The most dangerous state to fly
The ironic truth about Alaska: People must use a plane to travel Alaska and it's one of the most dangerous places in the world to fly.
According to AlaskaWeb.org, "More than 80 percent of Alaska's communities, including the state capital of Juneau, are not connected to highways or road systems, making travel by air or water an essential."
Surrounded by mountains, there is no land road connecting the state capital to the rest of Alaska. Most travel occurs by ferry.
Meanwhile, Alaska's air accident rate is more than two times higher than the national average. The terrain is largely the reason. The vast mountain ranges, with sweeping, icy valleys, generate their own weather systems. It can be sunny at take-off, but the mountains might serve up a blinding snow storm.
If a plane crashes in Alaska, there is some chance, a good chance, no one will ever find it. One of the few multi-person flights to crash in Alaska occurred in 1950. To this day, now 75 years later, no one has ever even laid eyes on the wreckage of the Douglas C-54D Skymaster carrying 44 people, despite two searches that each covered more than 164,000 square miles.
