Traveling by Plane
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Throughout Alaska the four seater bush plane is about as common as the lower 48's automobile. Due to the large bodies of water, steep mountains, enormous icefields, and rugged terrain, flying is a very useful, although demanding, type of travel in Alaska.

The term "bush" is also applied to the small planes and their pilots who service areas without roads. Much of Alaska's flying is done by small planes with floats (float planes) or skis attached to the bottom. Float planes are widely used because they virtually can travel anywhere in Alaska. Lake Hood,located in Anchorage, is not just the busiest float plane base in the United States, but in the world. Merrill Field, also located in Anchorage, has more than 225 takeoffs and landings a day by small wheeled aircrafts.

The first civilian bush pilot to arrive in Alaska was Roy F. Jones, a World War I aviator for the U.S Signal Corps. Bush pilots in Alaska are generally very skilled. Many fly to small and remote native communities performing amazing takeoffs and landings in the most inaccessible of landing sites.

Experienced bush pilots may fly in the most hazardous conditions imaginable, but it is often common in Alaska to fly in such weather. The bush pilots in Alaska are some of the greatest in the world. Even though bush planes are a common sight anywhere you go in Alaska, large jets also connect most of the large cities, but they are only useful in traveling to the main cities. In any trip to Alaska, a person needs to count on taking one of these unique and popular forms of Alaska Travel.
Video Clip by: Alaska Video Postcards
Photo by: AK Division of Tourism
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