It was a particularly nice, mild November day in 1999 and our assignment wasn't too challenging. We were to fly out to the eastside of Seattle, shoot some real estate photos and then head approximately 35 miles west across Puget Sound for more aerial shots...of what, I've long since forgotten.

After completing the first part of our assignment I turned our venerable Jet Ranger toward the west. My track would take us just south of the University of Washington's Husky Stadium, then over Lake Union, north of downtown Seattle by the Space Needle and across Puget Sound. It was a "no-brainer" flight, like the ones I made thousands of times before. However, this trip would turn out to be anything but routine. As I approached the western shore of Lake Washington, I began making calls on the common advisory frequency for Lake Union floatplane traffic letting any aircraft in the area know of my position and intentions.

A minute or so later I made a second call and as before, there was no response. This could lead to the assumption that there was no other traffic in the area. However, I'd long since discarded that notion as this could be an extremely busy airspace. I continued to look for other aircraft as a precaution.

To continue reading this story and others like it click here and visit our Human Ad downloads available in English and Spanish.