Waiting for Floats

This is a DeHavilland Beaver which is a bush SUV of sorts. Although they stopped manufacturing these planes in the 60's, a good reconditioned one is worth over 1 Million $US. This one is a genuine work horse. Notice the pod on the bottom. This plane has been customized to take 350 gallons of fuel (diesel) to remote locations. Its usual mission is to supply fuel for exploratory drilling at a locally controversial mining project called Pebble Mine. In the next couple of weeks, the skis on this plane will be swapped out for floats. This is a tough time for remote areas because some areas are only accessible by float-planes, boats, snowmobiles (called snow machines here), or planes with skis. Since the ice on lakes and rivers is melting, but is not fully melted, many areas are now completely inaccessible.

Here are two more waiting to resume wilderness resort duties this summer.