"Alaska is a place pilots go to and then are never seen in the lower 48 again..."
Man that's the truth: In more ways than one.
Right now I'm trying to decide what I want more: To live in Alaska or work for an airline (and not commute).
To be honest, I want to have my cake and eat it too. Right now I'm patient enough to try to have both, but who knows? I may do something desperate in the future--like trade places with our South African friend in Botswana...
NAC still is a great company in a lot of ways. The crews are awesome, the DC-6 is awesome, Alaska is awesome.
I remember one very cold and frosty morning going into McGrath. We had a great crew, Louis Armstrong was on the ADF and the morning was clear and brilliant. I thought I could probably do that job for the rest of my life. And then they cut me loose--oh well.
But, yes, I agree, NAC management leaves a lot to be desired. What's new?
It's just another family run airline like MarkAir, PenAir, Reeve Aleutian and others.
Bethel probably hasn't changed *too* much. It's still "damp". Camai was native owned until a couple "gussacks" bought it. Now it's called Village Aviation.
Fly safe.