For this Talkeetna aviator, hobby and job are one

Will Boardman, a helicopter pilot, has a good thing going in Talkeetna's aviation playground. When your hobby and your job are one and the same, you live in the right place.

And when you're climbing the Moose's Tooth with your professor and getting floatplane-certified for your senior thesis, you probably went to the right college, too.

Will, now a professional pilot with Talkeetna Air Taxi, is a prime example of the good life in Alaska. When he takes off each morning, he's not flying to another airstrip. Instead, he may touch down ski planes on nearby glaciers, deliver climbers to Denali base camp, drop off fly fishers at Clear Creek, maybe even deliver a riding mower out to a wilderness lodge.

It's a wild life, and UAA helped point him in the right aeronautic direction.

At home in Alaska

Originally from California, Will first went to Utah State University. The school's aviation program largely fit what he was looking for-a small city surrounded by mountains, where he could start studying aviation right away. But though he earned his private pilot license, he decided not to graduate. The program was focused on commercial airlines, and Will wanted to get away from that path and out in the woods. That's when he found UAA.

"UAA was awesome. Everything about it," he said of his first impressions, citing the sense of community in the city and the "really personal close-knit feel" on campus in the late 1990s. "The people that were drawn there at that time were there because it was different, so instantly the people I met at UAA were right in line with what I was interested in. It was a really good decision for me."

Though the aviation program was the obvious hook, the outdoor education program was just as convincing. Will signed up for as many field-based physical education classes as he could, gaining both course credits and weekend adventures. By that first spring break, he'd become such a fixture in outdoor courses that a professor invited him to stick around after a seven-day ski mountaineering class and climb Moose's Tooth with him. "That's still one of the pinnacles of my life experiences," he said of the opportunity.

Better still, that mountaineering class introduced him to Talkeetna. The class took off from the town's airstrip in ski planes, cutting through blue sky and sunshine en route to Ruth Glacier. "I didn't even know Talkeetna existed at the time," Will noted. "[That trip] was definitely a huge reason why I'm here, and still am 15 years later."

Backcountry access

After the course, he focused on gaining as much experience in aviation as possible. Aside from professional piloting, he also majored in technology, a bachelor's program that required a senior project. The thesis can cater to a senior's individual interest and Will, obviously, was interested in aviation. He hammered out details with his advisor, and while his classmates headed to the library to research their theses, Will went to Moose Pass to earn his float plane certification and write a paper on the experience. Thanks to his double major, he graduated with even more flight experience under his belt (and, as an added bonus, that floatplane company gave Will his first job in Alaska after he graduated).

But not enough about airplanes. Let's talk about helicopters.

The past 11 years, Will's worked for Talkeetna Air Taxi. Though he still flies standard aircraft, he's also taken on helicopter piloting, a logical next step. "For off-airport wilderness stuff ... the helicopter just opens that realm up completely," Will said.

He originally flew to Portland and British Columbia to pursue helicopter flying as a personal interest. The owner of Talkeetna Air Taxi noticed how much fun Will was having-and how far he traveled to access helicopter time-so he bought one. From Louisiana. And Will and a co-worker flew it all the way across the continent in three-hour intervals.

Will still pilots that cherry-red Robinson R-44, taking mountain climbers, railroad engineers and even UAA research teams to whatever tricky spot or rustic lots they need to reach. The chopper also serves as a cargo carrier for everything from cabin supplies to railroad ties; if you see a bright-red helicopter towing a four-wheeler on a tether over Talkeetna, you're probably watching Will at work.

But that's just his day job. After the flights are finished, Will and his pilot buddies may take off in their personal aircraft, bound for a distant gravel bed for a late-night campfire after the day is done. Just as UAA provided the right vibe in college, Talkeetna is certainly the right place for him now.

"Everybody is here because they love small town Alaska, they love big mountains and they love flying," he said of his adopted hometown.

And that's what the good life looks like in Talkeetna.