David arrived in Talkeetna, Alaska from Minnesota when he was 14 years old. He began flying when he was seventeen and was a commercial pilot by the time he was eighteen years old, in 1980. He began his flying career working for Akland Helicopters by delivering helicopter parts throughout the State of Alaska. During the next couple of years he flew a Cessna 206 airplane, a Hiller12E helicopter, a Bell 206 JetRanger helicopter, a 206L1 helicopter and Hughs 500L helicopter.
In 1984, David began his own air service (Leesaire) for purposes of transporting fuel to remote airstrips. Leesaire flew an average of 150,000 gallons of fuel a year to support gold mining operations around Alaska until 1986 when he diversified his flying into scenic flights through the Alaska Range for Doug Geeting Aviation. David continued piloting flight-seeing trips for K2 Aviation in 1987-88.
In 1989, David purchased Talkeetna Air Taxi from former Alaska Lt. Governor Lowell Thomas Jr. He flew Cessna 185s and Super Cubs on wheel-skis and floats, flying hunters, and fishermen into the remote Alaskan “Bush” 365 a year as a way of life, until he sold the business in 1996.
After flying airplanes for nearly 20 years David switched his skill set and returned to flying helicopters. From 1998 to 2001 he owned and operated Talkeetna Mountain Helicopters out of Talkeetna. In addition, he also flew fixed wing aircraft as a charter pilot out of Talkeetna. In all, he has flown the Associated Press 14 times
along the Iditarod Trail to Nome.
Throughout David’s flying career he has logged over 10,000 flight hours throughout the Denali National Park over the past 29 years and has executed thousands of successful landings in the mountains. At this time in our history David is one of five men with this extraordinary record (and one of two men still alive). When asked what he has enjoyed most about his flying career David says that it was meeting all the different people through the years. He also really enjoys landing places that no one has ever landed before on glaciers and tundra, and flying hunters into remote areas on tundra tires.
Holly Sheldon Lee is the daughter of Don Sheldon, who established Talkeetna Air Service in 1947 and pioneered countless landing areas and performed many air rescues throughout the Alaska Range during his 26-year flying career in Talkeetna. He built the Mountain House shelter hut located near the Don Sheldon Amphitheater in the Alaska Range in 1966, and flew climbers, tourists and outdoor groups for overnights there until 1974. The Sheldon family still owns the Mountain House and rents it during the summer, which has been visited by thousands of people over the years and continues to be one of the main attractions in Alaska. The Mountain House is booked 2 years in advance for overnight reservations and is only assessable by aircraft.
Holly’s lifelong dream has always been to carry on her family legacy of providing air service throughout Alaska. Holly’s professional background is primarily as an entrepreneur. From 1992-1996 she was the cofounder and co-owner of Valley Towing & Club Service, Inc. in Palmer, AK. She established and maintained cooperative work relationships with intrastate and interstate auto club managers, Palmer and Wasilla Police Departments and the Alaska State Troopers for the 24-hour emergency roadside assistance business.
Along with managing Valley Towing & Club Service, Holly established and operated a dispatch service Valley Answering Service, which was an answering service on its own along with being a supplemental service for Valley Towing & Club Service.
In 1997 Holly moved from Palmer back home to Talkeetna and established and developed a freight forwarding business for all of South-central Alaska called Alaska Freight & Expediting, LLC. As owner/operator Holly maintained a professional contractual relationship with 43 private and commercial freight accounts plus on open on-call relationship with various shippers.
Holly sold Alaska Freight & Expediting in 2002 and began her aviation training. After she achieved her instrument rating and commercial certificate she obtained a degree in Aviation Technology from UAA Anchorage in 2005. After graduation she was hired as an air cargo specialist by SRA International, Inc. to develop a national cargo database for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). Her duties included researching, extracting and disseminating data from proprietary databases, along with analyzing and compiling information to organize and create a product for TSA.
David and Holly found themselves in a unique position when the owner/operators of Hudson Air Service in Talkeetna past on, and they were able to obtain their flying business. The opening of Sheldon Air Service on May 29, 2010 is a dream come true for both David and Holly.
