I was on the web and found Papa Bear Adventures for fly out trips for hunting and fishing. I'm pretty interested in doing this. I'm worried because of some of the horror stories of crashes and such. Does anyone have any thoughts they are willing to share? You can PM if you like.

thanks

Well, I have not heard anything bad about them, and, I have not handled any accident reports from them. That said, you can take an operation that has a sterling record, great pilots, great airplanes, and still end-up in an accident. Stuff happens. Fishing the Kenektok is on my list after I retire in June. Won't be this year but will try for 2013. Good luck.

Our air taxi's, ( the US's) have the most stringent regulations and requirements in the world. The FAA is a stern taskmaster and were I you I'd take confidence in the fact that these air taxi's are rigorously maintained, well insured, and the pilots are generally less interested in wrecking than you are. Additionally, some places like Dillingham and King Salmon have private helo's available for search and rescue and case in point, in the Senator Stevens wreck, the Dillingham Volunteer Fire Department and Rescue Squad was first on scene, not the Coast Guard or National Guard, and noone died after theu got there!

Shameless plug maybe but I wasn't one of the first responders so I'm not bragging personally.

Most accidents have a component of being weather related. The main thing to remember is that if the pilot is iffy about the weather, then err on the side of waiting. Pilots want to walk home at the end of the day just like everybody else, but sometimes they fall prey to pressure to fly when they shouldn't.

Because of a combination of our terrain and lack of roads, air travel is essential way to get around the state.

One good rule of flying:

The pilot wants to land safely just as much as you do.