, it'll it'll keep

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Speaker 4: you down on the water. You gotta have some ripples

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Speaker 4: sometimes like small lake or something that's just flat, calm,

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Speaker 4: and you need the whole.

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Speaker 3: Lake to get off.

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Speaker 4: You'll cut circles, you do a circle or two, make

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Speaker 4: some ripples, and then once you hit those, boom you'll

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Speaker 4: pop off the water.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, because it'll actually like skip you up a little bit.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, it'll break that tension. Yeah, you can lift one

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Speaker 4: float at a time too. It's called glassy water. Yeah,

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Speaker 4: it's it's a thing.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, when you're like in your area, there's lakes you'll

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Speaker 1: land on. But let's say you were in an area

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Speaker 1: and you only had to like you're in an area

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Speaker 1: and your area you've never been. We're just whatever reason

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Speaker 1: and you're determining can I land in a lake or not?

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Speaker 2: What are you looking for?

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Speaker 4: Well, you look for the size for one A lot

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Speaker 4: of times. I want to look at maps and you know,

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Speaker 4: try to get some measurements because.

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Speaker 2: You need how many yards of water?

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Speaker 3: Oh?

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Speaker 4: Probably nine hundred is nice to have nine hundred yards

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Speaker 4: a lot, Yeah, I mean especially for a lake you

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Speaker 4: haven't been into. Right, So then you're also looking for

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Speaker 4: the approach and departure if there's is there, is there terrain?

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Speaker 3: Is there trees? Is it?

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Speaker 4: Can you come and flat over the out of the

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Speaker 4: creek that it's draining out of it or whatever?

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Speaker 3: Is there a is it one way in? One way out?

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Speaker 2: Ye?

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Speaker 4: Can you do a step turn in? There is white

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Speaker 4: enough for that? There's quite a few variables.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, And then you got to think, like you always

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Speaker 1: have to come into the wind.

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Speaker 4: Not always if you can land down end, but it's

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Speaker 4: going to increase your your your ground run when you

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Speaker 4: touch down.

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Speaker 3: Can you take off with the wind or with the tailwind?

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Speaker 2: Yeah you can't.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean for you know, experienced pilots, you can

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Speaker 3: do it. Yeah.

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Speaker 4: You don't want to do that if you just start

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Speaker 4: out on floats, but yeah, yeah, you always want to

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Speaker 4: take off into the wind.

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Speaker 3: It's preferred.

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Speaker 2: Well, sometimes when you come in here, you circle.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, what are you doing looking for debris?

245
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Speaker 2: Oh, that's what you're you're scouting for debris.

246
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Speaker 1: I always picture up there are calculating wind directions.

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Speaker 2: You're just looking Is it clear?

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Speaker 3: Yeah?

249
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Speaker 2: Got it? Got it? Got it?

250
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Speaker 3: Yeah?

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Speaker 4: That in also the wind. But I can usually tell

252
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Speaker 4: the wind before I get here. I've been in here

253
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Speaker 4: so much. But yeah, you can usually tell the wind

254
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Speaker 4: from a distance after you've been flying for a while.

255
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Speaker 4: But that's the biggest thing that floats is breathing the

256
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Speaker 4: water and knowing where the wind's coming from, what it's doing.

257
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Speaker 1: So what's the uh, what's the worst thing clients can

258
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Speaker 1: do when you charge a flight, Like, what's the most

259
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Speaker 1: annoying thing passengers do?

260
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Speaker 3: Put a camera right in my face.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, next to that, I don't think that's that's you know,

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Speaker 1: I understand your policy. Once once a guy not an

263
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Speaker 1: interview person, but once a camera guy points a camera you,

264
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Speaker 1: he's done right, he's too a new air carrier.

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Speaker 4: Well, no, if it's not necessarily that, it's like if

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Speaker 4: they have to, if they ask first, and like, you know,

267
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Speaker 4: I'm gonna can I film you?

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Speaker 3: That's fine.

269
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Speaker 4: But when I started a takeoff roll and they stick

270
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Speaker 4: a camera in my face like.

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Speaker 3: That, I haven't done that.

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Speaker 4: It's gonna be like, you know, I need to see

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Speaker 4: where I'm going. You're instructing my view for one.

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Speaker 2: You know, you know all of the funniest things I've

275
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Speaker 2: seen you do funny to me.

276
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Speaker 1: We're taking off out of your out of your shop,

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Speaker 1: your hanger, and we're like coming out of your hangar,

278
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Speaker 1: coming out into the I mean, just for people, listen

279
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Speaker 1: where Vance's hanger is. When he comes out of there,

280
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Speaker 1: there's like commercial airline traffic. I mean different, but I

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Speaker 1: mean it's like it's a busy airspace.

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Speaker 2: There's other floatplanes. Was a airport my neighbor.

283
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Speaker 1: I have my neighbor with me, and it was like

284
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Speaker 1: you were coming out because you're flying like you just

285
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Speaker 1: gotta see what's going on.

286
00:13:04,360 --> 00:13:07,120
Speaker 2: I remember you're reaching forward, reaching and grabbing my neighbor.

287
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Speaker 2: He was leaning forward to look at something. I remember

288
00:13:09,120 --> 00:13:15,199
Speaker 2: you doing this because you needed to check for traffic. Yeah,

289
00:13:15,360 --> 00:13:16,880
Speaker 2: in the car, you know, you're like, I need to

290
00:13:16,880 --> 00:13:19,520
Speaker 2: look on that. What's going on for a pull out?

291
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Speaker 1: So that and then what kind of was the dumbest

292
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Speaker 1: question you've forgotten about from when you're flying with somebody?

293
00:13:26,000 --> 00:13:26,800
Speaker 3: Jeez, I don't know.

294
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Speaker 2: There's lots of them, too many of a name.

295
00:13:29,080 --> 00:13:33,400
Speaker 3: Too many of a name. Like people that are off

296
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Speaker 3: ship still ask what's that? What's that? What's the elevation?

297
00:13:37,200 --> 00:13:38,520
Speaker 2: You know at the ocean?

298
00:13:39,160 --> 00:13:41,960
Speaker 4: Yeah, they got off a cruise ship and get on

299
00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:43,800
Speaker 4: your float plane on the same body of water.

300
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Speaker 3: And the last what the elevation is on this lake

301
00:13:47,440 --> 00:13:50,760
Speaker 3: here on the ocean? Still right there?

302
00:13:50,760 --> 00:13:53,920
Speaker 2: A zero zero, I tell him.

303
00:13:53,720 --> 00:13:58,600
Speaker 4: Like four ft sitting off the water.

304
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Speaker 1: Yeah, here's here's what's my last question for you? Because

305
00:14:01,400 --> 00:14:03,160
Speaker 1: this is a fantasy I have. Well, first I'll set

306
00:14:03,200 --> 00:14:03,880
Speaker 1: it up with a story.

307
00:14:05,040 --> 00:14:05,600
Speaker 2: I was just in.

308
00:14:05,520 --> 00:14:08,240
Speaker 1: Africa with my family and we were flying in small aircraft.

309
00:14:08,320 --> 00:14:11,400
Speaker 1: We were flying in caravans, yeah, a lot of caravans are.

310
00:14:12,400 --> 00:14:16,560
Speaker 1: So my boy, my older boy, fifteen year old, he

311
00:14:17,040 --> 00:14:20,720
Speaker 1: sitting up front, right, Okay, he fancies himself that just

312
00:14:20,760 --> 00:14:21,720
Speaker 1: by observing a.

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Speaker 2: Pilot, he's got it.

314
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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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00:14:24,480 --> 00:14:24,800
Speaker 2: Okay.

316
00:14:25,360 --> 00:14:27,800
Speaker 1: So we get on another plane and my little boy

317
00:14:27,920 --> 00:14:32,920
Speaker 1: who's ten, gets invited to ride up front. And my

318
00:14:33,040 --> 00:14:35,360
Speaker 1: older boy then, who's miffed because he likes to be

319
00:14:35,480 --> 00:14:37,680
Speaker 1: up front, right, he says, well, a lot of good

320
00:14:37,680 --> 00:14:39,800
Speaker 1: it's going to do us having him up front.

321
00:14:41,160 --> 00:14:42,880
Speaker 2: If something were to happen to the pilot.

322
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Speaker 3: Is your older boy thinks he can fly.

323
00:14:45,360 --> 00:14:48,320
Speaker 2: Because he's after observing He's like, I'm cool. Like if

324
00:14:48,320 --> 00:14:49,680
Speaker 2: this guy has a heart attack, I'm cool.

325
00:14:50,560 --> 00:14:55,120
Speaker 1: What A like when I sit there and always thinking, like,

326
00:14:55,200 --> 00:14:57,880
Speaker 1: let's say I don't know, advance has a massive heart

327
00:14:57,880 --> 00:15:02,160
Speaker 1: attack and dies. You know what am I gonna do?

328
00:15:02,480 --> 00:15:04,960
Speaker 1: Is it like like people have this fantasy. I don't

329
00:15:04,960 --> 00:15:06,640
Speaker 1: know if you know this, but people have this fantasy.

330
00:15:06,680 --> 00:15:11,000
Speaker 1: We joke about it. Is anyone ever that's never flown

331
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Speaker 1: gonna like get the hang of it in time to

332
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Speaker 1: figure it out?

333
00:15:16,080 --> 00:15:18,000
Speaker 3: I don't know. It depends on the person. I think,

334
00:15:18,040 --> 00:15:19,720
Speaker 3: you know, I mean like if they're.

335
00:15:21,120 --> 00:15:24,200
Speaker 4: You know, if they've grown up operating things like boats

336
00:15:24,240 --> 00:15:29,000
Speaker 4: and cars, and you know they're mechanically, you know they

337
00:15:29,080 --> 00:15:29,960
Speaker 4: might Well.

338
00:15:29,760 --> 00:15:31,520
Speaker 1: He might be up there and fiddle around enough to

339
00:15:31,560 --> 00:15:34,760
Speaker 1: get where you can at least yeah, survive the landing.

340
00:15:34,840 --> 00:15:36,360
Speaker 3: Yeah possibly.

341
00:15:36,400 --> 00:15:37,680
Speaker 2: Yeah, you hear that stuff.

342
00:15:38,160 --> 00:15:44,080
Speaker 1: Yeah, you don't ask somebody.

343
00:15:44,080 --> 00:15:46,200
Speaker 2: He's always doing up here, now, I understand that.

344
00:15:46,320 --> 00:15:47,440
Speaker 3: Yeah, you wouldn't.

345
00:15:47,640 --> 00:15:49,560
Speaker 1: I got this little vance has this little thing he

346
00:15:49,640 --> 00:15:50,920
Speaker 1: likes to fiddle with right here.

347
00:15:51,360 --> 00:15:53,400
Speaker 2: I didn't think it did anything, but it does. It's

348
00:15:53,440 --> 00:15:53,880
Speaker 2: has something.

349
00:15:55,120 --> 00:15:55,680
Speaker 3: It's a trim.

350
00:15:56,200 --> 00:15:58,200
Speaker 2: I just thought he likes doing it because it never

351
00:15:58,240 --> 00:15:58,880
Speaker 2: feels like anything.

352
00:15:59,280 --> 00:16:02,520
Speaker 4: When because I'm holding pressure on the yolk and you

353
00:16:02,520 --> 00:16:04,480
Speaker 4: know you don't feel that, I feel it, and then

354
00:16:04,520 --> 00:16:06,400
Speaker 4: I take the pressure off with this and I can

355
00:16:06,600 --> 00:16:07,000
Speaker 4: release it.

356
00:16:07,200 --> 00:16:09,400
Speaker 3: Yeah sure, yeah, So.

357
00:16:11,840 --> 00:16:14,400
Speaker 2: What's the old pilot? When are you too old to fly?

358
00:16:16,320 --> 00:16:16,760
Speaker 3: I don't know.

359
00:16:17,640 --> 00:16:21,760
Speaker 4: Seventy sixty sixty joking, I'm almost sixteen right now.

360
00:16:22,400 --> 00:16:23,080
Speaker 3: No, I don't know.

361
00:16:23,480 --> 00:16:25,640
Speaker 4: I think it's as long as you're you feel healthy

362
00:16:25,720 --> 00:16:28,520
Speaker 4: enough to do it, you know, I think you know

363
00:16:28,560 --> 00:16:31,560
Speaker 4: the airlines. I think the cutoff is sixty five.

364
00:16:31,640 --> 00:16:33,480
Speaker 2: I think, okay, but you can do this later.

365
00:16:33,880 --> 00:16:34,480
Speaker 3: I could do it.

366
00:16:34,720 --> 00:16:37,480
Speaker 2: Yeah, you can be licensed to keep flying.

367
00:16:37,560 --> 00:16:39,920
Speaker 4: Yeah, in my seventies eighties, probably if I wanted to,

368
00:16:40,000 --> 00:16:42,440
Speaker 4: But yeah, I don't think I want to go that long.

369
00:16:42,840 --> 00:16:45,520
Speaker 1: So do you like the stress of being your own guy,

370
00:16:46,480 --> 00:16:48,920
Speaker 1: your own plane, your own guy, handling your own business.

371
00:16:49,120 --> 00:16:51,680
Speaker 1: Do you prefer that stress over the stress of being

372
00:16:51,720 --> 00:16:53,960
Speaker 1: in charge of a big operation with tons of planes

373
00:16:54,000 --> 00:16:57,080
Speaker 1: and tons of pilots. It's probably different stresses, but both stressful.

374
00:16:58,160 --> 00:16:59,320
Speaker 3: I prefer this, really.

375
00:17:00,080 --> 00:17:02,360
Speaker 2: It more peaceful being a loan operator.

376
00:17:02,840 --> 00:17:05,520
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, you're working hard, but it's like you're

377
00:17:05,840 --> 00:17:07,440
Speaker 4: doing it for yourself though, you know what I mean,

378
00:17:07,840 --> 00:17:10,920
Speaker 4: just like any self employed person. Right, it's a little

379
00:17:10,920 --> 00:17:15,359
Speaker 4: more satisfaction in your job, you know, because it's you know,

380
00:17:15,560 --> 00:17:18,040
Speaker 4: you're not doing it for him or them, You're doing

381
00:17:18,040 --> 00:17:18,480
Speaker 4: it for you.

382
00:17:19,160 --> 00:17:21,560
Speaker 2: But man, you got when it's busy time of year, Man,

383
00:17:21,600 --> 00:17:23,440
Speaker 2: you got long days. Yeah.

384
00:17:23,800 --> 00:17:25,440
Speaker 1: Just for instance, I knew you had all I knew

385
00:17:25,480 --> 00:17:27,119
Speaker 1: all kinds of junk you do every night. I had

386
00:17:27,119 --> 00:17:29,520
Speaker 1: no idea that every night you got to wash the plane.

387
00:17:30,280 --> 00:17:31,120
Speaker 2: To get the salt water.

388
00:17:31,200 --> 00:17:32,960
Speaker 3: Right, I have help, I do have you do have

389
00:17:33,000 --> 00:17:35,240
Speaker 3: help with that? Okay? Yeah, honest helping me the summer.

390
00:17:35,280 --> 00:17:35,720
Speaker 3: She's great.

391
00:17:36,320 --> 00:17:39,400
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it's it's a it's a job, man.

392
00:17:39,440 --> 00:17:41,439
Speaker 4: It's like, you know, we don't subscrub it every night.

393
00:17:41,440 --> 00:17:43,239
Speaker 4: We at least rents it off so you get the

394
00:17:43,240 --> 00:17:43,879
Speaker 4: salt off of it.

395
00:17:44,080 --> 00:17:44,480
Speaker 3: Yeah.

396
00:17:44,800 --> 00:17:47,680
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's but more, I guess, my point rather than

397
00:17:47,760 --> 00:17:49,119
Speaker 1: just just simply washing.

398
00:17:49,200 --> 00:17:51,159
Speaker 2: My point is it's not like when you're done, you

399
00:17:51,320 --> 00:17:55,280
Speaker 2: like park and walk away. Right, there's a lot, right.

400
00:17:55,200 --> 00:17:57,520
Speaker 1: And then every blank hours you got to do this,

401
00:17:57,680 --> 00:18:00,320
Speaker 1: and every blank hours you got to do that.

402
00:18:00,320 --> 00:18:04,520
Speaker 4: That's any But it's you know, it's it's it's it's

403
00:18:04,560 --> 00:18:08,400
Speaker 4: a short season. You know, it's pretty hectic. But yeah,

404
00:18:08,400 --> 00:18:11,520
Speaker 4: in another two months will be you know.

405
00:18:12,119 --> 00:18:13,800
Speaker 1: Yeah, you've got time to take care of So yeah,

406
00:18:14,000 --> 00:18:17,400
Speaker 1: well so tell people, So you fly anything within how

407
00:18:17,400 --> 00:18:22,879
Speaker 1: many miles of catch can what's the farthest you roam.

408
00:18:21,400 --> 00:18:23,560
Speaker 4: The longest charter I've done it is probably up to

409
00:18:23,640 --> 00:18:27,280
Speaker 4: juno Yeah ok, yeah, all right, two and a half hours.

410
00:18:27,400 --> 00:18:27,600
Speaker 3: You know.

411
00:18:27,960 --> 00:18:32,440
Speaker 1: So now I know people. I know people that are

412
00:18:32,480 --> 00:18:36,760
Speaker 1: pilots who say that they like to fly with you

413
00:18:36,800 --> 00:18:38,679
Speaker 1: because you're such an exceptional pilot.

414
00:18:38,840 --> 00:18:41,080
Speaker 3: Oh oh thanks, whoever they are?

415
00:18:41,200 --> 00:18:44,760
Speaker 2: Cap Mac? Oh yeah, Cap Mac is a pilot. Yeah,

416
00:18:44,800 --> 00:18:47,680
Speaker 2: and he's like, that's my pilot. He likes you.

417
00:18:47,760 --> 00:18:48,400
Speaker 3: Yeah.

418
00:18:48,440 --> 00:18:51,560
Speaker 1: So black Rock Aviation, that's a little bit a glimpse

419
00:18:51,560 --> 00:18:55,200
Speaker 1: of the life of of a floatplane pilot.

420
00:18:55,440 --> 00:18:57,320
Speaker 2: A lot of people have dreams are coming out and

421
00:18:57,359 --> 00:19:00,720
Speaker 2: being pilots. Yeah, I I I don't.

422
00:19:01,520 --> 00:19:04,240
Speaker 1: I had it, and I just realized that it's probably better.

423
00:19:04,240 --> 00:19:05,800
Speaker 2: It's the charter of a plane.

424
00:19:06,440 --> 00:19:06,680
Speaker 3: Yeah.

425
00:19:07,119 --> 00:19:08,719
Speaker 2: You know. I used to think like, I'm gonna get

426
00:19:08,760 --> 00:19:10,200
Speaker 2: my own plane, and now I'm like, no, you're not

427
00:19:12,080 --> 00:19:14,840
Speaker 2: comment Yeah, commitment.

428
00:19:15,320 --> 00:19:16,120
Speaker 3: If you gonna do that.

429
00:19:16,600 --> 00:19:20,880
Speaker 1: So black Rock Aviation out to catch Kaine, Alaska. Dvance

430
00:19:21,880 --> 00:19:25,800
Speaker 1: Robert Robert, I'll never remember that, dude. Advance robertus uh

431
00:19:26,080 --> 00:19:31,280
Speaker 1: soul proprietor pilot UH private, owns his own plane, flies

432
00:19:31,320 --> 00:19:37,720
Speaker 1: around mechanic mechanic too, flies around beautiful Alaska, getting everybody

433
00:19:37,720 --> 00:19:38,960
Speaker 1: to their fishing spots on time.

434
00:19:39,640 --> 00:19:40,280
Speaker 3: So what we try to do.

435
00:19:40,640 --> 00:19:42,800
Speaker 2: Thanks thanks for doing the interview, man, I appreciate it.

436
00:19:43,040 --> 00:19:44,160
Speaker 3: My problem.

437
00:19:44,320 --> 00:20:01,119
Speaker 2: Thank you everybody