Posted on 11/08/2005 10:01:31 PM PST by skeptoid
Ketchikan, Alaska - The really big one... the "Salmon Thirty Salmon," a Boeing 737 painted in the likeness of an Alaska Wild Salmon was photographed at the Ketchikan International Airport Sunday.
The "Salmon-Thirty-Salmon," sporting the glimmering image of a wild Alaska king salmon, is among the world's most intricately painted commercial airplanes. Complete with shiny scales, a dorsal fin and gills, the livery on the Alaska Airlines 737-400 passenger aircraft is the result of a dedicated team of 30 painters working nearly nonstop for 24 days.
This year, Alaska Airlines said they will fly more than 30 million pounds of seafood from Alaska to markets in the continental United States, Mexico and Canada. Streamlined flight schedules and state-of-the-art storage facilities allow much of that seafood to travel from Alaskan waters to market and restaurant destinations anywhere in the United States in less than 24 hours.
What the article doesn't say is that taxpayers forked over about $500,000 for a private company to paint their aircraft.
Heh heh. Salmon.
But those sightings were FIVE WEEKS AGO. This sighting was HERE Ketchikan Sunday morning.
I think it was part of a grant that involved Alaska's congressional representation and perhaps State Senator Ben Stevens. Perhaps you could elucidate.
(disparaging comments most welcome!)
The "Bridge to nowhere" you aluude to is also known as "the Bridge to THE AIRPORT, and many sections of formerly undevelopable lands.
In case you didn't know, Ketchikan is in a bit of a developpmental dilemma, in that ALL the developament-albe land has been "developed" and the toewn needs to grow. There happens to be and island across a small strait that is quite suitable for same. It's just rather convenient that this same island is where their int'l airport is.
Believe it or not, the term "sections" is not used in Ketchikan. They only talk acres. The airport has been accessed by a five-minute ferry ride since it opened THIRTY-SOME YEARS AGO.
(sic)"In case you didn't know, Ketchikan is in a bit of a developpmental dilemma, in that ALL the developament-albe land has been "developed" and the toewn needs to grow."
Approximately 50% of the available land area of the Ketchikan area is "developed" (ie, built on or graded)
(sic)"There happens to be and island across a small strait that is quite suitable for same. It's just rather convenient that this same island is where their int'l airport is."
That "small strait" is actually the ferry route. (This "small strait" is recent: It shows the new north taxiway.)The proposed bridge route is some miles south of the airport, making the length of the project over SEVEN MILES LONG and with the vertical clearance necessary for any Panamax cruise ship.
And to be fair, we need to remember that this is a bridge from and Island to and Island to another Island. The (isolated) population of the ENTIRE AREA is just over 13,000 AND SHRINKING FOR THE LAST SEVERAL YEARS.
223 MILLION FEDERAL DOLLARS! (He said, GFB [Gasping for Breath])
Here's AirNav info.
Saw it at Seatac on Monday. Cool looking plane.
Proving the old axiom that there are more than one fish in the sea/sky.......whatever.
A distinctly original aircraft livery, ja!
I like good artwork on planes, but a lot of paint weighs it down. They put over 800 pounds of paint on a 747.
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