Landing a floatplane in the Amazon

by Jeanette Sakel

You may ask: what has that to do with language?

Well, when you are doing fieldwork in the Amazon – that’s probably the most comfortable way to travel (and one, I have to add, I only experienced at a later stage, after having braved riding on the backs of pick-up trucks, in military airplanes, by boat and even going on foot. There are many ways to the field – and it can take quite a while to get there!

So, when I worked in a research team (with Dan Everett) and we had the chance to take a float plane to the Pirahã (flown by Dan’s son in law) – it was an amazing luxury! Here is a video of our landing on the river Maici – a tributary to the Madeira (and, eventually, the Amazon) – on our way to the field: