Rust’s Flying Service – Flightseeing Tours from Anchorage

Learn more or book your Alaska flightseeing tour with Rust’s Flying Service.

About

Rust’s Flying Service is the premier operator of Alaska flightseeing tours and Alaska day tours in Anchorage, Alaska. Family-owned and operated since 1963, Rust’s has an unsurpassed safety record and an overwhelming enthusiasm for Alaska aviation. With an experienced crew of Alaska bush pilots and dependable fleet of Cessnas (including a Caravan on floats), deHavilland Beaver and Turbine Otter seaplanes, they are proud to offer Alaska flightseeing tours and Alaska day tours like bear viewing and fly-in fishing throughout Alaska.

Rust’s is based at Lake Hood Seaplane Base in Anchorage, Alaska, offering daily departures for Alaska flightseeing tours and Alaska day tours such as bear viewing, remote trout and salmon fishing trips, hunting trips, remote Alaska lodge experiences and more.

It all began in 1963, when retired Air Force Colonel and WWII vet Henry “Hank” Rust founded Rust’s Flying Service using a Piper Super Cub (two-seat airplane) to fly hunters and fishermen to remote areas of Alaska.
As times changed, so did this little business. Rust’s Flying Service added airplanes to accommodate more fishermen, hunters, flightseers and Alaska’s burgeoning tourist industry.

Over the next 40 years, Rust’s fleet grew to include nine seaplanes, including Cessna 206’s, deHavilland Beavers and deHavilland Turbine Otters. The types of trips offered also changed from just hunting and fishing, still a core business, to include an assortment of flightseeing tours of Alaska’s most popular destinations such as Mt. McKinley, Columbia Glacier and bear viewing tours in Katmai National Park, flights to wilderness cabins and remote upscale lodges.

A Great Addition…

In May 1996, the Rust family purchased K2 Aviation, a flightseeing and mountain climber support company located in Talkeetna, Alaska that specializes in flightseeing tours of Mt. McKinley, the Alaska Range and glacier landings. K2 operates a fleet of eight wheel and ski planes including Cessna 185’s, Piper Cherokee and twin-engine Navajo Chieftain, deHavilland Beavers and deHavilland Turbine Otters. In additional to the flightseeing tours, K2 flies mountain climbers to the Kahiltna Base Camp to begin their climb of Mt. McKinley.

What to wear and bring…

During the summer season, May through September 15, we encourage you to layer your clothing, bring a light jacket and wear long pants. In addition, it is a very good idea to have comfortable, closed toe shoes and sunglasses. We provide glacier overboots for landings. During the shoulder seasons: It is a good idea to bring a heavier coat, gloves/mittens, a hat and boots.

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Discover Denali Tour
  • 3 hours
  • Offered year round
  • This is one of the most popular tours and it will make your jaw drop. Soar to new heights on our intimate, 3-hour Discover Denali Flightseeing Tour with an experienced Alaska bush pilot who loves to share Alaska’s most inaccessible and spectacularly wild settings.
  • Tour Features:
    • Denali Summit/Foothills
    • Ruth Glacier
    • The Great Gorge
    • Ice Falls
    • Landing, pilot’s choice
  • Contact Rusts Flying Service directly for pricing information
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Prince William Sound Glacier Tour
  • 2-1/2 to 3 hours
  • Summer only
  • Soar above the blue crevassed face of a 3,000 ft. thick glacier and view some of Alaska’s most rugged mountain peaks on this 2-½ to 3 hour Prince William Sound flightseeing tour from Anchorage. This is our pilots’ favorite trip.
  • Tour Features:
    • Tidewater and hanging glaciers
    • Prince William Sound
    • Chugach Mountains
    • Cascading waterfalls
    • Alaska wild and marine life
    • Landing
  • Contact Rusts Flying Service directly for pricing information
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Alaska Wildlife & Glacier Tour
  • 1-1/2 to 2-1/4 hours
  • Offered year round
  • Soar over towering Knik Glacier – the centerpiece of Lake George National Natural Landmark. At 25 miles long and 5 miles wide, Knik Glacier is one of Southcentral Alaska’s largest and most spectacular glaciers.
  • Tour Features:
    • Knik or Triumvirate glaciers
    • Knik Glacier Gorge
    • Chugach Mountains
    • Colony Glacier
    • Lake George
    • Alaska wildlife
    • Optional landing
  • Contact Rusts Flying Service directly for pricing information
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Anchorage Safari Tour
  • 1/2 hour
  • Summer only
  • Get a unique perspective of Anchorage on this 1/2-hour seaplane adventure. Your pilot will choose the most scenic and interesting flightseeing option, exploring the western front of the Chugach Mountains, Cook Inlet, Turnagain Arm or Knik Arm.
  • Tour Features:
    • Chugach Mountains
    • Alaska wildlife
    • Scenic Turnagain Arm
    • Alaska wildlife
    • Anchorage skyline
    • View the Alaska Range
  • Contact Rusts Flying Service directly for pricing information

BEAR VIEWING TOURS

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Redoubt Bay Lodge Tour
  • June, July, and August
  • Fly 70 miles southwest of Anchorage to Lake Clark Wilderness Preserve, site of Redoubt Bay Lodge and Alaska brown and black bear viewing by boat with experienced natural history guides. This is a half-day trip with morning and afternoon departures, approximately 6½ hours. Bear Viewing is on a lake from a covered boat with a guide. A light meal is included.
  • Tour Features:
    • Alaska black and brown bear in their natural habitat
    • Experienced naturalist guides
    • Scenic flightseeing
    • Light lunch in the day lodge
    • Morning or afternoon departure
    • Extended and overnight packages available
  • Contact Rusts Flying Service directly for pricing information
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Katmai National Park Tour
  • July Only
  • Visit Brooks Falls, which is world-renown for Alaska bear viewing. Watch brown bear fish for spawning salmon from elevated viewing platforms and boardwalks. This 10 to 12 hour journey includes a lunch and a scenic 2 to 3 hour flight each way. Bear viewing includes walking on relatively flat paths; self guided, but National Park Rangers are readily available.
  • Tour Features:
    • World-famous brown bear viewing at Brooks Falls
    • Two viewing platforms with National Park Rangers
    • Intimate 2 to 3 hour scenic flightseeing tour
    • Box lunch
    • Wildlife watching on return flight
  • Contact Rusts Flying Service directly for pricing information
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Lake Clark National Park
  • July, August, and September
  • Take a scenic flight to Crescent Lake for Alaska brown bear viewing from a covered boat with knowledgeable guides. This trip has a morning departure with an approximately hour and half flight and about 10 hours total for the excursion. Bear viewing from an open boat with a guide; most of the bear viewing is on a lake.
  • Tour Features:
    • Thrilling 70 minute flightseeing tour to Lake Clark National Park to Redoubt Mountain Lodge
    • Up close bear viewing from a covered boat – watch bears feed on spawning salmon
    • Mt. Redoubt and Mt. Iliamna volcanoes
    • Homemade lunch in cozy day lodge
  • Contact Rusts Flying Service directly for pricing information

Learn more or book your Alaska flightseeing tour with Rust’s Flying Service.

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