A Halibut Cove woman faces federal charges in a standoff between a floatplane and boat last summer.
Marian Tillion Beck — the owner of The Saltry Restaurant in Halibut Cove — was indicted by a federal grand jury last week on counts of attempted destruction of aircraft and gross negligent operation of a vessel.
A video from Aug. 23 shows an aluminum boat circling a 1955 de Havilland Beaver as the wake rocks the small aircraft as it tries to leave the cove. The floatplane was taxiing back into the bay with the pilot, Eric Lee, and seven passengers on board.
Beck can’t be readily seen driving the boat in the video, but people can be heard asking her what she’s doing. The video has 360 comments on Reddit.
The plane’s pilot, Eric Lee, is owner of Alaska Ultimate Safaris out of Homer, which takes visitors on bear viewing tours. He told the Anchorage Daily News back in August he was taking a group of people on a sightseeing tour of Katmai National Park that day, when Beck’s boat headed “straight at” him.
The indictment contains very few details about the case. Beck and Lee could not be reached by phone Friday.
