Northwest Flying Inc.

05/21/2026

Another trip to Shingwak Lake for the Carlson gang

05/20/2026

05/18/2026

05/18/2026

05/14/2026

She was sixteen. No cell phone. Her dad on one side of the cabin, her on the other.

The lights were cut. A thunderstorm was rolling across Kishkutena Lake, and the lightning was lighting up the water like nothing she'd ever seen.

They didn't talk about anything important. They just talked. For hours. While the storm passed.

That's one of seven stories Doug Coleman told us this spring on a phone call that was supposed to last fifteen minutes and didn't end for over an hour.

Doug has been flying into Kishkutena Lake with us since 1988. Thirty-seven years of trips. Most of them alone — ten days at a time. Three summers with his teenage daughter. One hand flare across an empty lake at dusk that he was sure meant the worst. One smallmouth bass that broke the line and hit the side of the boat three minutes later. One musky that pulled his boat hundreds of yards around a cove on light bass tackle.

And one night in a cabin, with the lights cut, watching a storm with his daughter.

With Doug's blessing, we turned that night into a song too.

Read all seven stories ⤵️
https://northwestflying.com/2026/05/14/an-hour-with-doug-coleman-kishkutena-lake/

This is another feature in our Customer Appreciation Series. If you've been flying with us for ten, twenty, thirty years and your story isn't on the site yet — call us. We'd like to spend an hour with you the same way we spent an hour with Doug.

(800) 461-2126

05/13/2026