Due to the nature of flying conditions in southeast Alaska, Admiralty Air Service scheduled flights are always flown under IFR rules. VFR weather in this region is not a thing to be relied upon and strict adherence to instrument procedures has kept accidents to a minimum and the FAA and NTSB at bay. Admiralty Air Service has maintained an excellent safety record through consistency and a healthy respect for IFR minimums.
Certain rules apply specifically to our operations which must complied with at all times;
1. Sufficient fuel must be taken on at the departure airport to A) permit safe takeoff without exceeding maximum gross weight, B) allow the pilot, upon arrival at the destination, to conduct three missed approaches, C) fly to the selected alternate and, D) land with 45 minutes of fuel remaining.
2. Flights should depart as closely as possible to the scheduled departure times as listed on the Admiralty Air Flight schedule.
3. Admiralty Air Service has been authorized by the FAA to fly special gps routes on certain legs. Note that these routes usually terminate in a gps approach which may or may not have lower minimums than the conventional routing. However, they are usually considerably more direct and can save time in more favorable weather conditions. For a graphic display and listing of the waypoints, see the Charts page.
4. As mentioned above, the pilot is authorized to conduct no more than three missed approaches before diverting to the selected alternate.
5. Choice of alternates is left ultimately to the PIC, however, the departure airport is to be preferred. This is because it is generally easier for passengers to make accommodations in the town they just left, rather than a place they had no plans to go to. This is all the more true in southeast Alaska where few towns are connected to each other by roads.
6. Pilots are requested to post their arrival time(s) at the end of their pirep and indicate the minutes, plus or minus, as compared to the scheduled time. This serves the purpose of making the fight schedules more accurate as time goes on.
