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Living Alaska, Float Planes
We have a lot of float planes in Alaska. More float planes than anywhere else in the world. We need them. We do not have many roads and highways. The only way to get where you are going is to fly in and land on a lake, a river, or the ocean. We have plenty of lakes, rivers, and oceans to land on.
I bet the Klondike era gold miners wished they had float planes. It would have saved them a whole lot of time and trouble getting to the Klondike. The Canadian Mounties stopped miners on the way into the area, if they did not have the required supplies for a year, they would not let them pass. A year’s provisions back then weighed about two thousand pounds. Without the supplies your life expectancy was short though. Even with the supplies, life was often determined in weeks or months.
Then came the float planes. Now you could reach anywhere in the state in a matter of hours. That did not mean your life expectancy increased though. Planes in Alaska crash more often than in other states. Maybe because we have so many of them and rely on them for sustenance. Some families and towns have supplies flown in monthly. That is the only way to get there, besides walking in. The Alaskan terrain is too difficult for most vehicles. Even river boats get hung up by changing riverbeds. Navigating them is hit and miss since the obstacle course changes daily. That leaves Alaska with the float…
