Hi from a Flying Boat Skipper

[kevinsky18]

Hi all,

Hope I'm not crashing your party. I fly a Floatplane aka Seaplane and I'm planning a trip though the Caribbean this winter.

You would think that the information I require would be available on the local aviation sites but it's not. 99% of aviators are wheel based and thus they dont have much local knowledge of safe bays to anchor in, tides and currents, nice places to beach etc.

So I have come here in hopes of learning from my water based bretheren all that I can about the areas I wish to visit.

For those that are not aware, once a Seaplane lands on the water it is classified as a boat and is governed by seafairing rules.

[Astrid]

What kind do you fly?

[kevinsky18]

I fly a Cessna 182 on Amphibs.

[Blue Stocking]

I learned in a 172 on Edo's, but prefered the Luscombe 8 on floats as well. This was back in '63

[Healer52]

Welcome! I've flown a bit as well (military and civilian)....I have a seaplane rating but frankly have never done much flying with it.

[Zednotzee]

Yeah, I imagine most float plane stuff would be oriented towards bush flying, instead of warmer climes.

There was an article by J. Mac McClellen (editor in chief of Flying magazine) in one of the sailing magazines recently. Can't remember which one of course, nor can I find it at the moment. He was drawing some parallels (& differences) between weather strategies for flying vs. sailing.

By the way, maybe you should head over the the multihull section & taunt them about how slow their boats are, LOL!

[bill good]

Zednotzee Behave!! I spent a 1000hrs of my mis-spent youth on 180/185's bush ops in warn tropical waters. Yep still on "floats" in retirement with my cat!! It does stick.

Regards

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha and welcome aboard!
Good to have you posting here and interested in the marine side of aviation.
kind regards,

[hellosailor]

I don't remember the exact term but I have seen designated "seaplane" areas on some nautical charts in Canada, warning mariners to expect seaplane takeoffs and landings in those areas. I would expect that if there is a formal designation or reservation it would be on the aviation charts (which presumably you'd be getting?) as well as marine charts.

But then again, I also know spots in the US where seaplane activity is simply expected, i.e. to beachfront restaurants. A heck of a surprise the first time--if you happen to be scuba diving in the same area!

If I won the lottery, I could enjoy refitting a PBY as an RV.<G> I'd hate to even ask what the hourly fuel bill would be. :-(

[Healer52]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

If I won the lottery, I could enjoy refitting a PBY as an RV.<G> I'd hate to even ask what the hourly fuel bill would be. :-(

Kind of like a boat: If you have to ask, you can't afford it....

I've seen PBY's dressed up as RV's, the more current version is a surplus Grumman Albatross (HU/SA-16) (parts are a lot more available) but still, these are 50 year old airplanes that mostly saw very hard service... I'd be very careful about landing them in the water. I did see one in California (at Whiteman AP) that was done up very nicely...this was probably in 2002 or so.

I understand that one of the Russian design houses has a larger amphib, at least on paper.. with turboprop engines. Not at all cheap, but performance would be respectable.

[Astrid]

The 182 is a mighty fine plane. I seem to recall one for sale recently in Ontario.

[hellosailor]

Wasn't it a Russian aerospace engineer who coined the phrase "Put enough horsepower on it, and you can make a brick ****house fly." ?

There is something to be said about their philosophy, certainly a bit different from most of the rest of the world.<G>

[MJWEENZ]

Originally Posted by Zednotzee

There was an article by J. Mac McClellen (editor in chief of Flying magazine) in one of the sailing magazines recently. Can't remember which one of course, nor can I find it at the moment. He was drawing some parallels (& differences) between weather strategies for flying vs. sailing.

By the way, maybe you should head over the the multihull section & taunt them about how slow their boats are, LOL!

It was last month in Yachting, and unfortunatly Mr. McClellen was reciently replaced as editor of Flying. Sad to see him leave, thought he was a good writer.

[MJWEENZ]

A C-182 on floats would be a great time in the Bahamas, providing you can find 100ll in the outer areas.

[Healer52]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

Wasn't it a Russian aerospace engineer who coined the phrase "Put enough horsepower on it, and you can make a brick ****house fly." ?

There is something to be said about their philosophy, certainly a bit different from most of the rest of the world.<G>

No Sir! That is McDonnells law of aeronautics, well known to those of us who flew the McDonnell F4 Phantom-II aircraft.....(since the ones I flew were made before 1967, they were NOT McDonnell-Douglas Phantoms)....

Conversely, Douglas's law of aeronautics says that the airplane can't fly until the weight of the blueprints, assembly orders, engineering waivers, etc equal the weight of the airplane. I believe this one too: If you actually got a paper copy of all of the above for any (say) DC-9 or DC-10, it would be true.