sea time in a seaplane

[NorthernMac]

Originally Posted by Dsanduril

A fascinating question.

The USCG does not consider a seaplane a boat/vessel in terms of carrying safety gear - lifejackets/flares/bell/whistle/etc. They have conceded that that is the purview of the FAA.

A USCG does consider a seaplane a vessel when operating on the water and it is subject to COLREGS.

I'd assume the seaplane is less than 200 tons? What is the tonnage? That number is required for documenting seatime. If going for an MMC above 25 tons then time in similar vessels is required and I suspect there are very few seaplanes that would come anywhere close to 25T (remember, tonnage is a volume measurement and excludes engine and fuel storage spaces).

The USCG requires the vessel's official number - not sure if they would accept a tail number. Would be interesting.

Do you own the seaplane? If so you can attest your own time, otherwise the owner must attest for you. Except, that if the vessel is not documented (and I assume the seaplane is not documented) then the time must be attested by a third-party. So not only do you have to convince the USCG, you also have to convince a plane owner/partner/someone else.

If the vessel is not documented it must have a name and you must provide the name.

Just the 25t MMC

The planes are in the FAA registry, I own one and the turboprops are owned by the company, would be no issues getting a letter from them.

One is a 6 passenger, others are 9

Tonnage, hmm, length on one is 28’, others length is 38’

[Cpt Pat]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

A sea plane is legally a boat when it’s on the water, subject to all the rules and regulations of a boat.
If I were the examiner and saw that I’d kick you out, and if I didn’t I’d be very suspicious of you, cause in my mind your cheating.

I also hold a seaplane rating, just single engine though.

Me too. Single engine, commercial. Yes, it is just another "vessel" when on the water. A very small and light vessel. I can't recall the CG's minimum vessel size for claiming sea time, but a seaplane may be under that minimum.

I'd just call the CG and ask them. But I suspect you won't be able to count any "day" that you weren't on the water and "underway" less than four hours in that day. Just sitting on the water doesn't count. If it did, every liveaboard could count as many as 365 days a year on the water.

Expect some questions when you turn in your sea service form (719-S) showing an "N" number as the vessel's registration. It'll require some creativity to translate aircraft specs to boat specs on that form. You might want to get the CG's opinion in writing, or otherwise, your form will get posted on a wall somewhere under the notation: "Look what this guy tried to do!"

Four hours underway, on the water, in a day is a long time for a seaplane. My take off runs and landings would last maybe 30 seconds. If I counted taxi time, maybe underway time would total 0.2 hours (12 minutes) per flight. So that works out to 20 flights per day. That's a lot of take offs and landings, especially since seaplanes don't ordinarily land or take off at night. It stretches my imagination. The only time I made 20 or more flights a day was when I was towing gliders with low altitude releases. Then, I'd have to eat lunch in flight and pee in a bottle.

But it's do-able if you're giving short scenic tours. Please report back what you find. I never thought of counting my on-the-water time when flying a seaplane, although I would add the 2 hours or so in-aggregate time I "piloted" a parachute when applying for an ATP rating. The FAA only counts hours, not days.

[NorthernMac]

Originally Posted by Cpt Pat

Me too. Single engine, commercial. Yes, it is just another "vessel" when on the water.

I'd just call the CG and ask them. But I suspect you won't be able to count any "day" that you weren't on the water and "underway" less than four hours in that day. Just sitting on the water doesn't count. If it did, every liveaboard could count as many as 365 days a year on the water.

Expect some questions when you turn in your sea service form (719-S) showing an "N" number as the vessel's registration. It'll require some creativity to translate aircraft specs to boat specs on that form. You might want to get the CG's opinion in writing, or otherwise, your form will get posted on a wall somewhere under the notation: "Look what this guy tried to do!"


Four hours underway, on the water, in a day is a long time for a seaplane. My take off runs and landings would last maybe 30 seconds. If I counted taxi time, maybe underway time would total 0.2 hours (12 minutes) per flight. So that works out to 20 flights per day. That's a lot of take offs and landings, especially since seaplanes don't ordinarily land or take off at night. It stretches my imagination. The only time I made 20 or more flights a day was when I was towing gliders with low altitude releases. Then, I'd have to eat lunch in flight and pee in a bottle.

But it's do-able if you're giving short scenic tours. Please report back what you find. I never thought of counting my on-the-water time when flying a seaplane, although I would add the 2 hours or so in-aggregate time I "piloted" a parachute when applying for an ATP rating. The FAA only counts hours, not days.

I’ll give them a call.

One of the places we operate is VERY busy and you can end up waiting for a good chunk of time to get to the dock or taxing around waiting for a clearing to take off. I’m pretty sure over the time allowed I have most all of the time, not super recent, but I’m pretty sure I have it, with my seaplane time 100%

You’re a ATP too eh? I’ve been seeing aviation and sailing mix more often than I expected, What type of flying do you do?

[Cpt Pat]

Originally Posted by NorthernMac

I’ll give them a call.

One of the places we operate is VERY busy and you can end up waiting for a good chunk of time to get to the dock or taxing around waiting for a clearing to take off. I’m pretty sure over the time allowed I have most all of the time, not super recent, but I’m pretty sure I have it, with my seaplane time 100%

You’re a ATP too eh? I’ve been seeing aviation and sailing mix more often than I expected, What type of flying do you do?

I'm just commercial, not ATP. I meant that I would add that time if I ever "went over to the dark side" as an ATP. I tow gliders, haul skydivers, tow banners, and instruct. Done some short haul air taxi too. I suspect the reason many ATPs sail is it allows them to actually operate their craft. Airline flying has turned those pilots into systems managers and redundant components, where the chief requirement is typing 100 words per minute into the flight management computer. And if you understand how a wing works, it's not much of a stretch to understanding sails.

Reading the NTSB reports, I often think: "One of my 20-hour students wouldn't have made that mistake. Too bad they forgot how to fly." Stick-and-rudder pilots are a dying breed. I'd love to watch one of those airline pilots land a tail dragger in a stiff crosswind!

Here's a truly egregious example of over-dependence on flight automation: https://www.vanityfair.com/news/busi...ight-447-crash

(Caution: The problem hasn't been solved. You may not want to fly commercial after reading that.)

[NorthernMac]

Originally Posted by Cpt Pat

I'm just commercial, not ATP. I meant that I would add that time if I ever "went over to the dark side" as an ATP. I tow gliders, haul skydivers, tow banners, and instruct. Done some short haul air taxi too. I suspect the reason many ATPs sail is it allows them to actually operate their craft. Airline flying has turned those pilots into systems managers and redundant components, where the chief requirement is typing 100 words per minute into the flight management computer. And if you understand how a wing works, it's not much of a stretch to understanding sails.

Reading the NTSB reports, I often think: "One of my 20-hour students wouldn't have made that mistake. Too bad they forgot how to fly." Stick-and-rudder pilots are a dying breed. I'd love to watch one of those airline pilots land a tail dragger in a stiff crosswind!

Here's a truly egregious example of over-dependence on flight automation: https://www.vanityfair.com/news/busi...ight-447-crash

(Caution: The problem hasn't been solved. You may not want to fly commercial after reading that.)

Same here, hence why I like the speciality air service stuff, got my ATP right before the first round of rule changes.

Do you junp too? Drop zone flying really introduced me to some great people and a super fun sport