What do I mean by "Real Alaska Bush Flying"?

That our location in this rugged mountainous environment provides you the ultimate conditions to experience Alaska Bush Flying, mountain flying, and earn an SES rating too. You will not have ATC, ATIS, Unicom, or even a windsock. You are on your own. You will not have runways, either paved or dirt. You wlll determine the wind direction and velocity.

We have the Location, the Instructors, and the Equipment. 

Our spruce, hemlock, and birch trees are real. The steep-walled canyons where I teach pilots to do lazy-eights are real. A small mountain lake is real.  I have had airline pilots who at first did not even want to fly into these narrow canyons. They were accustomed to being above the mountain tops, not between them! But by the end of the course, they were pros at canyon flying. 

This is NOT a one day rating. Float training packages range from six to fifteen hours of flight time along with more than five hours of ground school. Most study materials are included. Plan to be here from three to six days. Our instructors are working Part 135 float plane pilots! 

My favorite airplane is the Super Cub, a Piper PA-18 on EDO 2000 floats or Wipline 2100s. It is the ultimate bush plane for flying in Alaska.  We use this for training, not a J-3, PA-11, Taylorcraft, or C-150. In the Super Cub you sit up front, the instructor sits behind you. Yes, we do provide headsets, hip boots, and life vests. 

Flying Floats is one of the most exciting forms of flying and the closest to "Barn Storming" that a pilot can get in today's world of flying. Flying floats combines the exhilaration and pleasures of sailing, boating and flying. Earning your Single Engine Sea Rating here at our Trail Lake location is an adventure in Alaska flying that will excite you for a lifetime whenever you think about it! You'll find out if you have what it takes to fly the bush. 

In addition to having fun and earning a new rating, some pilots actually come to my course to learn new skills. If a pilot has recently bought a float plane and now needs to learn to fly floats, they come here. They know they’ll receive the best training available and in a real world setting, not simulated. They know we’ll teach them the “secrets” of keeping their float plane in one piece. If these floatplane owners want to come here, what better recommendation for all pilots. 

In addition to all the above, take advantage of meeting a variety of pilots from fighter pilots, astronauts, and airline pilots to pilots from overseas, commercial pilots from Alaska, and private pilots from the Lower 48. 

           Watch this video and you will see - you'll be flying in Wild Alaska on every flight!