Good ol' Layton. I have heard very interesting stories about him. I was in Haines once in something that resembled a restaurant and met Layton. I did not let him know I was a pilot. He proceeded to tell me how he made his first million in aviation.
Wow.... glad I never flew for him.
After flying all day and still not reunited with my baggage, I crawled out of the Cherokee 6 on the gravel ramp of the Haines airport and was immediately summoned to get my butt over to a large gentleman who was standing on the wing of a PA-28 Archer waving at me.
Within seconds of arriving in my final destination in Alaska, I was in the air in an unfamiliar airplane, taking a part 135 checkride with a seemingly insane man who wanted to know the names of all my instructors, so that he could turn them in as frauds.
Needless to say, I must have given him the slightest clue that I was in fact competent and despite not knowing what half of what he was yelling at me meant, I did indeed pass his stringent induction process.
Layton and his sons were unique humans and everyone who worked for him/them earned their keep every day, or were fired and sent packing with no notice... I still can recall some of the survival concepts he taught us and despite his ogrely demeanor, he was fun to be around.
One of those survival techniques possibly saved my life a few months later when I went inadvertent IMC over the Bering Sea. By then I had moved on from LAB and was risking my skin daily in Western Alaska as a no-kidding bush pilot.
I found out years later that LAB was shut down by the FAA for (alleged) devious maintenance practices. I actually found one of the Cherokee Six 300's and a Lance that we flew and they still had the orange markings on the tail.
It was a trial by fire for a brand new airline pilot, but I cherish the memories and experience and it made me a better pilot and person.
