Floatplane rating - worth it?

Camel on floats?

That should be interesting.

 

They put floats on the Baby but put the Camel on a barge towed by a high speed tug. Take off from the barge to protect the navy but landed in the water. Sounds British doesn't it.

 

If you're gonna do it for the experience why not? You've gotta knock out your BFR anyway.
Seems pretty easy to knock out. There is no written. Just a checkride.

Only concern would be how to keep proficient?

I thought about this the other day when I was pondering getting a DC3 type.

 

What school are you looking at? I've got my single & multi sea, and I've done some flying in FL. Either way, I'd highly recommend it. It's a type of flying that not a lot of people get to experience. It teaches you seat of the pants, stick and rudder skills that a lot of pilots lack.

 

There's a guy over in Houston area that offers the ASES rating in a small Cessna. It would cost less than going to FL, although you don't get the vacation in Houston. I'm going to get mine soon.

I think it's one of the funner things to fly. I have visions of landing in a remote lake, hopping out and taking a swim, then catching a few fish and tootling back home.

 

I don't know who would think float flying is better that sex, but it is better than driving a Mondial.

I got my rating at Jack Brown's 20 years ago. Although I haven't been on floats since, I still remember it like it was yesterday. We did the whole thing in the Cub and never got over 500ft. There are hundreds of lakes to choose from and we did fun stuff like step-taxing and taking-off/landing in a circle. I highly recommend it.

dave

http://www.gate.net/~seaplane/index.htm

 

I did my pvt at Jack Browns, I'd definitely recommend them. It's as real as flying gets - no instruments (well, there are, but you can't see them, because you're in the back), no radios, etc. I got my multi sea at SPS of palm coast (I think he's retired, though) and had a blast doing that as well.

It's not in FL, but if you've got a reason to come to Seattle you should check out Kenmore air. They're a small airline (most of it in seaplanes) for the most part, but they've also got a flight school. I've flown with them, as well.

 

I'm heading to Alaska mid year and hope to get at least 1 float plane experience to several glaciers.. looking forward to it!

 

I did mine many, many years go. It is fun, especially on a hot summer day. I would do it, if it works for you.

 

In my neck of the woods we lose people once or twice a year because they mistakenly deploy landing gear when landing on water. Results are always the same. The last one was in December on a lake nearby. Six YO son of the pilot was lost.

So it's three times more dangerous than a regular RG plane.


If I recall correctly, In the eighties, Jimmy Buffet flipped a Goose he owned because he was trying to take off and forgot to raise gear. Nose flip, just like landing with gear down.


Sorry for being morbid. I flirted with the idea myself once but decided it was beyond my competency level. Besides, we have Kenmore Air up here and those planes don't have RG.

 

I am considering an Icon A5. I should have got on the list two years ago. Looks awesome to me but as someone said, it is a flying Sea Doo.

 

If you are that worried about leaving the landing gear down, don't fly with amphibious floats.

I don't think there is any question that it is more dangerous than flying land planes- you only need to hit a submerged log to find that out.

However, the additional risk is small enough that it's not a big issue, IMO. It certainly doesn't require any more ability than the average private pilot is able to muster, especially with decent training.

 

It was Jimmy's Widgeon and he didn't forget his gear. He hit the wake of a boat or rough water. He talks about it in candid detail in his book a Pirate looks at Fifty. I don't think Jimmy was at fault.

Dave

 

Widgeons are tricky. A friend of mine (now deceased) with a lot of Widgeon experience once commented to me that he didn't know anyone who had flown a Widgeon much and hadn't sunk it.

 

I can agree to that from working with a guy who was hired to fly a Widgeon in a movie that was being filmed on Sarasota Airport in 1948. he brought his Widgeon down from Lake Whales where he operated a charter service. He couldn't talk too well because his jaw was wired shut . He had broken it when one of his Widgeons started porpoising when he landed on a glassy surface and tumbled, breaking off the nose. There he was , still healing from the crash and flying another Widgeon for the movie. The other pilot flying in the film was Paul Mantz, flying an Avenger. We worked with Peter Lawford and Esther Williams and I even got to swim with Williams at Lido Casino on Longboat Key. The name of the movie was, " On An Island With You."

 

I stand corrected:
http://www.buffettworld.com/incidents/widgeon-seaplane-crash/

 

Maybe the reason Jimmy upgraded to an Albatross?
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Was looking around on the Buffet World site, and found a link to this company making a NEW turboprop version of the Grumman Goose. Looks like a neat airplane, although I like the lines of the original radial engined version better. I couldn't find anywhere on their site that had the cost. Any ideas how much one of these beauties would run?

http://www.antillesseaplanes.com/index.htm
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That airplane is not new. It was built in the 1930s. The turbine conversion was done in the early 1970s, I believe. (I know the owner of that aircraft very well!).

However, those guys have been talking for some time about building new ones-- I don't know how far along they are. I suspect they need to raise more money...

 

Wow! So the company building the "new" ones is actually using pictures of an "old" one converted to turbines in the 70's as advertisement?

They have some pictures of a few other ones on their site....any idea if these are really "new" airplanes?

Edit: found this article.....pretty interesting, not to mention ambitious: http://www.antillesseaplanes.com/Private_Air_March-April_2008.pdf

 

I know all of them (I believe those are all of the McKinnon Turbine Gooses in existence), and no, none of them are new.

 

That plane looks great.