We had to walk from our tiny cabin to the lodge to meet our two guides, who would take us to the six-seater float plane.

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The plane's racy design, smooth fiberglass-composite body, BMW-like interior, dazzling computer instrumentation and an onboard parachute ready to float both the plane and passengers to a life-saving landing, if necessary, formed a clean break from the past.

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Personally, I have my eye on an even smaller jet, the rumored single-engine, four-seat pocket-rocket from Cirrus Design. (If the one engine fails, pull a lever and a parachute will float you and the plane to a soft landing.) One of the two brothers who founded Cirrus told me the Cirrus jet would go 300 knots, or 345 miles per hour.

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Accessible via privately chartered plane from Vancouver to Bella Bella with a transfer to float planes for the final leg, King Pacific Lodge is in the middle of British Columbia's Great Bear Rainforest.

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In scientific terms, it was akin to rolling a steel ball down an inclined plane to measure its velocity only to watch the ball float into the air instead.

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