Page 8 - Volume 15 Number 12

Cessna Citation CJ3, a Cessna 441 Conquest II, a Italian-built turbine- modified Cessna L-19 Bird Dog and a Piper Super Cub. Rob Swenson flies a Beech Duke, a Cessna 185, a Super Cub and a North American T-6 Texan.These men don’t have the Twin & Turbine airplanes just for amusement. Alaska airplanes earn their keep; in a state that spans an area half as large as the lower U.S., flying is essential. As we began our conversation with Dana Pruhs, he outlined his background and his family’s involvement. “I took my first flying lesson when I was 12, I’ve got 16,000 hours, all civilian, my wife has her license and my 22-year-old daughter, now a college student, has her instrument rating.”Pruhs is type-rated in the Falcons 10 and 50, as well as the Citation 500s and Learjets. He was offered a job with Alaska Airlines but opted for non-airline flying. At one point, he ran a corporate flight department and now heads up a company that builds bridges, roads, water and sewer lines and telephone infrastructure. One of Pruhs Construction’s latest projects was refurbishing the Kodiak airport. As a commercial developer, he opened the first corporate airpark in the state, on Anchorage’s Ted Stevens International airport, where the company’s planes are based. With hangars, ramps and a fuel farm for business aircraft, it’s a complete corporate home base.Dana Pruhs with the Falcon 50What does a Twin & Turbine reader need to know about flying Alaska, we asked? Pruhs stressed the uniqueness of the operating environment; there are often long stage lengths, with alternates a long way apart. Youmust deal with challenges of weather, darkness, mountains and winter, all of which require familarity with the special needs of Alaska flying. Compare it, he said, with flying from Houston to Seattle; the length6 • TWIN &DE&D1&TT TUURRBBIINNEEECCEEMMMBBEEERRR 2200111