Water Skiing an airplane...

apr911

Pre-takeoff checklist
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Feb 22, 2015
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apr911
Step 1: Pull pin

Step 2: Toss Grenade
Thoughts?

Step 3: Wait for explosion...
And... Go.


I like how he talks about the risks and talks about his experience with the FAA violation they hit him with... I'm disappointed but not surprised that he's been unable to get a legal interpretation out of the FAA.

Probably the same sort of violation and lack of legal clarity the guy who just landed his plane on a highway in TN will face.
 
It looks like he is one of the chase planes in this “waterski” video
 
First body I ever flew was the pilot. of an OH-58 that was doing the same with skids...Pilot was recovered a week after the crash still strapped in and required a Navy submersible to be brought in to recover the wreckage in 600 ft of water...in my book not the brightest maneuver...but life experience tends to do that...
 
Neat stuff. Not my thing but it's impressive.
 
Local lesson is to remember to release the parking brake before landing after doing this.
I am to lazy to look up the NTSB report for the Husky that tried that.

Brian
 
Had a buddy water-ski a Vagabond on the Mississippi River with me in the right seat back in the 70's....most scared-est I'd been up to that point.....other than the first time I got on a Harley behind a nut-case who ran it up to 120. Whoo-eeee!!!!

Jim
 
What's acceptable risk to you? I am not in the parking brake users group fwiw.
 
If you are truly hydroplaning at a high enough water speed, you could stop the wheels (especially those with bald tundra rubber) and it wouldn't matter. Just don't slow down!
 
I love it that his intro 1:01 he says "I'm not a CFI or Physicist. Then... around 4:28 "Let's look at the physics here."

Hmmm...
 
First body I ever flew was the pilot. of an OH-58 that was doing the same with skids...Pilot was recovered a week after the crash still strapped in and required a Navy submersible to be brought in to recover the wreckage in 600 ft of water...in my book not the brightest maneuver...but life experience tends to do that...

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The everybody knew reference was the 4th Brigade 8th ID had done a pilot survey after a rash of accidents...some 22 dead and others injured in 18 months...some Optempo, some matenance but a lot of pilot error...two of the class A accidents in my company alone. On that survey you were asked to pick by name the next accident by unit...if I remember correctly the PIC was the number one answer to who was next and routeenly labeled a “cowboy”...
 
Local lesson is to remember to release the parking brake before landing after doing this.
I am to lazy to look up the NTSB report for the Husky that tried that.

Brian
Completely irrelevant. You can do it with the wheels locked or not. Does not change the forces involved one bit.
 
I love it that his intro 1:01 he says "I'm not a CFI or Physicist. Then... around 4:28 "Let's look at the physics here."

Hmmm...
My favorite part was the disclaimer that his video doesn’t substitute for flight instruction with a CFI. Anyone know a CFI who gives waterskiing lessons? Seems like this is one of those skills that, like juggling chainsaws, people who want to learn it are just going to have to learn it by trial and error. Very deadly error.
 
It’s something that looks more gnarly than it actually is and probably was discovered by accident when somebody came in short or over-ran a takeoff from a gravel bar and now it’s all the rage, seems like everybody is doing it for no reason or purpose other than it looks cool and is fun. Watch enough youtube videos and you’ll see at least a few examples where the technique wasn’t quite hammered down and they come real close to getting bit. There is one of a Maule coming onto a gravel bar that was particularly sketchy.

It’s the same thing with all of this “flying the river” or other low in the canyon and what-not stuff that saturates youtube nowadays. You can call it risk acceptance but I’m not so sure all of them really have an accurate assessment of the possible consequences, especially when they have a hapless passenger along. I just know that if you want to snag some farmer’s wire strung across a river well, that’s how you do it.
 
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