K2 Aviation, Talkeetna Air Taxi or Talkeeta Aero Service
 

K2 Aviation, Talkeetna Air Taxi or Talkeeta Aero Service for McKinley air tour. Which one would you pick? K2 and Talkeeta Air Taxi appear to be around longer and more popular. On the other hand, Talkeetna Aero Service has a two-for-one coupon. Safety is a big concern, so I don't want to save a few bucks if it will compromised safety issues.

Questions:
- Where can I find safety records for these trips?
- What are the differences amongst the three services? I read over their website, and it's tough for me to tell.
- Would you go one with glacier landing or without?
- Is it better to do this at the beginning, middle or end of the day? We are going in August. Sunrise at around 6am, and sets at 10pm.

I would do a flight at the first possible chance, so you have time to reschedule in case it gets canceled (it is often canceled due to weather).

I used Talkeetna Air Taxi 2 years ago due to a coupon. All three, plus a fourth, are very reputable companies.

You need to see if the flights are a summit flight (i.e. flies over the summit of Mt. McKinley and requires oxygen), a "summit view" flight (you may or may not see the summit depending on weather) or a flight with a glacier landing. All have their fans.

I did the glacier landing. If I did it again, I would probably do the summit flight, unless I had a deeply discounted coupon for another option.

I, too, took a glacier flight on Talkeetna Air Taxi. I highly recommend them. It was one of the more memorable things I've ever done. The pictures I took don't do it justice.

May 2010 we used a coupon on Talkeetna Air Taxi. We were on the last flight of the day & got to land at base camp & carried back 2 climbers who had reached the peak.Had a perfect flight & our pilot was excellent in getting great photos. It is luck of the draw but the pilot was saying our flight was certainly the best that day.

Thanks. Looks like four of us are going, so we'll try to use one of the Northern Lights discount coupons of 25% off for party of four on either K2 or Talkeetna Air. We'll try booking Talkeetna Air First, and do so on the first available/good weather flight as fti suggested above.

Have a good time in your trip. If the weather's good you just can't beat the experience. It's tough figure out safety but I've heard from a friend there are FAA personnel in town for several months due to an ongoing investigation of Talkeetna Air Taxi. Of course, it's well known among the services there what's going on but they may not be too forthcoming.