About Steller Air

Steller Air Service is an Alaskan owned and operated, FAA licensed air carrier. We provide summer and fall time floatplane charter service in Cessna 206s. Our top priority is providing you safe access to your Alaskan adventure, whether that be a scenic flightsee, a trip to see brown bears, or remote access to Alaska’s state and national parks.

We provide service from Homer to Katmai National Park, Lake Clark National Park, Kachemak State Park, Brooks Camp, Seldovia, Seward, Anchorage, Prince William Sound, Shuyak, Afognak, Kodiak islands and many other beautiful destinations.

Steller Air is named for Georg Steller, a German botanist who explored Alaska with Vitus Bering and is considered a pioneer of Alaska natural history. The Steller’s Jay, Steller’s Sea Lion, Steller's Eider are some of the animals named for Georg Steller.

Mark founded Steller Air in 2008 to share his passion for flying and the beauty of Alaska's landscapes from the air with his passengers. Mark had lived in Alaska for over 37 years, first coming from Maine for summer cannery work, then working in journalism and eventually, fishing and piloting. He had been flying since 1987, when he began herring spotting. Mark fished salmon in Bristol Bay.

I started flying in 1997 in San Diego. In 2000, I moved to Boulder City, NV to fly for a living, with three seasons of flight seeing and transporting river rafters around Grand Canyon. I was introduced to Cessna 206 and 207 airplanes which later proved to be the mainstays for my work in Alaska. After Sept. 11, 2001, I did a short stint of flying freight around Texas and Louisiana. Remember writing checks and mailing them off? Most of that freight were hundreds of pounds of checks, neatly bundled, in trash bags. Those bags wanted to fly at night, in any weather and turbulence, and were always in a huge hurry.

In 2004 I drove to Alaska and spent two years, through winters, flying in Western part of the state. Small Native villages dot the flat tundra and have no roads connecting them. Every one of them has a runway made of mud with a little bit of gravel mixed in. You could fly over a hundred miles in a straight line and not see anything taller than 50 feet - no hills, rocks, or trees. I'm fond of the memories but don't miss flying in temperatures down to -37 degree (F or C, does not matter at that point), geting an airplane stuck in the mud halfway up the wheel or finding it caked on parts of the airplane it really does not belong.

I moved to Homer in 2006 for work of landing on tidal beaches of Cook Inlet, taking people bear viewing. Servicing Seldovia, Port Graham and Nanwalek came with the unexpected perk of flying an ocassional sea otter or a seal pup.

I have done four summers of flying out of Talkeenta and Healy in twin engine airplanes, doing scenic flights around the summit of Denali. The only way for most people to stay awake at the peak's elevation is by breathing supplementary oxygen. Managing up to nine passengers, all wearing oxygen masks as the 5-6 flights' daily routine felt unique. Quite often, a scenic flight started by launching into drizzly low overcast cloud layer, minutes later breaking out into bright sunshine to see the peaks, climbers on them and places like Great Gorge of Ruth Glacier, seemingly all to ourselves.

In 2015 I started managing Steller Air, flying part time at first and since 2022, full time. Whenever possible, I answer Steller Air phone and emails. I'd love to show off our back yard, world famous bears of Katmai or drop you off for a back country experience within a couple of hundred miles of Homer.

Chief of Staff and the Inspector of incoming goods, she is a Labradoodle born in June 2000. While obsessed with chasing a ball, laser pointer, or a flashlight spot, she is convinced that everyone wants to play with her. She is very seldom seen in the office.