I know someone who worked for Ameriflight and flew some Alaska flights for a while, transporting geoducks from Ketchikan back to the mainland. Apparently it's not all it's cracked up to be...but maybe it's more fun when you're doing it in a Cessna 1-whatever and not a Brasilia.
I think you're right in that it does a pretty good job of showing how GA is useful for the isolated communities in Alaska.
I would disagree though in what you said about the "safety focus". I'm sure the pilots and other crew of Era make safety their top priority, but the way Discovery presents it makes them all look like people who operate on the margins of safety. Now, I'm fully aware that bush flying has some inherent danger to it that you don't find elsewhere, but every single thing they do has to be accompanied by the deep-voiced Discovery announcer (who seems to do the voicing for everything) saying how it is so dangerous or whatever. Even something as routine as an off-airport landing.
Other than that, it's certainly an amusing way to burn an hour.
tl;dr Discovery over-dramatizes and makes these people look unsafe.
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I would disagree though in what you said about the "safety focus". I'm sure the pilots and other crew of Era make safety their top priority, but the way Discovery presents it makes them all look like people who operate on the margins of safety. Now, I'm fully aware that bush flying has some inherent danger to it that you don't find elsewhere, but every single thing they do has to be accompanied by the deep-voiced Discovery announcer (who seems to do the voicing for everything) saying how it is so dangerous or whatever. Even something as routine as an off-airport landing.
Other than that, it's certainly an amusing way to burn an hour.
tl;dr Discovery over-dramatizes and makes these people look unsafe.
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