Mark Beal:
CLASS OF 1981
Service High SchoolClass of 1981
Anchorage, AK
Walla Walla Community CollegeClass of 1995
Walla walla, WA
Mark's Story
All right kids.Here's the skinny on what I've been up to the past few odd years.After high school, I bounced around from job to job.The list is too long to get into.Went to UAA off and on working on a degree in aviation maintenance, kick myself in the ass for not finishing that one. Worked the seafood industry to pay for schooling.Went from cleaning fish to the skipper's chair,then to the engine room('87-'95).Moved to Walla Walla Wa. in '90 to live with a gal I met on the dock's at Peter Pan Seafood in Dillingham AK.She worked in quality control and would come down to inspect the fish we had bought from the fisherman. Spent my winters getting a degree in automotive repair at Walla Walla Community College, then got offered a teaching job which I promptly turned down to work more in the feild.Had ideas about starting my own biz ya see.In '98 was re-infected with the flying bug with a ride in a Stinson Reliant at the museum in Tillamook OR. In 7/99 I got my private pilots certificate, bought a truck,a horse trailer,packed my crap, and headed for Alaska. Five long days later, I was drink a cold one at my folk's place in Wasilla. Bought a tin box in Anchorage to live in, went to work as a car mechanics for Nissan. March '00 damaged two ...Expand for more
disks in my neck.With the advice from my doctor and hating working on cars for other people, I decided to pursue flying as an occupation. Some one should've hit me on the and sat on me till that idea went out of my head.On 8/01 I bought a Cessna 150 and began building time.10/31/03 I added an instument rating to my ticket.Then on 2/19/05 I had a my commercial certificate.Still bouncing around the automotive world I slipped on the in the parking lot one early March morning at Nissan in '06 and fractured almost half my rib cage.That put me out of work for a year and into bankruptcy.Oh well.March '07 I was hire by a mom and pop air taxi based in Aniak Alaska to fly passengers and the mail, with some cargo.Mostly I was based in Bethel Alaska, until they had closed that station.In November, I added a multi- engine to my commercial ticket, then went looking for a job flying turbine aircraft.Well that didn't go quit as planned.So in August '08, I managed to land a job with Evert's Air Cargo as a Flight Engineer on the Douglas DC-6, got my rating 9/15/08,logged 16.8 hrs of intial flight training, and been flying ever since.Now I am casting an eye on the co-pilot's chair( First Officer"s chair). Can't wait to get behind the controls.
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