Lake and Peninsula Airlines has always been an Alaska family-owned and -operated company.

Lake and Peninsula was started by Dave and Jacque Wilder and is now owned by their son, Lyle, and his wife, Heidi. 

Dave began flying at age 20 and has been a commercial pilot since 1969, logging 40,000+ hours. Though he was raised on the south side of Chicago, he says life didn’t start until he moved to Alaska at age 21. Jacque was born and raised by homesteader parents in Pile Bay in bush Alaska. With her office skills and Dave’s knowledge of Alaskan terrain, they created Lake and Peninsula Airlines in 1992.

Lyle has been flying since he was a teen. He attended college at Moody Aviation in Tennessee and became LPA’s second pilot in 2002. He met Heidi while she was teaching at the school in Port Alsworth; they married in 2008 and took over LPA in 2016. Heidi is a former firefighter from Montana and the founder of the Port Alsworth Women’s Gun Club. She and Lyle have three kids, Bones, Maggie, and Jemma.

Lyle and Heidi are continuing Dave and Jacque’s legacy of integrity, generosity, service, and safety. They love Alaska and the people they get to serve here!