Into the wild
When the only way to get there is with wings
Paul Claus
Owner of Ultima Thule Lodge
Career: Alaskan bush pilot
Qualifications: Minimum commercial pilot certificate and instrument rating—and real-world experience is critical.
Work/life balance: “Since the season is short, often it is necessary to work long hours.” Pro: Bush flying is a family affair.
Favorite part of the job: “There is nothing I enjoy more than exploring the wilderness with an airplane!”
Least favorite part of the job: “The most stressful thing is dealing with Alaska weather; when it is easy it is easy, when it is hard it is hard.”
Pay: “Pay is high, but the seasons are often short in Alaska where a large part of bush flying is done in the summer.”
His father bought land in Alaska before it was a state (and Paul was born there before statehood, too). In the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, the Claus family land is in the largest protected land mass in the country and is 100 miles from the nearest paved road. Claus and his wife, Donna, run Ultima Thule Lodge together with their family. They introduce travelers to the real wilderness, where wild is defined differently than anywhere else; Claus says the best definition is “unpredictable.” And it’s also his favorite part of his job and his life.
“It’s the unknown part of things that I love,” he said. “I’m often told I have the best job in the world, but we get what we make. Weather dictates what we do; if we don’t have clients, we don’t have a business. We make our own electricity, well water. We have a garden and greenhouses. I’ve flown all over the world, but there’s no place like this.”
Here, the airplane is essential. Claus has a turboprop de Havilland Otter and a fleet of seven Super Cubs. The lodge has 28 employees, including pilots. Visitors travel to McCarthy, Alaska, where they are picked up by an Ultima Thule pilot (who could be Paul’s son Jay) and flown out the 150-mile-long Chitina River, where a series of lodges offers shelter and comfort. This is a five-star resort, so the accommodations are fantastic and the food first class (and very, very local—salmon and wild game). Pilots fly visitors on personal adventure expeditions. Claus calls the airplane “our jeep.”
Summer is the busy season, and the pilots fly every day. Every flight is tailored to the visitors. “We show them that wild places still exist,” said Claus.
“We have almost no pilot turnover. One of our pilots has been here 19 years, other pilots are my son and daughter and of course they were raised around this type of flying,” he said. “As a rule of thumb, I probably wouldn’t consider a pilot with less than 3,000 hours in the type of bush planes we fly (Otter, Beaver, Cessna 185, Super Cubs) and those hours must be Alaska hours! On top of all that he (or she) would need to be a very good people person.”
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