Seaplane base OPEN — wind calm, 12 mi visibility Fairbanks, AK  ·  -4°C light snow
FAA Part 135 · Cert. W1XA742M Flight desk +1 (907) 555-0142
Green bush plane with tundra tyres parked on a snowfield beneath a dark rock face in the Alaska Range
Est. 1978 Fairbanks, Alaska 41 remote strips

Wilderness AirFly in. Walk out.

Two Pilatus-grade engines, four aircraft and forty-one places no road reaches. We fly float, tundra-tyre and ski-equipped bush planes into the Alaska Range, the Brooks Range and the Tongass — with the same two pilots who have flown this country since 1978.

Check availability See the routes
No landing-fee surprises Quoted in 4 hours Weather call by 06:00
47yrs
Flying the interior
41strips
No-road destinations
4types
Float · wheel · ski
18,400hrs
Both pilots, combined
Equipment
Charter routes

Six lines we fly most weeks

Every flight below is a private charter — the aircraft is yours, the schedule is negotiated with weather, and the pilot will set you down on water, gravel or snow depending on the season. Prices are per aircraft, up to the seat count shown.

Open now Float plane tied at a dock on a still lake ringed by autumn birch and spruce 01
Interior · Chena & Tanana

Tanana Flats Run

Tundra lakes, black-spruce bog and the hot springs road. The shortest leg we fly and the one most people book twice.

Distance
38 nm
Flight time
25 min
Aircraft
Cessna 185
Seats
3 + pilot
$520per aircraft Enquire
Apr – Sep Turquoise glacial lake backed by steep mountains and dark spruce forest 02
Alaska Range · Denali

Denali South Face

Up the Kahiltna to the 14,000 ft camp, then a low pass over the Ruth Glacier. Strap in — the air gets honest here.

Distance
112 nm
Flight time
1 h 05
Aircraft
DHC-2 Beaver
Seats
6 + pilot
$1,450per aircraft Enquire
Jun – Aug Braided glacial river winding through a wide mountain valley under heavy cloud 03
Arctic · Brooks Range

Anaktuvuk Outpost

Above the Arctic Circle and beyond the last road. Gravel-strip landing at a village of 400, with a fuel cache for the return.

Distance
240 nm
Flight time
2 h 10
Aircraft
Cessna 206
Seats
5 + pilot
$2,680per aircraft Enquire
Open now Small float plane taxiing across a vast grey lake beneath a heavy squall line 04
Southcentral · Copper River

Copper River Delta

Miles of braided silt, sockeye runs and the Chugach wall on your right shoulder. Excellent for photographers.

Distance
165 nm
Flight time
1 h 30
Aircraft
DHC-2 Beaver
Seats
6 + pilot
$1,890per aircraft Enquire
Jun – Aug A broad glacier tongue spilling from a snow-covered mountain under flat grey light 05
Northwest · Kobuk

Kobuk Sand Dunes

Great Kobuk Sand Dunes — 25 square miles of active dunes inside the Arctic. Land on wheels on the river bar.

Distance
310 nm
Flight time
2 h 45
Aircraft
Cessna 206
Seats
5 + pilot
$3,240per aircraft Enquire
Open now Float planes moored on a forest lake with mountains behind, Fish Lake near Talkeetna Alaska 06
Southeast · Tongass

Tongass Fjord Hop

Rainforest channels, waterfalls off the wall and a beach landing at low tide. Our longest single leg.

Distance
420 nm
Flight time
2 h 20
Aircraft
DHC-3 Otter
Seats
9 + pilot
$3,950per aircraft Enquire

Prices exclude the 11% Alaska fuel surcharge and any overnight at a remote strip. Off-strip landings surveyed at $240. Multi-day drop camps quoted per camp.

The fleet

Four aircraft, all of them bent for short ground

We keep four airframes and swap the gear with the season. Floats from break-up to freeze, skis through the winter, bushwheels on the gravel bars in between.

Yellow and white Beaver float plane moored at a wooden dock on a still northern lake
FloatsWheelsSkis
Workhorse

de Havilland DHC-2 Beaver

N7719B · 1957

The aircraft the bush was built around. Radial, taildragger, and happy on a 900 ft strip with a load of moose and fuel on board.

Seats
6 + pilot
Cruise
130 kt
Range
450 nm
Useful load
1,450 lb
White high-wing bush plane on skis seen from above on a white snowfield
Tundra tyresSkisFloats
Strip specialist

Cessna 185 Skywagon

N4128K · 1974

The fast one. Gets into gravel bars the Beaver can't and still climbs out at gross weight on a summer afternoon.

Seats
3 + pilot
Cruise
145 kt
Range
520 nm
Useful load
900 lb
Vintage float plane throwing spray as it accelerates across a blue meltwater lake
FloatsWheel skis
Group hauler

de Havilland DHC-3 Otter

N339AK · 1961

Single radial, nine seats, and a hole where the cargo pod goes. For parties, film crews and freight that won't fit anything else.

Seats
9 + pilot
Cruise
125 kt
Range
700 nm
Useful load
2,600 lb
Yellow and red Super Cub float plane resting on a green shelf beside a river mouth
Tundra tyresFloatsSkis
Two-seat backcountry

Piper PA-18 Super Cub

N8230C · 1953

The scout. Lands in 200 ft, turns inside a river bend, and gets a pilot and one passenger into places with no name on the chart.

Seats
2 (tandem)
Cruise
100 kt
Range
400 nm
Useful load
480 lb
Scenic flight packages

Three ways to see it from the air

Departures daily between 07:00 and 19:00, weather permitting. Each seat includes a headset, a window that opens, and whatever the pilot knows about the country below.

Aerial view over a folded range of green and snow-streaked mountains 45 min
Denali foothills

The Ridge Line

A short, high-value loop over the Kantishna hills and the Minto Flats. The one to book if you have an afternoon.

  • 45 min airborne, 3 seats minimum
  • Window-seat guarantee
  • Flight-line briefing before departure
$390per seat Book
Aerial view of a snow-covered mountain massif under deep blue shadow 1 h 45
Alaska Range

Glacier & Icefield

The full Kahiltna pass with a glacier landing at 7,200 ft — 20 minutes on the ice, engines running, boots provided.

  • Glacier landing included (20 min on ice)
  • Glacier boots, poles and gaiters loaned
  • Hot flask and smoked salmon on the ice
  • 1 h 45 total, 6 seats
$745per seat Book
Green aurora borealis arcing above a black spruce treeline at night 2 h 15
Sep – Mar

Aurora After Dark

Night flying above the inversion layer, chasing clear sky with the aurora forecast open on the tablet. Head south, turn north.

  • Departs 21:30, return by 00:30
  • Two clear-sky options flown before calling it
  • Free re-book if cloud closes both
$890per seat Book
Fishing & hunting trips

Drop camps, float hunts and the long walk home

We are a charter operator, not an outfitter — which means we fly you where the game and the fish actually are, and we come back for you on the day you agreed. Two pilots, one aeroplane, forty-one strips.

  • Fly-in fishing. Arctic grayling, rainbow, Dolly Varden and sockeye. Three and five-day float camps on the Mulchatna, Kvichak and Goodnews drainages.
  • Moose and caribou. Unit 20A and 25D drop camps. We fly you and your gear into a surveyed strip and lift the meat out on a second leg.
  • Float hunts. Point-to-point on a river, a different pickup strip each day. The pilot tracks your schedule by satellite and meets you downstream.
  • Meat and trophy care. 541 lb freight hold, game bags on board, and a freezer at the base so nothing sits in the sun while you fly home.
Plan a drop camp Licences & tags
Angler casting a fly rod in a river below mountains at golden hour
Fly water · Mulchatna
Fisherman standing waist deep in a mist-covered lake at dawn
First light · Kvichak
Bull moose with a full rack standing in golden autumn grass
Unit 20A · Sept
Two hunters walking a brown tundra ridge with rifles at last light
Delta herd · Aug
May – Jun
Spring bear & float openersBlack and brown bear over bait stations we don't operate — we fly the access only.
Jun – Jul
Sockeye & graylingPeak river fishing. Long daylight, soft water, best window for families.
25 Aug – 20 Sep
Moose seasonOur busiest six weeks. Drop camps booked 12 months out; deposit secures the strip.
Oct – Apr
Ski & winter gearSkis on all four airframes. Ice fishing, winter cabins and aurora charters.
Float plane tied at a dock on a mirrored lake at dusk with dark mountain silhouettes beyond
Why people come back

Nothing here is on the way to anywhere else.

Every strip we fly into was chosen because there is no other way in. That is the entire business: one pilot, one aeroplane, and a country that has not been improved by a road.

“We don't sell the flight. We sell the four hours after the aeroplane leaves, and we sell the fact that it comes back.”

Ray Tollefsen · Chief Pilot & Owner

Request a quote Meet the aircraft
On every charter

What's standing in the aeroplane before you board

Weather decision

Final go/no-go called by the pilot at 06:00 and again 90 minutes before departure. If we scrub, you owe nothing and we re-book at once.

Freight and food

541 lb of hold space on the Otter, 120 lb on the Cub. Coolers, canoes, antler racks, decking and dried goods all travel with you, not behind you.

Strip briefing

Approach, obstacles, wind and where the bears walked last week — written on the briefing sheet and talked through before you load.

Satellite comms

Every aircraft carries a satellite messenger on your call sign. Families get a two-line position report from the strip on arrival.

Base facilities

Parking, a drying room, a freezer for your catch, a shower you can use after a week on the tundra, and coffee that has been on since 05:30.

Insurance & paperwork

Carrier liability certificate issued with every invoice. We file the flight plan — you sign one page and carry a copy of the briefing.

Optional add-ons

  • Dock or beach pickup$180
  • Field lunch, per person$46
  • Camp kit hire (3 nights)$260
  • Aurora night kit$95
  • Extra 100 lb freight leg$220
  • Bear spray rental$32
  • Second landing on route$240
  • Satellite photo drop$75
  • Freezer space, per week$20
Booking desk

Tell us where you're going and when

Send this and a pilot answers it — not a call centre. Quotes go out within four hours during the season, and every request gets a written weather-contingency note.

✓ Request logged with the flight desk

Reference WA-000000. A pilot will reply within four hours with a firm quote and the current strip conditions.

01 — The flight
02 — Add-ons
03 — Who's flying

No payment taken here. This is a request for a quote.

Pilot reports

612 flights, 4.9 average

★★★★★
“We flew the icefield package and the pilot put us down on the Kahiltna, made tea, and then took us a hundred feet over the Ruth. My father has not stopped talking about it.”
Martin Ellis
Anchorage, AK · Glacier & Icefield
★★★★★
“Nine days on the Mulchatna, flown in and lifted out exactly when they said. They texted my wife a position report from the strip. That's the whole difference.”
Dana Whitlock
Bozeman, MT · Float camp
★★★★★
“Twelve hours of waiting in Fairbanks and they still got us into the Brooks Range before dark. Nobody else would have looked at that ceiling. No fuss, no drama.”
Johan Berger
Hamburg, DE · Anaktuvuk Outpost
Operating notes

Questions the flight desk answers most

01 How much weight can I bring?
Allowances are per seat, not per party: 150 lb of passenger plus gear on the Beaver and Otter, 120 lb on the Cessna and Cub. Over that is billed at $2.20 per pound and must be declared in advance so we can plan fuel. Total hold space on the Otter is 541 lb.
02 What happens if the weather is bad?
The pilot calls it at 06:00 and again 90 minutes before departure. If we scrub, your deposit moves to any date in the next 12 months and nothing is forfeited — including a same-day decision. We would rather lose the seat than fly a charter into a pass we don't like, and we will tell you plainly which of the two it is.
03 Do I need a hunting licence or tag?
Yes, and it is yours to arrange. We are a Part 135 charter operator, not a registered guide, so we fly the access only: we cannot guide, spot game for you or take you hunting. Non-resident moose and caribou tags must be drawn in the state lottery and purchased before you fly, and we will ask to see them at the counter.
04 Can children come along?
From age two, provided they have their own seat under the seat count — no lap children in a light single. Headset sizes run down to child, and the scenic Ridge Line loop is the usual first flight for families.
05 Is the aurora flight worth it in a bad year?
We fly two clear-sky options on the night. If cloud closes both, or the aurora index stays flat and the pilot judges the flight pointless, you re-book free of charge and we don't take the money. Roughly one night in five is a scrub between September and November.
06 Can you drop off a canoe or a generator?
Yes. We regularly lift aluminium boats, generators, lumber and fuel drums to private parcels and remote cabins, and we hold a freight tariff separate from passenger charters. Send the dimensions, weight and strip name and the desk will quote it as a freight leg.