Just plane fun

April 4, 2006

MARY AMES

Frontiersman reporter

Alaska and airplanes were made for each other. The reason there are more licensed pilots per capita here than in any other state is simple. In Alaska, airplanes are the keys to the kingdom. If you want a view of the entire Matanuska-Susitna Valley, from glaciers to the Knik Arm to the mountains that surround the fertile Valley floor, you should consider flightseeing.

Keith Silver, a pilot who has a business interest in Mustang Air in Palmer frequently takes visiting friends and business guests on sightseeing flights. Mustang Air, according to their certification, is limited to a 25-mile radius around Palmer for air charters. But within that circle, there is still a lot to see.

&#8220A lot of people want to see the Knik Glacier,” Silver said. &#8220You can see the gorge, where the glacier meets the mountain. There's a sheer

ice wall on one side and mountain on the other side. We fly lower, but not too low, so the people can see the blue ice in the sunshine.”

A lot of people don't know it, but one of the early Star Trek movies has a scene that was filmed on the ice of the Knik Glacier, Silver said. And some professional skaters have hired a helicopter to set them down on one of those glacier-blue ponds and get footage of them skating with a fabulous blue, he said.

The base of the glacier has an area large enough for wheel planes to land, Silver said.

&#8220You can land almost anywhere back there on wheels, and it's not unusual to find four or five aircraft parked at the base of the glacier,” he said. &#8220There are picnic tables and significant access for trucks and all-terrain vehicles. You can walk to the glacier from there.”

Just to the south of the glacier is Lake George, and from the air, you can see how far back it used to go before the glacier retreated in the late 1960s and the lake dumped, taking out houses and bridges, he said.

&#8220For people Outside, glaciers are something you don't see,” he said. &#8220And in that 25-mile radius, you can go to the Matanuska Glacier, or King Mountain, check chart and shoot through the pass to the Knik. Especially for people from the flatlands, it's very impressive. It's best to go in the morning, before the wind comes up.”

People can also take flying lessons at Mustang Air in a basic trainer aircraft, or lease a Super Cub, Decathlon or Beech Sierra and see Alaska on their own, Silver said.

&#8220We have people who come up just to get ratings,” he said. &#8220And it is cheaper to fly up here commercially and rent a plane to see the state than it is to fly their own planes up. We want to see their pilot's license and medical,” Silver said. &#8220Then one of our instructors go up with them and make sure they really do know how to fly the plane. A Super Cub can get you into trouble.”

Compared to Outside, where people aren't as aviation oriented, Alaska has some great landing strips, even in remote villages, he said.

Besides the glaciers, within the 25-mile circle Mustang Air can charter, people can see Hatcher Pass and Big Lake, too. But to see Mount McKinley up close and personal, Silver recommends driving to Talkeetna, where several air taxi services regularly fly people to their remote cabins, climbers to base camp on McKinley, and take tourists for the ride of a lifetime in between. Talkeetna attracts people from all over the world, and it's not unusual to sit down for a burger and hear people speaking German, Italian, Spanish, Korean and Japanese, he said.

Dave Glenn, a pilot for 35 years, bases his Maule-7 at the Wasilla airport, and, as sole owner and pilot of Grasshopper Aviation, offers an hour and a half of flightseeing he calls &#8220The Chugach Tour.” According to Glenn, this tour has it all, seeing lots of Alaska wildlife on the way to and from Prince William Sound, over glaciers and through mountain passes.

&#8220We head out through the Eklutna Valley,” Glenn said. &#8220In seven minutes, we're seeing sheep. We go over to Whiteout Glacier and find goats, then over the mountains to the tidewater glaciers. When we're lucky, we find bears on Colony Glacier.”

And after all that, Glenn said, he heads back for the most spectacular view of Lake George and Knik Glacier.

&#8220That glacier is gorgeous, eight miles wide at the toe and 32 miles long,” he said. &#8220I have a spot on it, a little tiny spot and the late-summer salmon get in there to spawn. So of course you have eagles, too. Then we go over to Swan and Maud Lakes and find moose, usually about a half dozen.”

One thing that happens every summer, Glenn said, is that someone local charters a flight and learns what the Valley has to offer.

&#8220They always say, ‘I've been here 20 years and had no idea it was back here,'” he said, amazed that people could live here and not know. &#8220You don't have to shoot or fish, just sit back and look at what God built.”

Glenn flies year-round, on skis in the winter and oversized Tundra Tires in hunting season, and most all of his business comes from word of mouth.

&#8220I understand that,” he said. &#8220You want to look someone in the eye when they tell you it's safe to fly into the mountains with them. I've been at this so long, I can't quit now.”

Contact Mary Ames at

352-2284 or mary.ames@

frontiersman.com.