Generally, when you board a plane, you’re just trying to get to your seat, fall asleep, and wake up in your destination.
It’s not that flying is usually a negative experience — especially if this awesome guy is your flight attendant!
It’s just that flying is usually boring, and goes by a lot quicker with a nap, or at least a really good in-flight movie.
Fortunately, for a group of passengers flying from Charlotte, NC, to Asheville, NC, their short flight was anything but boring, thanks to one awesome passengers.
His name? Daniel. His title? Emotional Support Duck.
Yes, you read that right; One of the passengers flying from one side of North Carolina to the other was an adorable duck named Daniel, with a melodic quack and a sweet disposition.
Scroll through below to read more about how this incredible emotional support animal enchanted every passenger on the flight — followed by the whole Internet!
When author Mark Essig boarded his flight from Charlotte to Asheville last week, he was greeted by an unusual seat mate: a duck named Daniel.
Posting to his Twitter account at the time, Essig writes, “My seatmate, CLT —> AVL, is this handsome duck named Daniel. His gentle quacking eases the sadness of leaving.”
The tweet was an instant Internet sensation, racking up 1.3k retweets and 2.5k likes in a matter of days, and leaving folks all over the web enchanted — with more questions than answers.
Fortunately, our intrepid traveler Essig was ready with plenty of answers.
He got chatting with Daniel’s person and quickly learned that “he is an Indian Runner (an Indonesian breed), a certified emotional support duck, 4 years old, wears a Capt. America diaper.”
All very important facts to have at your disposal.
Essig was also able to inform the public the Daniel is a soulful creature who “likes to look at the clouds.”
According to the Dodo and Buzzfeed, Daniel actually spent much of the flight staring out the window at the sky.
There was some speculation that Daniel was perhaps tapping into a primal urge to fly (though his breed is flightless) but we’re sure that, primal urges aside, he’s very passionate about his current career.
Viewers also appreciated that Essig documented Daniel’s adorable and highly fashionable red shoes, which were just par for the course with this endlessly charming creature.
An ABC News article identifies Daniel’s owner as Carla Fitzgerald, who adopted Daniel as an emotional support animal to help her deal with PTSD from a serious accident, where Fitzgerald was struck by a texting driver while driving a horse and carriage.
Now, Daniel travels with her — in this case, from Milwaukee to Asheville, with a layover in Charlotte — and quacks gently to help keep her calm.
After Fitzgerald’s doctor observed that Daniel seemed to have a remarkable knack for detecting Fitzgerald’s panic attacks before they hit, they got him licensed as an official emotional support animal.
Overall, it seems that Daniel’s soothing presence isn’t just limited to Fitzgerald.
In fact, Essig wasn’t the only passenger to snap a flight of the amazing traveling bird — check out the snap above of Daniel going through pre-boarding for the Milwaukee leg of his journey!
Also, as if Daniel wasn’t already cute enough, it’s worth noting that he always travels in style.
Twitter user @kaylshake stumbled across Daniel in the airport and tweeted, “A woman on my flight has a duck with her, and it’s sitting in a stroller like a baby.“ Yes, he rides in a baby carriage.
She followed that tweet up with photographic evidence, and the added note that, “It has a piece of paper with it that says ‘My first flight!’ and it’s quacking a lot.“
Incredible. Never change, Daniel!
If you’re taken with this incredible emotional support duck and the spectacular impression he made on everyone who met him, make sure to SHARE his story!
