Seaplanes are boats that fly. How cool is that?! On that basis alone I’m going to make it a goal for 2012 to fly in one. Heck, I might even get behind the controls, or at least get to sit in the cockpit. Or maybe I missed out on that one after turning ten…
Everyday on my bike ride to work along Coal Harbour on the south shore of the Burrard Inlet, I stop briefly and watch a small fleet (‘squadron’?) of planes sputter to life and motor out to their watery ‘runway’ (is that what you would call it?).
Not only are sea planes technologically awesome, they are also vital to our coastal province and to Canada as a whole. Vancouver’s squadron of planes is one of the biggest in the country made up of over fifty planes, including Single Otters, Twin Otters and DHC-2 Beavers – all servicing the Gulf Islands and the Interior. Over 250,000 business people and tourists use them every year. Across Canada, so-called bush pilots busily buzz between far flung lakes and rivers keeping communities connected by delivering their mail, workers, supplies, medical services and the odd canoer.
The winter can’t stop them either. Check out this video of a Twin Otter Seaplane landing on a frozen lake in Saskatchewan.
I might write about Hovercrafts next time…they’re also boats that fly. Sort of….