Aviation-dependent Alaska hit hard by pilot shortage

Fairbanks, Alaska

NEVER climb into an airplane cockpit in winter without your best military-grade arctic boots, rated to -60 degrees Fahrenheit (-51 degrees Celsius). Green, cocky pilots fresh from the "lower 48" (the continental states of the US excluding Alaska) tend to forget that rule just once. Knowing when not to climb aboard the plane at all is harder and comes only with deeper experience.

"If my gut tells me this is not good, we don't go," said Matt Anderson, 55, who has spent more than 25 years flying small planes across Alaska's wild, empty and hazardous landscapes.