Bob Adkins came to Southeast Alaska in 1964, fresh out of university grad school.  He planned to stay for a year or two at most.  Fifty-six years later he's still in Southeast Alaska, and has lived "The Alaska Dream" that many people imagine but relatively few fulfill.

A long and successful career in education was interspersed with summers spent flying, running his own commercial fishing boat, hunting, sport fishing, and later flying for a local air taxi.  Today he's retired from a successful wildlife and nature photography business.

Bob first learned to fly in 1966, and went on to obtain his private pilot's license (single engine land and sea), commercial, instrument, and multi-engine ratings.  He also became a certified flight instructor.

From the succinct entries that fill three pilot log books come most of the stories and events that comprise Panhandle Pilot.  Some of the stories are amusing, some are ironic, some are sad, some are thought provoking.  Bob's dry sense of humor is evident in a number of them.  Panhandle Pilot also gives the reader insight into the operation of Southeast Alaska's air taxi industry that is so vitally important to residents and businesses in Alaska's panhandle.

All in all, Panhandle Pilot provides entertaining and enjoyable reading for anyone interested in aviation and Alaskana.