Photos: Salmon gets the red-carpet treatment
The summer cookout season is heralded each spring by the arrival of the first Copper River salmon from Alaska.
An Alaska Air Cargo plane from Cordova touched down Friday morning and the pilots emerged with a 48-pound king salmon. They carried it down a red carpet and delivered it to three chefs for a ceremonial cook-off at Sea-Tac Airport.
The plane carried 24,100 pounds of salmon that were caught Thursday when the commercial gillnet season opened in Prince William Sound.
This is the first shipment of the prized salmon this year headed for restaurants and grocery stores, and the event is celebrated by Alaska Airlines as a rite of spring.
David Boshell, Melissa Van Dyke
Alaska Airlines Capt. David Boshell, right, and first officer Melissa Van Dyke, left, walk the red carpet as they carry a 48 lb. Copper River King Salmon out of the plane they flew Friday, May 16, 2014, from Cordova, Alaska to the Alaska Airlines Cargo facility in Seatac, Wash., near Seattle. The cargo flight carried the first shipment of the year of Copper River salmon, which are highly prized for their oil content and flavor. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Frankie Ragusa, Jay Buhner, Steven Hauschka
Frankie Ragusa, center right, of Ocean Beauty Seafoods, holds a 48 lb. Copper River King Salmon as U.S. Army Sgt. Jeremiah Maddox, center left, gives the fish a kiss, Friday, May 16, 2014, during a group photo following the delivery of the first Copper River salmon shipment of the year from Cordova, Alaska to the Alaska Airlines Cargo facility in Seatac, Wash. Posing for the photo along with Alaska Airlines pilots and three Seattle-area chefs are celebrity judges Steven Hauschka, second from right, kicker for the Seattle Seahawks NFL football team, and Jay Buhner, third from right, former right fielder for the Seattle Mariners baseball team. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
David Boshell, Melissa Van Dyke
Alaska Airlines Capt. David Boshell, right, and first officer Melissa Van Dyke, left, carry a 48 lb. Copper River King Salmon out of the plane they flew Friday, May 16, 2014, from Cordova, Alaska to the Alaska Airlines Cargo facility in Seatac, Wash., near Seattle. The cargo flight carried the first shipment of the year of Copper River salmon, which are highly prized for their oil content and flavor. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Frankie Ragusa
Frankie Ragusa, right, general manager of Seattle distribution for Ocean Beauty Seafoods, carries a 48 lb. Copper River King Salmon, Friday, May 16, 2014, that was flown in from Cordova, Alaska to the Alaska Airlines Cargo facility in Seatac, Wash., near Seattle. The cargo flight carried the first shipment of the year of Copper River salmon, which are highly prized for their oil content and flavor. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
David Boshell, Melissa Van Dyke
Alaska Airlines Capt. David Boshell, right, kisses the 48 lb. Copper River King Salmon he carried out of his plane along with first officer Melissa Van Dyke, left, Friday, May 16, 2014, after a flight from Cordova, Alaska to the Alaska Airlines Cargo facility in Seatac, Wash., near Seattle. The cargo flight carried the first shipment of the year of Copper River salmon, which are highly prized for their oil content and flavor. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Jason Franey
Jason Franey, executive chef at Seattle's Canlis restaurant, sprinkles salt on cuts of Copper River Salmon after the first shipment of the year of the fish arrived Friday, May 16, 2014, from Cordova, Alaska to the Alaska Airlines Cargo facility in Seatac, Wash. Franey and two other chefs took part in a cook-off competition at the facility as soon as the fish were off the plane. Franey placed third this year. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Frankie Ragusa
Frankie Ragusa,of Ocean Beauty Seafoods, filets a 48 lb. Copper River King Salmon, Friday, May 16, 2014, that was flown in from Cordova, Alaska to the Alaska Airlines Cargo facility in Seatac, Wash., near Seattle so it can be used in a cook-off competition. The cargo flight carried the first shipment of the year of Copper River salmon, which are highly prized for their oil content and flavor. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
David Boshell, Melissa Van Dyke, John Howie
Chef John Howie, left, owner of Seastar Restaurant and Raw Bar, poses for photos with Alaska Airlines Capt. David Boshell, third from left, and first officer Melissa Van Dyke, second from left, as they hold a 48 lb. Copper River King Salmon that arrived on a flight from Cordova, Alaska to the Alaska Airlines Cargo facility in Seatac, Wash., near Seattle. Howie later won the "Copper Chef" cook-off competition using meat from the fish for the second year in a row. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Frankie Ragusa Steven Hauschka
Frankie Ragusa, center left, of Ocean Beauty Seafoods, talks salmon with Steven Hauschka, center right, kicker for the Seattle Seahawks NFL football team, after Ragusa helped filet a 48 lb. Copper River King Salmon Friday, May 16, 2014, that was part of the first shipment of the year of the fish from Cordova, Alaska to the Alaska Airlines Cargo facility in Seatac, Wash. Hauschka was one of the celebrity judges in a cook-off featuring dishes made with the fish. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Copper River Salmon
Reporters ask questions as two Alaska Airlines pilots hold a 48 lb. Copper River King Salmon, Friday, May 16, 2014, that was flown from Cordova, Alaska to the Alaska Airlines Cargo facility in Seatac, Wash., near Seattle as part of the first shipment of the year of Copper River salmon, which are highly prized for their oil content and flavor. Standing with the pilots are three Seattle-area chefs waiting to take part in a salmon cook-off with the fish. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Jason Franey
Jason Franey, executive chef at Seattle's Canlis restaurant, cooks Copper River Salmon on a charcoal grill after the first shipment of the year of the fish arrived Friday, May 16, 2014, from Cordova, Alaska to the Alaska Airlines Cargo facility in Seatac, Wash. Franey and two other chefs took part in a cook-off competition at the facility as soon as the fish were off the plane. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Frankie Ragusa, Nestor Guillermo
Frankie Ragusa, left, and Nestor Guillermo, right, of Ocean Beauty Seafoods, filet a 48 lb. Copper River King Salmon, Friday, May 16, 2014, that was flown in from Cordova, Alaska to the Alaska Airlines Cargo facility in Seatac, Wash., near Seattle so it can be used in a cook-off competition. The cargo flight carried the first shipment of the year of Copper River salmon, which are highly prized for their oil content and flavor. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Copper River Salmon
Gary Johnson, left, an Alaska Airlines cargo worker, positions a pallet of the first shipment of Copper River salmon, Friday, May 16, 2014, after it arrived on a flight from Cordova, Alaska to the Alaska Airlines Cargo facility in Seatac, Wash., near Seattle. The salmon, which are highly prized for their oil content and flavor, were caught Thursday when the commercial gillnet season opened in Prince William Sound. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Jay Buhner, Steven Hauschka
Celebrity cook-off judges Steven Hauschka, left, kicker for the Seattle Seahawks NFL football team, and Jay Buhner, right, former right fielder for the Seattle Mariners baseball team, sample dishes made with Copper River King Salmon, Friday, May 16, 2014, as they judge a cook-off competition following the delivery of the first Copper River salmon shipment of the year from Cordova, Alaska to the Alaska Airlines Cargo facility in Seatac, Wash. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Copper River Salmon
The Alaska Airlines "Salmon Thirty Salmon," a Boeing 737 airplane painted to promote salmon and other seafood the airline's cargo division ships from Alaska, is moved to make room for another plane caring the first shipment of the year of Copper River salmon Friday, May 16, 2014, from Cordova, Alaska, in Seatac, Wash., near Seattle. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Copper River Salmon
Alaska Airlines cargo workers unload pallets of the first shipment of Copper River salmon, Friday, May 16, 2014, after it arrived on a flight from Cordova, Alaska to the Alaska Airlines Cargo facility in Seatac, Wash., near Seattle. The salmon, which are highly prized for their oil content and flavor, were caught Thursday when the commercial gillnet season opened in Prince William Sound. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)