4 ms·

Unlicensed pilots are very common in Alaska. There's an old joke that the FAA hopes to get at least 50% of the pilots in Alaska properly licensed.

rwc 6y ago
Those pilots wouldn't happen to be flying fully loaded A320s would they?
- catalogia 6y ago
  I hope not. I expect the vast majority are GA pilots, but given that they're skirting the law, it's hard to say. Edit: That was a semi-joke, obviously they don't have airbuses. Many are operating in a commercial capacity though, offering rides to customers or hauling freight.
  - rwc 6y ago
    No, no it's not. It's ridiculous to think unlicensed pilots from Alaska are somehow flying A320s for any airline carrier.
mc32 6y ago
You mean flying certified aircraft or experimental aircraft and bush planes? It’s one thing to fly unlicensed and another to claim you have a proper license when you actually paid someone to take the test for you because you don’t have the necessary experience and you’re using that license to fly commercial airliners.
- catalogia 6y ago
  Probably some mix of both. But certainly many are flying typical GA planes, Cessna and whatnot, without regulatory oversight. Most of their planes probably don't get annual inspections.
8ytecoder 6y ago
Alaska the state or Alaska Airlines?
- controversy 6y ago
  The state. Getting into the bush efficiently requires a plane. You could go old school with horses and dogs.
- excerionsforte 6y ago
  Commercial pilot license is required for any pilot looking to fly for a business operating aircraft for a profit.
  - thrill 6y ago
    This gets frequently abused in the US. Some of the abuse seems trivial on the surface - for example a friend can't legally pay you to fly him to a meeting far enough away to make driving undesirable on a clear pleasant day, even though you both frequently fly together personally on the weekends. However, there's no legal surprises on the FAA regulations and no excuse that a pilot can make that it seemed ok, as the regulations are quite clear that any compensation of any kind is illegal without holding a commercial certificate.
    - ryandrake 6y ago
      14 CFR 61.113 (c) allows the passenger to compensate the pilot so long as the pilot is not paying less than the pro rata share of the operating expenses.
      - redis_mlc 6y ago
        No, there's many more restrictions than that, including common purpose, and not being a scheduled flight.
throwaway0a5e 6y ago
Most of them aren't flying commercial jets though. They're mostly people flying GA-sized aircraft for hire without paying for the right papers to do it (i.e. doing it on a private pilot's license or an expired license).
- jaywalk 6y ago
  None of them are flying commercial jets. This is the US, no commercial airline is going to hire an unlicensed pilot.
  - throwaway0a5e 6y ago
    The reason I didn't use an absolute in my initial comment is because I can definitively see situations where someone qualified but not licensed would wind up in the co-pilots seat because one of the pilots scheduled to make a flight couldn't and cooking the books was seen as a lesser problem than the flight not happening. You have to remember that in rural areas "but that's illegal" doesn't really carry much weight. It's more a question of the reality of enforcement and ethics/morals. The reason people in rural areas don't go fishing with explosives, dump their hazmat on the side of the road and do other things they could get away with is because they mostly all agree that these things are wrong and the cost of not doing these things is low enough that most people elect not to do those things.
    - jaywalk 6y ago
      Who exactly would be "qualified but not licensed" at a commercial airline? Your scenario is beyond absurd.
      - catalogia 6y ago
        A pilot with a revoked license? I don't think that's particularly likely, but "beyond absurd" seems a tad too strong. I didn't expect this discussion to get so heated.
      - throwaway0a5e 6y ago
excerionsforte 6y ago
I suppose this is where the joke may have come from: https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/46907/who-checks-that-pilots-have-their-licenses https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/46907/who-check...
mav3rick 6y ago
Wow, 1 comment against the US and people start down voting it. But are free to club the entire "East" as one incompetent hole.

rwc 6y ago

Those pilots wouldn't happen to be flying fully loaded A320s would they?

catalogia 6y ago
I hope not. I expect the vast majority are GA pilots, but given that they're skirting the law, it's hard to say. Edit: That was a semi-joke, obviously they don't have airbuses. Many are operating in a commercial capacity though, offering rides to customers or hauling freight.
- rwc 6y ago
  No, no it's not. It's ridiculous to think unlicensed pilots from Alaska are somehow flying A320s for any airline carrier.

mc32 6y ago

You mean flying certified aircraft or experimental aircraft and bush planes? It’s one thing to fly unlicensed and another to claim you have a proper license when you actually paid someone to take the test for you because you don’t have the necessary experience and you’re using that license to fly commercial airliners.

catalogia 6y ago
Probably some mix of both. But certainly many are flying typical GA planes, Cessna and whatnot, without regulatory oversight. Most of their planes probably don't get annual inspections.

8ytecoder 6y ago

Alaska the state or Alaska Airlines?

controversy 6y ago
The state. Getting into the bush efficiently requires a plane. You could go old school with horses and dogs.
excerionsforte 6y ago
Commercial pilot license is required for any pilot looking to fly for a business operating aircraft for a profit.
- thrill 6y ago
  This gets frequently abused in the US. Some of the abuse seems trivial on the surface - for example a friend can't legally pay you to fly him to a meeting far enough away to make driving undesirable on a clear pleasant day, even though you both frequently fly together personally on the weekends. However, there's no legal surprises on the FAA regulations and no excuse that a pilot can make that it seemed ok, as the regulations are quite clear that any compensation of any kind is illegal without holding a commercial certificate.
  - ryandrake 6y ago
    14 CFR 61.113 (c) allows the passenger to compensate the pilot so long as the pilot is not paying less than the pro rata share of the operating expenses.
    - redis_mlc 6y ago
      No, there's many more restrictions than that, including common purpose, and not being a scheduled flight.

throwaway0a5e 6y ago

Most of them aren't flying commercial jets though. They're mostly people flying GA-sized aircraft for hire without paying for the right papers to do it (i.e. doing it on a private pilot's license or an expired license).

jaywalk 6y ago
None of them are flying commercial jets. This is the US, no commercial airline is going to hire an unlicensed pilot.
- throwaway0a5e 6y ago
  The reason I didn't use an absolute in my initial comment is because I can definitively see situations where someone qualified but not licensed would wind up in the co-pilots seat because one of the pilots scheduled to make a flight couldn't and cooking the books was seen as a lesser problem than the flight not happening. You have to remember that in rural areas "but that's illegal" doesn't really carry much weight. It's more a question of the reality of enforcement and ethics/morals. The reason people in rural areas don't go fishing with explosives, dump their hazmat on the side of the road and do other things they could get away with is because they mostly all agree that these things are wrong and the cost of not doing these things is low enough that most people elect not to do those things.
  - jaywalk 6y ago
    Who exactly would be "qualified but not licensed" at a commercial airline? Your scenario is beyond absurd.
    - catalogia 6y ago
      A pilot with a revoked license? I don't think that's particularly likely, but "beyond absurd" seems a tad too strong. I didn't expect this discussion to get so heated.
    - throwaway0a5e 6y ago

excerionsforte 6y ago

I suppose this is where the joke may have come from: https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/46907/who-checks-that-pilots-have-their-licenses https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/46907/who-check...

mav3rick 6y ago

Wow, 1 comment against the US and people start down voting it. But are free to club the entire "East" as one incompetent hole.