AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - July 2018 - 76

Spending a night on the glacier is a good decision if the
weather changes for the worse, and there's survival equipment in
the aircraft, he added. "It's not really survival; it's a precautionary
concept. It's OK to not land, it's OK to come back [to Talkeetna]-
especially if the weather's changing or the fog's rolling in." The
company's dispatchers are great, he added, and the base camp
provides weather information at 8 a.m. daily and any time the
weather changes.
Sonn credits Suzanne Rust-who, with her husband, Todd,
owns K2 Aviation-for the safety culture. One of several operators authorized by the National Park Service to fly into Denali,
Talkeetna-based K2 is operated by the Rust family, which has
been flying Alaska's backcountry since 1963.
And like the mountain itself, the company has seen change
over the past few years, Rust said. Most noticeably, it's transitioning from its venerable Cessna 185s to larger aircraft, and in
2018 operates five de Havilland Turbine Otters. "It allows us to
land later during the season," she explained, because by mid-July
the ice is getting too rough for the 185s. Larger airplanes also let
the company fly the same number of passengers on fewer flights,
which reduces sound impacts within the park boundaries.

K2 likes to see pilot candidates with at least 2,000 hours of
experience, she said, but might consider lower time if it's the
right kind of time-for example, considerable Alaska backcountry experience.
Like her staff, Rust enjoys living and working in Alaska. "We
have a special kind of aviation. We're here to make people happy,"
she said. "If it's good, we'll go-if not, we'll come back. We don't
have to deal with the pressures others do."
The season ramps up in early May, and continues through the
end of September. Some 1,100 people climb the West Buttress-
Denali's easiest and most frequently climbed route-each year.
"For us, the climbing part is a very small part of the business,"
Rust said, "maybe 10 percent."
And as Denali constantly changes, so does K2's passenger mix.
"Ski tourism is making our season start earlier and earlier," Sonn
observed. A few skiers want to be flown onto the mountain in
February or March, "as soon as there's light," he said-and many are
one-way passengers, skiing downhill to a river, then inflating a boat
and floating back to civilization.
AOPA
EMAIL mike.collins@aopa.org

Building the future, one student at a time
High school program develops local aviation workforce
Talkeetna aviation businesses have
found a steady stream of mechanics
and ground-support staff from what
may seem like an unlikely source: Talkeetna Build-A-Plane, just across the
street from Talkeetna Airport.
Local residents Larry Rivers, a
retired bush pilot, and Rebecca Fisher
Cozad, an air taxi and airline pilot,
wanted to motivate young people to
graduate from high school and join

SEVERAL TALKEETNA BUILD-A-PLANE gradu-

ates now work for K2 Aviation. Brandon
Smothers (above) works the ramp during his
college break; he wants to become an airline
pilot. Dylan Cox, in hat at right, is a mechanic's helper; Josh Schlosser is an A&P.
76 | AOPA PILOT July 2018

the local workforce. A standing-roomonly community meeting led to the
launch of Talkeetna Build-A-Plane,
a separate entity from the national
nonprofit. The Matanuska Electric
Association provided a building and
utilities, and over the next seven winters, a succession of students worked
to rebuild a wrecked Piper Cherokee
Six-learning every necessary skill
along the way.

In the K2 Aviation maintenance hangar,
Josh Schlosser and Dylan Cox rebuild
actuators for de Havilland Beaver wheel
skis. Schlosser participated in Build-APlane for a year, earned his airframe and
powerplant certificate, and has worked
as an A&P for three years. Cox, a homeschooled high school student, participated in Build-A-Plane for five years and is in
his second year as a mechanic's helper.
"I live off the grid north of Talkeetna,"
Cox said. "I just hadn't thought much
about the aviation industry. Build-A-Plane
is definitely what piqued my interest in
aircraft mechanics." He's also working on
his private pilot certificate, in part with
flight credits earned in the program. Cox
plans a career in aviation.
Friends told Schlosser, who had
worked in his parents' machine shop,
about Build-A-Plane and he got involved
during his senior year of high school.
"I wanted to be an airplane mechanic,"
he said. "But I didn't have any hands-on
experience before then. We did a lot of
riveting and sheet-metal work, which I
hadn't done before." Schlosser earned
his A&P in a year, and said several classes
were much easier because of the experience he obtained in the program. "The
program definitely helped me get to
where I am."
On the ramp, Brandon Smothers
scrambles from aircraft to aircraft, loading cargo and cleaning windshields. He
participated in the program from its

AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - July 2018

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