“Sitka is a place
almost like none
other.”
“We don’t do a canned tour,” Scott says. “If one of my guys sees a bunch of bears or knows where the mountain goats are or something of interest, then that’s the place we’re going. We are pretty diverse, and no two tours are the same.”
It was immersion in nature that initially drew Scott to Sitka and Alaska. As an aviation mechanic in the Coast Guard, he arrived four years out of high school, ready to see Alaska and experience what Sitka had to offer. Once his tour of fixing search and rescue helicopters in the Coast Guard was complete, Scott and his wife found future East Coast duty stations less appealing and ultimately decided to stay.
“I enjoyed being in the community and in the Coast Guard,” Scott says. “I liked the work they were doing here, and we liked it here. We had a comfortable life.”
He transitioned out of the military and found work at the waterfront and airport. As time went on, Scott filled a need in the community
when he bought a three-passenger plane and hired a pilot. His business grew and “all of a sudden, life happens. Twenty years ago, I started my own business, and here we are!” He laughs.
Now Scott’s business has evolved to serve two main customers: commuter jet riders looking to get around Southeast Alaska and float plane passengers on flight seeing tours or who need transportation to a remote lodge or secret corner of the vast wilderness.
“We’ll take a guide and people out for fishing in the morning and pick them up in the afternoon,” Scott says. “They spend their whole day on the river somewhere. It’s usually a remote location with nobody else there so they can enjoy the day in that kind of environment.”
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Photo: Derek Mazur