A float plane's near-miss with a whale in the Southeast Alaska community of Angoon was caught on video last week.
Thomas Hamm of San Diego, California, shot the video on the morning on July 10. Hamm had been in Angoon on business, he said Monday, and was waiting for a plane to take him back to Juneau when he caught the close encounter on film.
Hamm said the video was "just a lucky shot."
Hamm has been to Alaska three times now. "Going up there is like going to another world for me," he said.
The plane, a DeHavilland Beaver, belongs to Harris Aircraft Services. The company is based out of nearby Sitka and flies to a number of communities in Southeast Alaska.
Angoon, population 459, is located on Admiralty Island about 55 miles southwest of Juneau and 41 miles northeast of Sitka, according to the Alaska city database. The community is only accessible by boat or float plane, and boasts a seaplane base but no land-based runway.