wrangell mountain air - day trips

Thank you for the greats flights from Chitina to McCarthy and back. Great views over the glaciers ! The crew was very nice !

We had two flights to McCarthy from Chitina. It was beuatiful weather and we had great views.The pilot told us a lot and we could make great pictures. The plane is very secure.

We took the Grand Tour Flightseeing Tour and it was simply outstanding - fantastic, spectacular. This was our 5th trip to Alaska and we have taken flightseeing tours all over Alaska, Hawaii, and the U.S. This stands out as one of the most spectacular ever. The pilot, a young guy, was very enthusiastic, interesting and informative. He does this every day and said that he never tires of it - and I can understand why. He had to cut our trip a little short due to clouds, and they gave us a discount. Wrangell Mountain Air is a really good, well organized operation. If you visit McCarthy, be sure to take a flight.

We took the flight Chitina to Kennicote and back. It was a tiny plane for 6 people. The flight to the glacier was scheduled for 09:05. Few minutes beforehand, the little plane and the pilot arrived. We al got it and flew. The pilot was nice and experienced, he went the extra middle to show us nice sceneries on the was there, the glacier, the rivers, the mountains,....We felt safe and secured. Once landing in Kennicote everything was extremely efficient.The same was our way back.Very recommended!

Let me get out my thesauraus. I do not have enough superlative words in my vocabulary to describe the flight from Chitina to McCarthy. The pilot... a young man whose name we can't recall... seemed as enthusiastic to be showing us the sights as we were to be seeing them. He was knowledgeable and informative, and took us on a much longer route than the advertised 20-25 minutes in the little 4-seater plane. We flew through the Fourth of July Pass, over the Kennicott glacier, and much, much more. This flight was absolutely the highlight of our Alaskan vacation and no doubt we will remember it the rest of our lives. The trip back was in a six-seater plane and I was in the backseat where I could not see as much as in the smaller plane. My husband was in the co-pilot's seat and his visibility was hampered by the high dashboard. The weather had deteriorated, so we had to fly under the clouds... a totally different view, but very pretty. I am glad we got to experience flights at both lower and higher elevations as they were completely different.We had booked our excursion through Princess Cruises, which included lunch at the Kennicott Glacier Lodge and the mine tour, so I am not sure how much the flights actually cost. But, regardless, we would do it again in a heartbeat. My only advice would be to try to ask for the four-seater plane.

We wanted to go for several days to Wrangell St Elias NP. There are 2 ways to get there: or you take the McCarthy Road (unmaintained, gravel, not authorized by rental company) or you fly in.We chose to fly in (and out) from Chitina. You can park your car at the airstrip.Plane was scheduled to depart at 9.05. At about 8.55 the plane landed, taxied and parked right in front of us. We helped the pilot load the luggage (since we were staying in McCarthy for several days we were allowed to take some extra weight with us - confirmed by e-mail in advance)The plane was well maintained and the pilot informed us a lot during the flight.The flight takes 30 minutes, could be less but they treat you with flying over the glaciers.Once at the McCarthy airstrip, the have someone with a shuttle bus waiting to drive you to the little town. Same procedure for the return flight.Very well organised.

We flew first with Wrangell Mountain Air to get from Chitina to McCarthy. It was a 30 minute flight and our pilot, Bill, gave us a grand tour. We enjoyed it so much that two days later we booked a 90-minute flightseeing trip and what a wonderful decision that turned out to be! This was absolutely phenomenal! Incredible views of expansive Wrangell-St. Elias National Park - the largest national park in the country that you've probably never heard of. What a spectacular way to see this magnificent, pristine area. We were fortunate to again have Bill as our pilot. He is so knowledgeable and experienced. He really made the trip so memorable for us, as did the incredible weather we were lucky to have. If you have a chance to book a flightseeing trip with Wrangell Mountain Air, just do it. It really was the highlight of our 2-week trip to Alaska!

We flew from Chitina to McCarthy, then back a few days later. Both flights were excellent, with amazing views. The pilots were friendly and informative.

We had an amazing trip into the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park with the Wrangell Mountain Air group. Our pilot was very enjoyable and made us feel at ease throughout the flight into the park. When we landed in McCarthy, we walked around the little town, then were taken (via a shuttle bus) to the town of Kennicott where we went on a wonderful tour of the town as well as the copper mine. Fascinating day trip!

We flew from Chitina to Wrangell St Elias park and back on their small planes. Both Bill (our pilot going out) and Austin (coming back) went out of their way to make us comfortable and safe, and to point out the scenery and wildlife along the way. In case you're worried about motion sickness, both my friend and I are very prone to it, but we were fine on both flights.

I was lucky enough to book a flightseeing tour of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve with Wrangell Mountain Air. When the two other people on my flight cancelled, they asked me if I wanted to tag along on a flight to drop off and pick up hiking parties in the interior of the park. How could I refuse??? Wrangell Mountain Air picked me up at the footbridge outside of McCartney and soon the adventure began. Sitting in the co-pilot’s seat I experienced two brush landings, getting out each time and taking more photos. If you want to explore Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, you simply can’t go wrong with the great folks at Wrangell Mountain Air.

We chose to van from Chitina to McCarthy and fly out so that we could experience as much of the park as possible in a short stay with no backpacking and multiple transportation modes. We'd fly both directions next time. Wrangell Mountain Air is a model of customer service with clean planes that are serviced before your very eyes before they leave McCarthy. Even though "out of the park" isn't normally treated as their "scenic" direction, we were treated to absolutely inspiring views.In my opinion, if you want to be transported anywhere in Wrangell-St. Elias, be it a glacier or a camping spot or an airport, use these guys.

I did the day trip into McCarthy and Kennicott. My pilot Bill was great and very informative. He was right on time to pick me up at Chitina and on time again to leave from McCarthy.

The other one was a hiking tour of the Matansuka Glacier.We booked a day flight trip from Chitina to McCarthy which included time to walk around McCarthy (not too much to see but quaint), then a shuttle to Kennecott, lunch at the Kennecott lodge (which was quite nice) and then an extensive tour of the Kennecott Copper Mines. It was absolutely a delightful and educational full day experience which we would recommend to everyone.It's about a half hour flight each way and we had different pilots for each. Both were friendly, made us feel comfortable during the flight and pointed out various points of interest while flying over the Wrangell St. Elias mountain ranges.It appears to be a very well run and safe operation. They provide shuttle bus service between McCarthy and Kennecott for more than just people like us who use their flight service. Yet, they always made sure that we were given priority on the limited van space to keep to our tour schedule and flight home.We highly recommend the day trip!

Thanks for your review of our day trip to McCarthy. We are sorry you thought that the return flight wasn't as good as you thought it should be. I am pretty sure that the people you were flying with had paid, but none the less, it shouldn't matter. We try to cordial and talkative about the scenery or anything else people find interesting, including a visit to D.C. Again, I am sorry we failed to make you feel like you got you money's worth on the flight back. It surely wasn't the way we like our customer to feel. I am happy that you felt like the trip was overall a "good value" and tht you enjoyed the flight in, in better weather. Thanks again for the honest review.