The secretary for the District Attorney in Ketchikan, Alaska was from back East. Her mom was coming for a visit. She had never flown in an airplane and was nervous. You don’t get to Ketchikan without flying or coming in by boat. They explained to her that she would be flying in a commercial plane and then at Metlakatla she would get in a small plane for the last leg of the journey. Now they have an airport you can come in by ferry.
She flew on the big plane to Metlakatla and landed and her daughter and son-in-law met the plane where they could fly the last leg of the journey with her. No one bothered to explain to her that even though the plane was on a runway that in Ketchikan they would land on the water. They all climbed aboard and as usual in Southeast Alaska the weather was windy and rainy. They took off for the short flight to Ketchikan and were landing in the bay when they looked up and in the front seat mom was praying and crossing herself. The daughter said “mom, it is fine”. Mom said “I know honey, I know we are crashing into the water and I am prepared, it is ok” Now is the time they explained about float planes to her and that they were suppose to land in the water. She was a little upset that no one had explained that you could land a plane in the water.
The way I am afraid of planes I think I would have been hitting someone. I always loved this story as she was so calm praying away as she crashed. I am also very glad that when I moved there they had built an airport nearer Ketchikan and you could get off the big plane and get on a ferry. I am not sure my heart would take landing in the waves even if I knew about float planes.
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