A Cessna 185 |
Because Alaska is so vast, and because any arbitrary straight line intersects more mountain chains and bodies of water than people, it is sensible that Alaskans rely so much more heavily on air transportation than roads. A look at a map reveals very few highways, with numbers like Hwy 1 and Hwy 3! Since the capital, Juneau, is squeezed in between mountains and the sea, it is accessible ONLY by air or water (and that is true for many communities). Its grand total of 42 miles of road lead nowhere outside the municipality. To drive elsewhere, Juneauans load their vehicles onto the Alaska Marine Highway ferries in order to depart at Haynes or Skagway for highway connections to the rest of the continent. It is no surprise, therefore, that Alaska has the highest per capita ownership of private planes in the country, most of them small, old, beaten up, and beloved.
With about 280,000
residents, the largest city in the state, Anchorage, contains about half of the
state’s population. Logically, the city also hosts several airports for private
planes. The ones that visitors are likely
to encounter for flight tours are Merrill Field, primarily for wheeled planes,
and Lake Hood, the largest float/ski plane airport in the world, adjacent to
Ted Stevens International Airport (ANC).
We fly in and out of Lake Hood on float planes and ski planes to get to
our bush cabin, because we have no roads or grass strips for a runway.
What is it
like to commute by float plane? What would your experience be?