Seaplanes along the Inside Passage: The Highs and Lows of a Modern Bush Pilot

What is it about Alaska that can make a young journalist from the East Coast abandon his career and become a bush pilot? Bruder’s fascinating first-person account answers that question and lets the reader share his experiences as he becomes seasoned as a seaplane pilot flying the rugged terrain of Western Washington, British Columbia, and Southeast Alaska.

The life of a bush pilot in southeast Alaska is filled with the exhilaration of having unique access to one of our last great spans of wilderness, balanced with physical discomfort, extremely long hours, and heart-pounding danger. Gerry Bruder gave up a promising journalism career to pursue his passion for flying. This true-life adventure provides readers with a fascinating firsthand account of the highs and lows of a modern bush pilot.

• Written for Alaska residents and tourists.
• According to the Federal Aviation Administration, Alaska Region, in January 2011 there were 82,721 registered pilots and 10,057 registered aircraft.
• Alaska has approximately 6 times as many pilots per capita and 14 times as many airplanes per capita as the rest of the United States.
• According to the FAA, Alaska has a total of 640 public and private airports (including seaplane bases). Additionally, pilots land on many of the thousands of lakes and gravel bars across the state where no constructed facility exists.
• Of the seaplane bases, Lake Hood in Anchorage is the largest and busiest in the world. On a yearly basis, an average of 234 takeoffs and landings occur daily, and more than 1,000 on a peak summer day.
• The bush plane is a critical method of transportation for supplies and passengers.