Alaska Turbine Otter Tour Video Goes Viral Thanks to Co-Star

Wednesday, August 11, 2021 at 05:14 PM ET

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Cara Siciliano and her husband Gerry Buchheit (third and fourth, respectively from left) got a little more then they bargained for when they took this de Havilland DHC-3 Turbine Otter from Homer, Alaska, to Katmai National Park. Courtesy Cara Siciliano

Key Takeaways:

A TikTok video by tourist Cara Siciliano, showing a close encounter with a 1,400-pound brown bear named "Bear 747" during an Alaska floatplane tour, garnered over 20 million views.
The floatplane pilot, Patrick Carter, who is also a trained bear guide, calmly managed the encounter, emphasizing that such close sightings are common and "no big deal" in that region.
"Bear 747," the bear featured in the viral video, was already a local celebrity, having previously won the "Fat Bear Week" contest for being the biggest bear in Alaska.

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Cara Siciliano didn’t have TikTok on her phone until just before she went on a floatplane tour—in a de Havilland DHC-3 Turbine Otter—from Homer, Alaska, to Brooks Camp at Katmai National Park in King Salmon about three weeks ago.

“I only had Facebook and Instagram,” she said. “My friends kept sending me these videos and I couldn’t watch them because I didn’t want to get TikTok on my phone.”