There is something charming about the lazy whine of a floatplane propeller. Floatplanes — a type of seaplane with distinctive pontoons — are a reminder of a more adventurous era in aviation. Today, Boeing is an (embattled) aerospace giant ; a century ago, Bill Boeing was a plucky entrepreneur designing seaplanes inside a boathouse hangar on Lake Union.
This summer, you can admire a replica of Boeing’s first model inside Seattle’s Museum of Flight , or visit the Museum of History & Industry to see the actual B-1 that ran the world’s first international air mail route from Seattle to Victoria, B.C., in 1920 .
Better yet, you can fly in a floatplane — right off Lake Union, just like Boeing’s test pilots did, with Kenmore Air . More The floatplane (and small wheeled plane) operators at Kenmore Air got their start on Lake Washington in 1946, making them Seattle’s true hometown airline. Today they operate floatplanes from Kenmore/Lake Washington, Seattle/Lake Union, and, new as of this year, Tacoma , traveling to 18 scheduled (i.
e., not chartered) destinations in Washington and British Columbia from these Seattle-area points of departure. A floatplane offers the most direct route to the Salish Sea’s treasure trove of islands and peninsulas, with coves and harbors galore for safe landing.
Travel by air saves considerable time and effort over driving and taking a ferry, and seeing the view on a clear day can be downright awe-inspiring. For example: On a return fligh.