Ketchikan with a wheelchair, Misty Fjords??

[WIScotty]

Is it possiable to do a flightseeing tour with my 81 yo father who is in a wheelchair? Are there any suggestions anyone can give me? He is also interewsted in seeing some of the rain forests.

[Budget Queen]

Does he have some mobility, take a few steps, climb steps?? With any flight, you will need to be able to get into a van, if at low tide, will have a steep ramp down to the plane, then climb 3 4 rungs into the plane.

 

Overall a helicopter may be easier to get in and out of?? Is that of interest for glacier flightseeing?

[WIScotty]

My father does have "some" mobility. He can walk with assistance short distances, climb a few stairs, but my concern is trying to step up any significant hieght into an aircraft. I'm sure this will be the last opportunity for him to travel with his grandchild so were willing to do whatever it takes to accommadate him. All suggestions are welcome. It would likely be 9 persons in total.

[Budget Queen]

Then go for it!!!!!!!!!!!! I was on a helicopter flight on Coastal and a significantly mobility impaired elderly gentleman was traveling with his son. No one cared about the extra time it took and everyone was extremely helpful with the gentleman getting out of the helicopter and on to the glacier. His son was in tears and everyone else just about. :) I was with my mother who has post polio limitations and had no problem at all.

 

But do contact the vender directly and make all your needs known and all arrangements in place before hand, there may be a ramp available, which I have seen on some of my flights.

[alaskandude]

If you do the boat tour out to misty you should have no problems. They have many deckhands to assist you guys. I remember last year they took out all the old timers from the Pioneers home out on the trip to Misty. They wrote the story in the paper. What a lot of fun they had.

Enjoy

[justduckyforu]

I recently booked a flight with Seawind Aviation (www.seawindaviation.com) for our group, one of which is in a wheelchair and needs special loading. They assured us that they had great wheelchair access with a lot of expertise in boarding physically challenged people. You can see a picture of some of the facilities at http://www.alaskaportreviews.com/Ketchikan19.htm

They are very nice people to talk to and I'm sure they will answer any questions you may have.

[JSR]

I am a t5 para and can not walk or stand. I tooks a float plane with Michelle of Island Wings. They were great at lifting me on and off the float plane. there web site is www.islandwings.com

 

Jean

[Coral]

I did Misty Fiords through Princess last year - you can see what we went through to get on the plane in my pics:

 

http://homepage.mac.com/tlassek/alaska2005/PhotoAlbum67.html