TALARIK CREEK AIR SERVICE: United States (1983-1986)

TCAS is established at Iliamna, Alaska, in the fall of 1983 to provide scheduled passenger and cargo flights to local and regional destinations. Employing Piper Navajos and Saratogas, the company inaugurates revenue flights in November linking its base with Nondalton, Anchorage, Kakhonak, Pedro Bay, and Port Aisworth.

Frequencies continue apace until the company goes out of business in August 1986.

TALIA AIRWAYS, A. O.: Turkey (1987-1989). Talia Airways is established at Ankara in early 1987 to offer passenger and inclusive-tour charter flights to destinations around the Mediterranean and southern Europe. The company is equipped with a Boeing 727-2H9, first flown by JAT (Yugoslav Airlines), which inaugurates services in April. Operations continue apace during the remainder of the year.

While on a positioning flight from Istanbul to Ercan on February 27, 1988, a B-727-2H9 with six crew and nine passengers crashes into a mountain near Girne Arap, Cyprus; there are no survivors.

Unable to recover from the loss, the company closes its doors in 1989.

TALKEETNA AIR TAXI: P. O. Box 73, Talkeetna, Alaska 99676, United States; Phone (907) 733-4444; Http://www. gorp. com/flytat/ flt. htm; Year Founded 1948. This small Part 135 charter operation is formed at Talkeetna, 80 mi. N of Anchorage in Alaska, in August 1948 by famed bush pilot Don Sheldon and Stub Morrison. Operations to various bush destinations commence with a single war-surplus Taylor-craft L2M Cub.

Following the loss of Morrison in an air crash, Sheldon flies alone, operating passenger and cargo charters throughout the territory’s interior. Regular customers include miners, trappers, homesteaders, mountain climbers, the Alaska Road Commission, and the U. S. Geological Survey. Exploring parties visit destinations from Ketchikan and Yakutat in the south to Kuskokwim in the west and to Umiat and Barrow in the north.

In the fall of 1950, Sheldon crashes in a lake west of Talkeetna; after securing his injured passenger, the pilot hikes for 14 hours until help can be secured. In a famous 1955 exploit, the pilot lands his float-equipped Aeronca on the Susitna River and rescues seven members of a U. S. Army search and rescue section stranded after an unsuccessful attempt to shoot the rapids at Devil’s Canyon. On December 25, 1958, Sheldon finds the wreckage of a USAF C-54 missing on Mount Iliamna, 180 miles south of his base.

During the 1950s and 1960s, mountain climbers, as many as 100 each year, are taken to Mount McKinley, often in the owner’s favorite aircraft, a Yellow Piper Super Cub. The fleet grows to as many as 4 Cessna 180s and Sheldon, like his friend Robert “Bob” Reeve, becomes proficient at landing on glaciers.

In June 1960, Sheldon participates in the rescue of several parties in difficulty at the same time on Mount McKinley, ferrying in relief parties and their gear to a base camp 10,200 feet up the mountain’s flank and flying out rescued climbers.

In 1964, Sheldon marries Reeve’s daughter Roberta, who takes over the company’s ground operations. Operations continue for another decade, during which time Sheldon crashes his last aircraft (six since 1948) and completes the flying of a million miles without a passenger fatality.

In 1972, he participates in the award ceremony when his father-in-law is named Alaskan of the Year; three years later in 1975, at age 53, Sheldon is dead of cancer.

Business is maintained over the next quarter century. During these years, David J. Lee becomes president and operations are continued from a hexagonal log building at the Talkeetna State Airport.

During the 1990s, the company continues to specialize in flight-seeing trips over Mount McKinley, using ski-equipped Cessna 185s. Fishing and backcountry hiking and camping adventures are also heavily promoted. The occasional accidents common to Alaskan bush operations occur.

While approaching Anderson Pass on June 30, 1995, a Cessna 185 with a pilot and four passengers encounters turbulence and impacts a glacier. Although the aircraft is badly damaged, no one aboard is hurt and all are rescued within a short time.

While landing on a rough and uneven frozen lake at Skwentna on March 4, 1996, the left main landing gear of a Cessna 185 with three passengers collapses; although no one aboard is hurt, the aircraft is badly damaged.

A Cessna 185 with a pilot and five passengers stalls while taking off from a glacier near Talkeetna on July 28; the airplane settles back onto snow-covered terrain and then collides with the edge of a crevasse. Two aboard receive minor injuries.

While en route on an August 4 scheduled service, a Cessna 185 with a pilot and five passengers is hit from below near Healy by a private McDonnell Douglas MD-369 helicopter with a pilot and two passengers, which is seeking landing sites for a geographical survey. The helicopter is able to spiral down to a safe emergency landing in busy terrain while the Cessna, which has lost its tailwheel and suffered damage to its lower fuselage, is able to continue on to its destination.

On August 9, 1997, a Cessna 185 with a pilot and two passengers sustains substantial damage when it contacts terrain during its landing roll on a Chickaloon River off airport landing site, 30 mi. N of Chickaloon. No injuries are reported.

Flights continue without incident in 1998-1999.