Misty Fjords flightseeing, above the granite.

The floatplane takes off from the Tongass Narrows, the channel in front of town, and climbs over the rainforest of the Tongass National Forest. Then the country turns steep: granite walls, waterfalls spilling out of hanging valleys, Rudyerd Bay and the volcanic spire of New Eddystone Rock standing in Behm Canal. The plane passes over all of it without stopping, and the listing names no water landing.

Every guest has a window seat, so nobody spends the flight leaning past a neighbor, and the narration is in English. With up to 12 guests on a flight, the cabin is small and the views come close. Back on the water at the base, the van returns you to Berth 2, and the operator guarantees that you will not miss your ship's all-aboard time.

The landscape is young in geological terms. About 17,000 years ago the whole area lay under ice, and as the ice drew back it carved long, deep fiords with cliffs that rise thousands of feet. Behm Canal, the main inlet at the heart of the area, runs for more than 50 miles, and Rudyerd Bay branches east off it, reached only by boat or floatplane.

Wildlife is part of the draw. The proclamation lists bald eagles, brown and black bears, moose, wolves, mountain goats and Sitka black-tailed deer, and the state's wildlife agency notes that mountain goats on the ridgelines can be seen from a floatplane window. From the air you take in the scale first and the animals second: a goat is a white speck on a gray wall.

Nervous flyers write some of the warmest reviews. People who are afraid of heights or of small planes describe a calm ride and a gentle landing, and more than one says the view took their mind off the height. Others mention the friendly staff at check-in and the van drivers who talk about the town on the short ride to the base.

The reviews are also candid about what the flight is. Several put the time in the air at about an hour of the 2-hour trip, the rest going to the van ride and boarding. A few found the commentary in the headsets hard to follow. Read them as a fair picture of a short, spectacular flight rather than a long expedition into the wilderness.

Daylight is generous in the flying season. Around the middle of each month the sun stays up 14.1 hours in April, 17.4 hours in June and 10.6 hours in October. A morning departure leaves the rest of a port day free; an afternoon departure gives a foggy morning time to lift, although nothing guarantees that it will.

Temperatures stay mild rather than warm. The average daily high in Ketchikan is 15 °C in May, 18.7 °C in July and 15.1 °C in September. For the flight itself, ordinary clothes are fine. What you need is a layer for the dock and the walk to the van, and a jacket that keeps out the rain while you wait to board.

Weather is also behind most of the bad reviews. Of the 13 one-star reviews among the newest 100, 11 describe a flight cancelled shortly before departure, most of them for weather. Some of those guests were already at the meeting point. The listing allows the operator to cancel for bad weather or too few travelers.

Plan for it rather than hope against it. Keep your phone on and the booking details handy on the day; reviewers who were called in advance had time to change their plans. If the operator cancels, the listing's refund terms apply, and your own free cancellation ends 24 hours before departure. Never build the rest of a short port day around a flight that may not go.

Children are welcome. Infants up to age 1 fly on an adult's lap without a ticket, and from age 2 everyone pays the adult fare. That fare starts from $349 and depends on the departure time: the earliest and latest flights of the day start from $389, so it pays to compare departure times if your plans are flexible. Gratuities, food and drinks are not included.

Cancellation is simple on paper: free up to 24 hours before departure for a full refund, nothing back after that. There is no reserve now and pay later option on this listing, and bookings are confirmed by the operator rather than instantly, so book early enough to have the confirmation before you sail. The operator also promises that you will not miss your ship.

Reflections are the real enemy. A dark jacket kills most of the glare from the cabin; a light one paints itself onto every picture. Turn off the flash, which only lights up the window. Wide shots of fiords and lakes work best, since the plane keeps moving and a long zoom rarely catches a goat on a cliff in time.

Do not spend the whole flight behind a screen. One reviewer warns that wildlife seen from the plane is very small and hard to spot, and many say the view itself was the memory they took home. Take your pictures on the way out, then lower the camera for a few minutes over Rudyerd Bay and simply look at the walls going by.

Bring your ship's name, your all-aboard time and the booking confirmation on your phone. Sunglasses help on bright days when the light bounces off the water. Leave big bags on the ship, because a small cabin has little room for them, and remember that food and drinks are not part of the trip, so eat before you go.

Gratuities are not included either, so carry a little cash if you like to tip a pilot who made your day. If anyone in your group has a spinal injury or heart trouble, or is pregnant, note that the listing does not recommend the flight for them. Otherwise it suits all fitness levels, and service animals are allowed on board.

One reviewer suggests writing a note when you book if you would like the seat beside the pilot, and warns that it narrows the view a little for photos. Another says his wife sat there and loved every minute of it. It is a request, not a promise, so do not count on it when you choose a departure or plan your photos around it.

Narration is in English. Reviewers describe recorded commentary and music in the headsets, with the pilot adding his own remarks, and a few found it hard to hear. If you have trouble with headphones, say so at the base. No commentary replaces your own eyes: the best moments are the quiet seconds when a wall of granite fills the window.

If stepping onto a float in the wilderness matters to you, other flights include it. One Viator listing pairs a 1.5-hour flight with a 20-minute water landing on a mountain lake or saltwater inlet, from $470, and another lands on an alpine lake or a calm bay and lets you off the plane, from $450. Both are sold as non-refundable.

The trade-off is time and price. Those flights cost more, and they take as long or longer: the landing flight runs 2 hours in total and the alpine lake flight 2.5 hours. For a short port day, a 2-hour sightseeing flight that you can still drop for free a day ahead is the more flexible choice.

It suits travelers less well if a landing in the fiords is the dream, if your port day is so short that a cancellation would leave no time for anything else, or if your budget fits a boat better. Among Misty Fjords tours, a boat cruise into Rudyerd Bay lasts 5.25 hours and starts from $232, with the cliffs seen from the water instead of from above.

Weigh the rating honestly: 4.37 from 303 reviews, with 36 one-star ratings pulling the average down. In the newest 100 reviews, most one-star ratings are about cancellations rather than the flight itself. Guests who flew mostly loved it. Book with a buffer in your day, watch the forecast, and treat the flight as weather permitting.