Every time the Red River area floods, U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn., gets in his plane and surveys the damage from the air.
On Sunday, a trip with a reporter began with him pointing out that the nickname for his plane, a single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza, is the "fork-tailed doctor killer." He then added that when he flew to Moorhead from the Twin Cities on Friday with U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., she asked him twice during the flight whether the engine was OK.
The tradition is a somber one -- seeing which parts of his district are underwater and who might need his help the most in the coming months. But Peterson, first elected in 1990, has been flying for decades, and it's the most efficient way for him to get around his vast congressional district.
"If I didn't fly," he said, "I don't know how I'd do it."
The flight was smooth, and as Peterson pointed out, the views were misleading since areas submerged in water are also covered in a layer of snow.
"They're all underwater here, too," he said, pointing at Georgetown, Minn., below. "You just can't tell 'cause it's all covered in snow."
EMILY JOHNS
