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:

Cara Siciliano's TikTok video of a close encounter with a 1,400-pound brown bear named "Bear 747" during an Alaskan floatplane tour went viral, garnering over 20 million views.
The floatplane pilot, Patrick Carter, a trained bear guide, considered the event common and "no big deal," emphasizing the routine nature of such sightings in the area and the importance of visitor bear orientation.
The bear in the viral video, "Bear 747," was already well-known, having previously won Katmai National Park's "Fat Bear Week" contest as the "fattest 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.”